Inner City Press Asks *NSR Christof Heyns About Lankans Killed in Sri Lanka & Saudi, Stop Killer Robots Talks, US and UK

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 30 -- When the UN's Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Christof Heyns held a press conference on October 30, his topics were foreign nationals facing the death penalty and best practices in investigations. Inner City Press asked Heyns about Sri Lankans and others executed in Saudi Arabia, and the shrinking of the promised investigation into killings in Sri Lanka in 2009. Video here.

  Heyns said he had a case or cases about Sri Lankans in Saudi Arabia; he was generally upbeat about the process in Sri Lanka, saying there will be Commonwealth judges. Inner City Press might ask, what about Shavendra Silva? What about the UN's own role in the White Flag killings? Secretary General Ban Ki-moon almost reflexively calls for investigations. But what does the UN actually do?

   Inner City Press also asked Heyns about the (Stop) Killer Robots issues, specifically about the US and UK only agreeing to talk about “emerging” - that is, future - technologies, and not “existing” ones.Video here. (From Minute 4:36.) Heyns said yes that is the issue. We'll have more on this.

On October 22 when UN Rapporteur of Freedom of Expression David Kaye held a press conference before his appearance before the UN's Third Committee, his topic was whistleblower protection, on which the UN itself is particularly weak.

 When called on, Inner City Press asked Kaye about retaliation against UN official Anders Kompass for blowing the whistle on alleged child rapes by French troops in the Central African Republic. Video here and embedded below.

  Kaye said he would avoid speaking about individuals cases, but said that the UN suffers from a lack of transparency. He should know that while UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous is listed in the Kompass ruling(s) of the UN Dispute Tribunal as trying to get Kompass fired, Ladsous has refused to answer on his role, other than a terse “I deny that.” 

 Likewise, Ladsous has claimed the right to refuse to respond to ANY Press questions, in which the UN Spokesperson's Office has taken to backing him up. (When Ladsous did speak, he linked the peacekeepers' rapes to “R&R,” here.)

  Earlier this month, Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access asked if UN Peacekeeping's MONUSCU mission had any comment or action on Burundian journalist Egide Mwemero being silenced then arrested in Eastern Congo. So far, none. These are cases Kaye could work on.

  Free speech ironies at the UN were on display right in Kaye's press conference. The representative of the UN Correspondents Association, which among other things took funds from now-indicted David Ng's South South News and then give it an award, and gave Ng a photo op with Ban Ki-moon at Cipriani, demanded to ask the first question, even claiming that the UN Department of Public Information has granted this “right” in writing. Where?

  In fact, UNCA leaders tried to get the Press thrown out of the UN, with missives to DPI, one of which (from Voice of America) was released under the US Freedom of Information Act, another of which Reuters' bureau chief has gotten Banned from Google on the claim that his anti-Press complaint was copyrighted. Is this is whistleblower? UNCA has become the UN's Censorship Alliance. We and the new Free UN Coalition for Access will have more on this, and on free speech issues through the UN system. 

At UN, Only Brazil, Canada & Slovakia Raise Egypt, Bolivia on Spying, Debate on Terrorism and Killer Robots

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 19 -- With over 50 speakers in the UN Security Council Monday on the "Protection of Civilians," less than a week after hundreds of unarmed civilians were killed in Egypt, how many countries would raise it?

Only three, it seems. When Egypt's Permanent Representative Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil, who on August 15 told Inner City Press of the UN's Jeffrey Feltman's trip, spoke past 5 pm he criticized "three delegations" for raising Egypt in their speeches. (Inner City Press is putting his prepared speech, which did not specify the number of delegations, online here.)

  One of these, Canada, did so to focus on "unconscionable attacks on Coptic Orthodox and Anglican churches and on Baptist and Franciscan institutions," through its Permanent Representative Guillermo Rishchynski.

  Another, Slovakia, mentioned it -- but was confused with Slovenia by more than one other delegation.

  Deputy Permanent Representative Regina Dunlop of Brazil, expert in Responsibility While Protecting, said that "the escalation of-violence against civilians demonstrating in Egypt is a source of grave concern... We call for dialogue and conciliation so that the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people for freedom, democracy and prosperity be achieved without violence, with respect for human rights and with the full return of the democratic order."

  It was not Brazil that brought up the UK's nine-hour detention of Brazilian citizen David Miranda, partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald -- it was Bolivia's Permanent Representative Sacha Llorenti who did. 

   But the UK did not offer any right of reply at the end: this was left to Israel, disagreeing with Navil Pillay about Gaza, and then Syria, which cited the occupied Golan.

  Namibia expressed its opposition to the use of robots to protect civilians.

  The philosophical stand-off or loophole was captured by Turkey, which argued that counter-terrorism is not "armed conflict." 

  But who gets to define it? Egypt says, emblazoned on its state TV, that it is fighting terrorism, as does Syria pointing at Al Nusra and ISIS. Sri Lanka said it did what it did in the north as counter-terrorism. The Democratic Republic of Congo called the M23 rebels terrorists. This is the UN. Watch this site.