At UN, Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapaksa Praises Ban Visit, Slams UN Human Rights Council, Is Protested

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 24 -- When Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa read a speech to the UN General Assembly on September 24, he attacked the UN Human Rights Council inquiry into war crimes, while praising Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's visit in May 2009 right after the UN-dubbed "bloodbath on the beach."

  Rajapaksa called Sri Lanka an "unfortunate victim of ill-conceived agendas of some in the Human Rights Council." He bragged about the "visit of UN Secretary General  to Sri Lanka, just a week after the conclusion of the conflict." (In fairness we are using the quote from the written statement; Rajapaksa actually called Ban "Secretary General TO Sri Lanka," perhaps a Freudian slip.)

 Rajapaksa bragged about heading the Commonwealth, but on the way into the UN on September 24, the Permanent Representative of a Commonwealth country told Inner City Press Sri Lanka heading the Commonwealth had been a mistake.

  In his conclusion, Rajapaksa used a quote from the Buddha; in the Sri Lanka (government) context it was hard not to think of the extremist BBS monks. One reader has tweeted that it's as unfair as blaming all Christians for Christian extremists; despite government links to BBS, we think it's worth including this position here.)

  Earlier on September 24 on 47th Street there was a protection of Rajapaksa's visit, tweeted photo here.

 Back on August, while the UN says it will be investigating Sri Lanka war crimes, and the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa has said it will no allow the investigators in,  Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric what precedents or procedures the UN has for protecting witnesses, those giving information to this inquiry? Video here.

  Dujarric said he would look into precedents, and we'll look forward to that. But already, when Inner City Press and others raised concerns that the email submission procedures for the inquiry does not involve encryption, nothing has yet been done. It still should be.

The UN is hosting non-governmental organizations from all over the world this week, for the 65th Annual United Nations DPI/NGO Conference from August 27 to 29. But a question related to the above has arisen: what does the UN do to defend and ensure access for NGOs?

  At a UN press conference on August 25, Inner City Press put these and other questions to Maher Nasser, the Acting Head of the UN Department of Public Information. Video here. Earlier this summer, for example, the government of Sri Lanka ordered NGOs to stop holding press conferences or otherwise interacting with the media. Click here for that.

  Inner City Press asked Nasser what the UN, whose UN Information Center in Colombo has been promoting this week's New York conference, actually does for NGOs in Sri Lanka amid this crackdown. Nasser cited UNESCO and the UN's human rights entities.

  Given the UN's troubling silence in Sri Lanka amid mass killings in 2009, which has given rise to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's “Rights Up Front” initiative, perhaps DPI where applicable should speak up on such restrictions put on NGOs.
Background: After Sri Lanka's Minister of "Defense and Urban Development" issued an order banning all non-governmental organizations from press conferences, workshops, training for journalists, and dissemination of press releases which is beyond their mandate," and the UN declined comment or passed the buck, the US and now the human rights group FIDH have expressed concern.

  The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights said, "The Observatory is concerned by these attempts by the Sri Lankan Government to curtail the freedom of association, assembly, and expression of human rights defenders , which seem to be aimed at undermining the legitimacy of their peaceful activities. The Observatory calls upon the authorities of Sri Lanka to withdraw the above-mentioned notice immediately and to put an immediate end to the harassment against all human rights defenders."

   On July 7,  Inner City Press  asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq about it. Video here, on Inner City Press' YouTube channel.

  Inner City Press asked, since UN envoy Oscar Fernandez Taranco was recently in Sri Lanka, had he spoken to the Rajapaksa government about this crack-down, or did he have any comment now?

  Haq replied, "We'll have to study what this particular injunction was... we'll have to evaluate that."  

  But 24 hours later on July 8, after lead UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric had already belatedly begun the day's noon briefing -- and after 5 pm in Geneva -- the Spokesperson's Office sent Inner City Press this:

Date: Tue, Jul 8, 2014 at 12:18 PM
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Subject: Your question on Sri Lanka.
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Regarding Sri Lanka, please kindly direct your question from yesterday's noon briefing to OHCHR.

   So this was the result of the UN Secretariat's "evaluation" -- to pass the buck to Navi Pillay's office? 

  Meanwhile media in Sri Lanka had reported that Haq's office would be making a comment; a press freedom organization there consulted by theFree UN Coalition for Access complained the order would chill the freedom to report. What was the purpose of the UN's Oscar Fernandez Tarando's trip to Sri Lanka? What does Ban's "Rights Up Front" policy, announced after systemic failure in Sri Lanka, really mean?

After UN official Oscar Fernandez Taranco visited Sri Lanka but has refused to take Press questions upon his return to New York, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on June 25 about a protest, video here:

Inner City Press: There’s a protest scheduled for today at 1 p.m. on 47th Street of mostly people from Sri Lanka and elsewhere about the violence there. And they’ve said that they intend to hand a letter to the Secretariat, seeking action against the action there. I wanted to know: is this going to be possible? Is Mr. [Oscar Fernandez-] Taranco... it’s great that Mr. Šimonovic will brief on Burundi. It seems like it’s a kind of a similar situation. And is the UN aware of this? And what has been the reaction to the upswing in violence in Sri Lanka?

Spokesman Dujarric: I think we’ve spoken about this from this podium. We’ve condemned the violence that we’ve seen recently. And obviously, the Secretary-General fully backs the efforts of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. As for the demonstration, I was unaware of it. If I have any information, I will let you know.

Inner City Press: That panel is about war crimes at the end of the conflict on both sides, whereas this is something that’s actually taking place currently. That’s why I’m sort of asking, like, did Mr. Taranco deal with this issue while he was there?

Spokesman Dujarric: As I said, I shared with you what I had on Mr. Taranco’s visit.

   The protest took place: see Inner City Press tweeted photo here.

  In a previous protest by Sri Lankan Tamils, the UN sent a lower level functionary who told the protesters the letter would be rejected if they told the Press about it. Dujarric said he would check.

 The UN has essentially stonewalled Press questions about the new White Flag killings report and the light it sheds on current UN official Vijay Nambiar and former UN official, now Sri Lankan Ambassador Palitha Kohona.

  It was about a past financial relationship between Kohona and the president of the UN Correspondents Association, who then agreed to an UNCA screening of a Rajapaksa government movie denying war crimes that UNCA tried to censor.

When Inner City Press reported on the background to Kohona getting the Rajapaksa government's denial of war crimes, “Lies Agreed To,” screened in the Dag Hammarjkold Library auditorium, the reaction from the then-president and executive committee of the United Nations Correspondents Association are summarized here.

  Now the new Free UN Coalition for Access opposes all of this, andattacks on media work both inside the UN both further afield and as close at 47th Street, west of First Avenue. Watch this site.

   

On Central African Republic, Ladsous & Araud Spin AFP Praise of Sri Lanka, FrancAfrique

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 16 --At the UN, how does colonialism work? 

  Let's consider the consecutive "press availabilities" on Central African Republic by Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row atop UN Peacekeeping, and outgoing French Ambassador Gerard Araud, then the resulting "reporting" of Agence France Presse.

   Araud never spoke on camera, instead standing in an area called the "Turkish Lounge" speaking to French reporters. Ladsous came to the camera, but hand-picked four questions, three in French.

  AFP quoted Araud that CAR will be getting helicopter patrols from the Sri Lankan army -- but neither AFP not Araud apparently mentioned the UN Human Rights Council probe into war crimes by Sri Lanka's army.

  In fact, AFP's story doesn't mention the slaughter of Muslims in CAR, and the French Serval force's alleged role in it. Instead, its single mention of Muslim links their actions to their own slaughter: "CAR has been in crisis since the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in a March 2013 coup." 

  This is how colonialism and propaganda work at the UN. It's ironic because it was Araud who on April 15 told a Lebanese reporter, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent."

   When UN Peacekeeping's Ladsous said he would take questions about peacekeeping in the Central African Republic, Inner City Press arrived early to ask about reports the current MISCA peacekeepers have killed civilians, for example in Bozoum, here.

  Ladsous however refused to answer the question. First he sought out a softball question in French; then when the Press question about MISCA in Bozoum was asked, he shook his head and said, “I give the floor to Madame.”

  Earlier in the afternoon at the same UN Television stakeout, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Rwanda had answered Inner City Press' question by stating that Ladsous' Department of Peacekeeping Operations not only flew a sanctioned FDLR militia leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- Ladsous has also refused to answer Rwanda's formal June 26 complaint.

   So Inner City Press asked that question, politely but audibly. Again Ladsous refused to answer, looking desperately around for a friendly question.

 Ladsous has adopted this position -- video compilation here-- since Inner City Press asked him about his history during the Rwanda genocide in 1994, as France's Deputy Permanent Representative in the Security Council arguing for the escape of genocidaires into Eastern Congo, sample memo here.

  It was and is a straightforward question, the type public officials answer every day. But Ladsous has refused, and has gone further.

   Because Ladsous is protected -- was nominated -- by the French government which has controlled UN Peacekeeping four times in a row now, this anamoly is allowed to go on inside the UN. 

  Here's how it look from outside, in the UK New Statesman. And here is a video of Ladsous ordering his spokesperson to take the microphone away so that questions about rapes by his partners in the DRC Army could not be asked. 

  Here is a video of Ladsous taking the friendly scribes atop the UN Correspondents Association into the hall for a private briefing. To this has the UN descended.

  More seriously, UN Peacekeeping by most accounts brought cholera to Haiti, which has killed over 8,000 people. Inner City Press asked Ladsous, loud and clear (but nothing but polite) if his DPKO now belatedly screens peacekeepers from cholera hot spots before deployment. 

  Ladsous refused to answer. To this has the UN descended. The new Free UN Coalition for Access has formally proposed that UN Under Secretaries General not be allowed to take this approach. Watch this site.

   

As USUN Regrets Iran Selection, Kornblau to JPMChase, Eric Pelton Heads North, HRC Sudan?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Partial exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, July 12, updated -- As at the UN the Arms Trade Treaty talks grind on, now half behind closed doors, the US Mission to the UN late Thursday e-mailed out the statement of its Ambassador Donald Mahley pledging 

"to achieve the consensus on an effective arms treaty in order, as Secretary Clinton clearly stated, 'to ensure that all countries can be held to standards that will actually improve the global situation by denying arms to those who would abuse them.'"

  Inner City Press asked lead US Mission spokesman Mark Kornblau a couple of questions, including on Sudan [see below] and to please "state the US position on ammunition being covered by an Arms Trade Treaty."

  Kornblau and then the Mission to their credit quickly responded, with a previous statement by another US representative to the talks, Tom Countryman, which had not previously be e-mailed to the Press, that "the United States has made clear that ammunition should not be included within the scope of the ATT." Countryman concluded, as cited by NGOs, that

"we will continue to listen to any proposals for including ammunition. Our criteria in evaluating such proposals are simple – they must be realistic and limited in the burdens they impose, and they must be effective in achieving the goals and objectives of the ATT. In the absence of such a proposal and a compelling case for its benefits, the United States remains steadfast in its opposition to including ammunition in the ATT. "

  In a statement issued by Kornblau after 5 pm on Thursday, the US expressed its opposition that

"Iran's role as one of fourteen Vice Presidents at the Arms Trade Treaty Conference - while purely ceremonial - is nonetheless outrageous. Iran was selected to run on a closed slate of candidates put forward by the Asia Group, of which the United States is not a member...While, as a practical matter, the Vice President designation at the Arms Trade Treaty Conference has no impact whatsoever on the substance of the conference or our ability to advance and protect U.S. interests and values, it still makes a mockery of the Conference's purposes and undermines the credibility of the United Nations."

  Inner City Press has likewise asked for the US position on making the next head of the UN Budget Committee Sri Lanka and its Permanent Representative, listed in Ban Ki-moon's Panel of Experts report as involved in luring rebel leaders to surrender, who were then killed -- so far without answer.

  But we had and have news of Kornblau, which in fairness we wanted to most fully confirm before now exclusively publishing. Ambassador Susan Rice, in a generous USUN EVERYONE e-mail on July 10, announced that

From: Ambassador Rice (USUN)
To: USUN EVERYONE
Subject: Staffing Announcement
Sent: Jul 10, 2012 3:02 PM

Dear Colleagues,

I am sorry to have to inform you that July 20 will be Mark Kornblau's last day at USUN. I am deeply indebted to Mark for the exceptional job he has done as my Director of Communications and Spokesperson since early 2009. Mark is a true professional, and I will sorely miss his wise counsel, sound judgment, deft touch and wry wit. I hope you will join in me in wishing him all the best in his next endeavor as Managing Director of Corporate Communications at JP Morgan Chase & Co. It’s a tremendous opportunity for him at a time of great challenge for the industry.

I am pleased to announce that Erin Pelton will succeed Mark as my Director of Communications and Spokesperson. Erin currently serves as Director of Communications and Assistant Press Secretary at the National Security Council, where she handles the Middle East, Latin America, and the nonproliferation portfolios, among others. Prior to her tenure at the White House, Erin spent six years at the State Department, both in Washington and overseas in Mexico and Saudi Arabia, most recently serving as a spokesperson in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Erin also worked for America Abroad Media, where she developed programs on international affairs for radio and television. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and Latin American Studies from Drake University, and a Master’s Degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Please join we in welcoming Erin and wishing Mark a fond farewell.

   We'll have more on this, including as applicable JPMorgan Chase's relations not only with the media but also the FERC about claims it manipulated energy prices in California and the Midwest. 

   Explaining the pending Syria resolution is one thing, and hiking electricity prices during a heat wave is another. Ah, US, and USUN...

Update: On Inner City Press' question if the US opposes Sudan's bid to be a member of the Human Rights Council, as / from a U.S. official the following came in:

"We are obviously very much opposed, but this is not a done deal, and we urge members of the AU to do the right thing and stop an ICC-indicted war criminal from taking a seat on the Human Rights Council."

   On Sri Lanka's and Palitha Kohona's bid to head the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee, we hope to have more -- watch this site.

At Geneva HRC, Code Words on Syria Range from Ruthless to Regime Change, Saleh and Sri Lanka Not Shown

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- The debate on Syria at the Human Rights Council in Geneva Tuesday morning proceeded mostly as expected. China and Cuba both used the term "regime change," at least in translation.

Portugal for the European Union and later EU member Austria both called the Assad "regime... ruthless," though Portugal's Foreign Minister pronounced it "roose-less."

India's speech, telling the Arab League that its role is to bring about dialogue in Syria, seemed to some to vary from its recent votes at the UN General Assembly and Security Council in New York.

More clearly inconsistent was Thailand, which called for "strong action" on Syria. The day before, on Sri Lanka where more civilians were killed, Thailand urged a "homegrown" Sri Lankan solution.

Similarly, Maldives even in the midst of what many call a coup d'etat trashed Assad for killing civilians, while in New York it appears to defend Sri Lanka including its appointment, through the Asia Group, of General Shavendra Silva, whose 58th Division is depicted in Ban Ki-moon's Panel of Experts report as engaged in war crimes, as a member of the Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations.

Speaking for the US was not Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Donahoe, but Esther Brimmer, in from Washington. One wondered, when will Brimmer and the US State Department belatedly send their replacement for UN Department of Political Affairs cheif Lynn Pascoe, left swinging like a lame duck in the breeze for months now?

There was much talk that "there can be no impunity," including from countries which accepted or supported the impunity deal for Ali Saleh in Yemen.

Mauritania for the Arab Group called for humanitarian corridors. Syria said the head of the International Commission of Inquiry has said such corridors are impossible, that one must talk with the Syrian government as the Red Cross is doing.

Syria also said that it is the Free Syrian Army which blocked the extraction of foreign journalists from Homs. "No Shalgam or Dabbashi, he," one wag commented, referring to the Gaddafi era Libyan diplomats who defected during that conflict.

At the UN in New York, the head of protocol is leaving as scheduled on February 29. Will a move be made against the credentials of Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari? Watch this site.

At UN, Syria “Postponing its Candidacy” for HRC to 2014, No Dera'a Answers

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 -- The Asian Group met Wednesday morning in the UN's North Lawn building, with whether Kuwait would replace Syria as its candidate for the Human Rights Council on the agenda. The Press watched through the wide windows of the ECOSOC Chamber as Syria and Kuwait both spoke.

It's done, a Deputy Permanent Representative exiting the Chamber told the Press. All they have to do is gavel it.

But before they did, UN Security moved the press away from the windows, and then from the Chamber as a whole.

When finally the ambassadors emerged, Syria's Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari put the best face on his stand-down. It's just a postponement of our candidacy, he told the press.

Why? To focus on other priorities, he said, not without irony.

Inner City Press asked about Dera'a, and whether the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will be allowed in to assess needs. But Ja'afari did not answer. His Kuwaiti equivalent said they would take the seat from 2011 to 2013, then Syria will run for 2014 to 2016. We'll see.

As Libya Suspended from Rights Council, Venezuela Broods, UK Dodges

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 1 -- After the UN General Assembly acted unanimously and by consensus to suspend Libya from the UN Human Rights Council, Venezuelan Ambassador Valero issued a blistering speech denouncing US imperialism and, by implication, the move to suspend Libya.

Standing outside the GA Hall, Inner City Press asked Ambassador Valero when he left why Venezuela hadn't acted on its speech and cast a “no” vote, abstained or at least asked for a roll call.

“We thought this was more effective,” Valero said cryptically. The night before, Inner City Press was told by a major power, and reported, that Venezuela would not vote against, that there would be consensus. But why?

When UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant came to the GA stakeout, Inner City Press asked him if the UK believes that a new Security Council resolution is needed in order to authorize the imposition and enforcement of a no-fly zone. Lyall Grant heard the question, smiled at the UN TV camera and walked away without answering it.

The UK's media strategy at the UN becomes more and more limited every day. Between Tuesday and Saturday of last week -- when Security Council ambassadors attended a Chinese circus between the 5 pm suspension and 8 pm vote -- Lyall Grant spoke primarily to UN Radio. Did he face and answer a question about the need for Security Council authorization, or about the UK's arms sales to Libya?

Inner City Press asked Japan's Permanent Representative Tsuneo Nishida if his country would be supportive of a no fly zone, if on the Council. He amiably declined to answer. At least he came to the microphone.

While there was bragging about African support for the suspension, the Democratic Republic of Congo's Permanent Representative Ileka Atoki told Inner City Press his country was not a sponsor because the DRC has been accused of things without them being verified.

Inner City Press asked DRC's Ambassador Atoki about Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's charge that Cote d'Ivoire's defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo was importing three attack helicopters from Belarus, and he only laughed. Even a diplomat from anti-Gbagbo Burkina Faso said that Ban had badly erred. We'll have more on this.

Angola and Libya Poised for Human Rights Council, Georgia - Russia Fight Next Year?

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/hrc1libya051210.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 12 -- There are only 14 candidates for the 14 seats on the Human Rights Council up for election on May 13. Despite opposition from some groups and requests by others, this almost certainly means that each of the 14 candidates, including Libya and Angola, will get elected to three year terms on the HRC, a body which last year converted a draft condemning the Sri Lankan government's murder of civilians into a final resolution praising the government.

In Libya, political opponents are imprisoned and disappear. In Angola, poor people are summarily evicted to make way for projects, while oil revenue continues to disappear. There are only two examples.

The one contested race that loomed for May 13 involved Iran running for a seat. The country withdrew, however, in exchange for a spot on the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Click here for Inner City Press' Q&A with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about how Iran would use that seat. US Ambassador Susan Rice, being criticized for not opposing this Iran seat, may speak on the topic after Thursday's vote.

In the run up to the election, Inner City Press asked the representatives of two NGOs calling for the casting of empty ballots what they thought of the place of human rights in the UN since Ban Ki-moon took over in 2007. "Kofi Annan was good on these issues," replied Tom Melia of Freedom House. "That's my answer."

Hillel Neuer of UN Watch was more diplomatic, later providing Inner City Press with a detailed explanation of how the voting could go on May 13. He was responding to questions Inner City Press asked the spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Ali Treki of Libya:

Inner City Press: Sure, Jean Victor. There was a presentation here in the UN by two NGOs about the upcoming vote for the Human Rights Council, countries to be on it. Among other things, they were urging, you know, I guess Member States, to vote against Libya and some certain other candidates for it. But it was unclear since the regional, and I couldn’t really get a straight answer from them how this would work, if the regional groups put forward only you know, two names for two African slots. If in fact a country like Libya were not to receive the 97 affirmative votes, what would be the procedure to actually, to fill that slot? I mean, what is, is being named by a regional group an automatic that you get the seat or is there some, do they have some basis to say that by choosing not to vote, this would somehow reopen it and another country could be elected?

Spokesperson Jean Victor Nkolo: I think we have to allow the General Assembly proceedings to be implemented in the full transparency that the Member States usually apply on these processes. Nothing is sealed, nothing is automatic. That’s why you have a vote. And there are…

Inner City Press: The vote is for two spots, with only two candidates. What happens if people choose not, just choose, as these two NGOs were urging, not to vote for one of the two. Then…?

Spokesperson: There are many votes in the General Assembly and in other organs, and in other proceedings of the UN when you have a limited number of candidates or in some other instances, many candidates. So, we should really not make a pronouncement on this very specific case. I will not comment on the particular of a specific country.

Inner City Press: [inaudible] I’m asking about the procedure, because they seem to be urging people to simply not, you know, not vote, and that this would somehow, you know, this could have an effect, is what they were saying. They were also saying that if people write in another country, that under the GA rules that is not supposed to be recorded as a vote for another, for somebody that is actually not on the ballot. But they say that it is.

Spokesperson: What I will be very happy to do is to put you in touch with our colleagues in the General Assembly Affairs who deal with these very complex, intricate proceedings. But, I believe that Member States should be given not only the chance, but also should be accepted as partners in these proceedings and they implement it quite fairly and transparently. If you do not have many candidates or if proceedings lead to the conclusion that you take these are your own conclusions. But…

Inner City Press: What I am asking, just to be clear, I am asking, this was done, this was inside the UN, it was Freedom House and UN Watch, they had a list, they have a report out; may be you can ask the President Ali Treki if has any response to this type of lobbying by NGOs. I just wanted to, you know, it’s a procedural…

Spokesperson: Well, this is lobbying by NGOs. This has nothing to do with Member States, per se. But, I will still ask the questions, and we will try to find out on the proceedings side. But these are proceedings that are set and that have to be implemented for the time being. I really see no procedural problem that might have been infringed, per se.

Neuer of UN Watch clarified:

Hi Matt, I saw your question to Jean Victor.... First, please note that officially the regional groups are not the ones who decide nominees, as you had indicated. Each country officially can decide on its own. In practice, however, we all know it doesn’t work that way, and that they tend to negotiate among themselves in the regional groups.

Here is how the process works, as diplomats told us, based on UNGA Rule of Procedure 94. A candidate may announce up itself to the actual first round of voting, but we have never seen anyone wait that long to announce. So regarding Libya on the African list — assuming it remains what we call a “closed slate” of 4 names for 4 spots — if Libya doesn’t get 97 the first time, leaving an empty space on the African list, there are two more rounds held for that remaining place. Only Libya’s name would appear on the ballot.

If there is still no conclusive outcome after these 3 rounds of the 1st ballot, the 2d set of three rounds begins and any name may be written in, not only those on the first three rounds. This is called “unrestricted” balloting. (It rarely goes this far.) A “new” candidate does not take the microphone and say “we’re running”, rather the delegates mull about the room and murmur as to what country may be interested/available/desirous/amenable/etc. to being placed on the ballot (this could all be pre-cooked, of course.) This scenario plays out very, very infrequently. It goes back to “restricted” for three and “unrestricted” again for three until there is an outcome.

Neuer also answered 3 questions from Inner City Press:

Q - What do you think will happen on May 13?

Neuer of UN Watch -- Unless Ambassador Susan Rice and her EU colleagues do what UN Watch and 30 other NGOs asked them to do today — lead a campaign to stop Qaddafi — I fear that the “closed slate” politics will win the day and Libya will be elected, along with all the others whom we rated as non-qualified or questionable. Let there be no mistake: the election of Libya will be the most damaging thing the 4-year-old Council has done to date. It’s not just the brutality of the regime, but also the folly that its leader exemplifies. He continues to hold a Swiss businessman hostage in a Libyan jail; last week he gave an interview calling for the dismemberment of Switzerland, which he called “a mafia”; now he’s sending an envoy to the Swiss-based council?

Inner City Press: What do you think of HRW's strategy of seeking commitments from those who are going to run and win, as they put it?

Neuer of UN Watch – I think it’s well-intentioned, but question whether the ones who really need to be held accountable will provide the rope with which to hang them.

Inner City Press: What do you think of next year's battles on the horizon?

Neuer of UN Watch – The new membership will make the OIC even more powerful and lower the democratic minority even further.

A seeming highlight for next year will be Georgia running for a seat, which Russia is expected to oppose. Inner City Press has asked the Russian Mission -- which said generally that Russia loves the Georgian people, just not the government -- watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/hrc1libya051210.html