Islamic State in Iraq & Syria Abuses in Mosul Called Beyond UN Commission of Inquiry's Scope

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 25 -- After the UN Security Council met behind closed doors with the Syria Commission of Inquiry's Paulo Sergio Pinheiro and Karen AbuZayd, the two Commissioners and UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant came to take questions from the press.

  Karen AbuZayd spoke of abuses not only by the government but also, in response to a question, by what she called the Islamic State of Iraq and [Syria], ISIL. 

  Inner City Press when called on asked her about ISIS' takeover of border crossing, renaming as Islamic State and attacks on non-Sunni Muslims in Mosul.

In this context, what did she think of hers or another Commission of Inquiry covering the group's abuses in Iraq as well? Bigger picture, does the state by state focus of the UN make sense in this context?

  AbuZayd said she prefers not to call them “Islamic State,” it give them too much credit. Pinheiro resisted any talk of expanding his Commission's mandate -- Syria is enough.

  A US state media asked about foreign fighters, including pro-government; Pinheiro said that Hezbollah is the only group of foreign fighters he's away of.

 This is strange, given that the UN's own recent report on Syria humanitarian access notes that “on June 29, the Islamic State issued a statement announcing that the Caliphate included people from the following nationalities: Caucasian [sic], Indian, Chinese, Shami (Levantine), Iraqi, Yemeni, Egyptian, North African, American, French, German, and Australians." Watch this site.

Footnote: one wanted to ask AbuZayd about developments -- to put it mildly -- in Gaza, where she used to head UNRWA, but this too was deemed beyond the scope of the stakeout. Another former Gaza hand, John Ging, has been speaking on the topic this week. Perhaps we'll hear from Ms. AbuZayd. We'll be watching.

   

On Syria Chemical Weapons, Churkin Slams Psaki and Leak of P5 Talks, Says Carla Del Ponte Was “Very Clear” - But Where Is She?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 11 – Speaking to the press about chemical weapons in Syria for the second time in three days, Russia's Permanent Representative Vitaly Churkin on Thursday slammed the planned leak of Permanent Five Security Council members' failed negotiation of a resolution.

Churkin said the UK's Mark Lyall Grant convened the five Permanent members to discuss a draft resolution which would track the G8 statement as to chemical weapons. But, Churkin argued, that statement envisioned the team led by Ake Sellstrom coming up with a report for the Council to review and then act on.

The British drive on the wrong side of the road, Churkin jokes, and they got the order here wrong as well. His criticism, however, was of the immediate leaking “to the first journalist” around, that Russia blocked it. Churkin said he had the permission of China's Li Baodong to say China's position was identical to Russia's on this.

Churkin similarly criticized US State Department spokesperson Jennifer Psaki saying that Russia was blocking Sellstrom's probe, saying this is misleading about the Security Council's role in the probe. He reminded that it was Syria which asked for the probe in the first place, of the Khan al-Asal deadly incident in March.

Inner City Press asked Churkin if too much time has gone by for Sellstrom or anyone else to make meaningful conclusions based on a visit to Khan al Asal now. Churkin replied that since the team keeps pushing, they must feel it or something is possible.

Inner City Press also asked Churkin whatever happened with Carla Del Ponte, who said there were strong suspicions of rebel chemical weapon use, then essentially disappeared. This perspective was not in the Commission of Inquiry's report, and it was Paulo Pinheiro and Karen AbuZayd who presented it, both in Geneva and New York. Churkin replied that Del Ponte was “very clear.”

But the question remains: where is Carla Del Ponte? 

Footnote: There is scuttlebutt that outgoing CTBTO chief Tibor Toth may be rewarded by Ban Ki-moon with an Assistant- or even Under-Secretary General post. Conflict? Watch this site.

   

On Syria, Pinheiro Says No “Seal of Approval” for Rebels, Dodges on Chemical Weapons

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 21 – When the UN's Syria Commission of Inquiry briefed the Security Council then the media on Friday, commissioner Carla Del Ponte was not with them.

She famously spoke of strong suspicions that the rebels used chemical weapons – a statement nearly immediately undercut by others in the UN, including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Commission chair Paulo Pinheiro.

Pinheiro began his Friday stakeout by saying that everything he and co-panelist Karen AbuZayd said, Del Ponte agreed with.

Inner City Press asked about her previous statement on the rebels' use of chemical weapons, which was dropped from the panel's report. Pinheiro cited back to the press release, but went on to say that they have no proof of government use either.

It's doubtful that the US wants to hear this. Also, Inner City Press asked if the Commission keeps track of allegations against different parts of the armed opposition, Al Nusra versus the Free Syrian Army for example, and could give any “seal of approval.”

Pinheiro said it's all relative, and dismissed the idea that there are good guys. Again, with the US moving to provide arms to elements they will describe as good, this cannot be helpful.

Pinheiro and AbuZayd seemed surprised by the focus on chemical weapons. But since Obama has made that his red line, then had Ben Rhodes say that it was crossed, the focus was predictable. So is much else. Watch this site.

On Syria, UN's Amos Cites "Siege" by Rebels Near Aleppo and Idleb, Carla Del Ponte Disappears

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 -- UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos briefed the UN Security Council about Syria on Thursday then took questions from the media. Inner City Press asked how many international non-governmental organizations have gotten in, and about reported sieges by the armed opposition of such places as Nobol in Aleppo and Alfoa'a in Idleb. Video here, from Minute 13:03.

  Amos replied that yes, there are sieges. She said that four more NGOs have been allowed in, but are being slowed by bureaucracy.

  On June 21 it was said that the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria would brief first the Council then the press. But then it was said that only two of the three Commissioners were be there: Paulo Pinheiro and Karen AbuZayd.

  The third panelest Carla Del Ponte, who made news when she spoke of evidence pointing to the rebels' use of chemical weapons, has essentially disappeared. She did not take questions at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, and is not listed for the June 21 events at the UN in New York.

  Her statements was immediately undercut by Pinheiro and others in the UN. Is she lying low to get a UN job in the future? Watch this site.

Syria Rebels Used Sarin, UN's Del Ponte Strongly Suspects, Of UK's Trolls & Popova

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- Amid disputes of the scope of a UN chemical weapons probe in Syria, UN Human Rights Council appointee Carla Del Ponte has said this:

"Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas... on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities."

  Now the question is, how fast can the UN Human Rights Council, or Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, or in the Security Council the Permanent Three (France, UK and US) walk back from this?

  Del Ponte previously caused a stir when she reported on the extraction and sell of organs from Serbian prisoners of war. 

  But her work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia before that had been such that she was put on the HRC's Syria panel.

  Now this.

  Last week at the Russian mission, a Russian state media reporter Anastasia Popova showed some of her footage from eight months inside Syria. 

  Inner City Press asked her about chemical weapons. She replied she had been in Khan al Asal, and had eye witness testimony that chemical weapons use was by the opposition.

  At the next UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson if his prober, Ake Sellstrom, would take a look at the information Popova assembled inside Syria. (Popova said the HRC's Paulo Pinheiro panel, which includes Del Ponte, had been unwilling to.) 

  The answer was yes. Now this. Again, how fast can Ban, the HRC or really the P3 walk back from this?

Footnotes: When Inner City Press reported on the session at the Russian mission, anonymous social media accounts associated with Reuters and others of the UN Correspondents Association board quickly made the false allegation that Inner City Press must be funded by the Assad government, then asked the UN's Stephane Dujarric to dis-accredit Inner City Press -- just after "World Press Freedom Day."

  We've noted that the UK Mission, also on social media but at least like Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant under its own name, produced its own World Press Freedom Day video, with four short interviews at least two of which we'll review in another post.

The UK "quartet" included Tim Witcher of Agence France Presse, who on March 8, 2013 filed a false complaint with UN Security saying Inner City Press "abused" French head of Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous.

 It also included, from Reuters, not Louis Charbonneau but Michelle Nichols, who did the same. Higher tech than Witcher, Nichols is associated with UNCA's trolling social media accounts which falsely and anonymously accuses others of being funded by Assad or Sri Lanka's defunct Tamil Tigers, leading to death threats. 

  World Press Freedom Day, indeed. Watch this site.

Russian Reporter Shows Video of Beheadings by Syria Opposition, Rebuffed by UN's Pinheiro - & Sellstrom?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 [and see UNCA troll pushback, here] -- The Russian Mission to the UN on Tuesday hosted a presentation and Q&A by television journalist Anastasia Popova. The lights in the chandeliers were turned down; on a screen people were beheaded by the armed opposition in Syria.

  In the half light Popova asked a series of rhetorical questions: why does Western media not show this? Why is this footage, albeit in Russian, not used in the UN, where Russia is one of the six official languages?

  When the lights came up, Inner City Press asked not only Popova but also Russian Deputy Permanent Representative Pankin if, in fact, tv and news reports can be used in the Security Council.

  Ambassador Pankin took the microphone and explained an agreement in the Council not to use media as proof. He went on to muse that while CNN is much viewed in the US, not so much in France or Switzerland. He said that Al Jazeera is mostly viewed if you speak Arabic.

Al Jazeera English was at the event and seemed to bristle. In her presentation, Popova mocked Al Jazeera (as well as Reuters) by name; she said the rebels sold their footage to Arabic satellite channels.

  Once Pankin had finished, Popova added that she offered information in Geneva to Paulo Pinheiro's inquiry on Syria but was rejected. They interviewed refugees who'd left Syria, and didn't trust Popova's interviews. Regarding another skeptic, she recounted being accused of torturing those she interviewed.

Inner City Press asked a second question, about the the alleged use of chemical weapons at Khan al Asal. Popova said she was there. Inner City Press asked, on what basis are you saying it was an opposition attack? Eyewitnesses, she said. Would Ban Ki-moon's prober Sellstrom consider this?

  Many in the audience were from Western media -- Reuters, Agence France Presse, Voice of America. Their questions were cagey: how did Popova get access to the opposition, since they hate Russia? Didn't she admit that at first the Syrian opposition was peaceful, popular and for democracy? (She didn't).

When it was over, a Russian diplomat formerly with the mission but no longer recounted a meeting with the Department of Public Information about translating materials into Russian. But being shown now, this month, on DPI's UN Television is an outside show in which the president of the UN Correspondents' Association (who came late and asked nothing) gushes that everyone was ready for transition in Libya.

   Really? This is an issue Inner City Press, and the Free UN Coalition for Access, is working on. Watch this site.

[And see UNCA troll pushback, here]

UN's Syria Panel Chair Pinheiro Has No Info on Al-Nusra, Won't Say Funders Responsible

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 16 -- Human rights abused in and by Syria are denounced daily in the UN and elsewhere.

  But even the UN Security Council earlier this month condemned suicide bombings in Aleppo claimed by the anti-government Al-Nusra Front.

So one would expect the UN panel chaired by Paulo Pinheiro to have information and a position on Al-Nusra, and perhaps even its funders.

Inner City Press on October 16 asked Pinheiro about Al-Nusra, and Ansar al-Islam: is his panel collecting information on these groups? Does the "Responsibility" described in his panel's report extend to the funders of such groups? Video here, from Minute 28:22.

Pinheiro said no, "we don't have the specifics... we don't have the answer." On responsibility, he said it would be "very irresponsible" to answer that question. His fellow panelists Karen AbuZayd, formerly the head of UNRWA, did not choose to answer. Video here, from Minute 30.

Here's hoping that the two newly appointed panelists, Vitit Muntarbhorn and Carla del Ponte, can do a more serious job on this side of the panel's responsibility.

Footnote: At the end of the press conference, Pinheiro was asked if he had mentioned the International Criminal Court to the Security Council in last Friday's Arria formula meeting which Inner City Press covered in real-time. Pinheiro answered that it would have been rude.

But Permanent Representative Cabral of Portugal, which requested the meeting, afterward told Inner City Press that the ICC was raised by the panelists, with the admonition that of course a referral is up to the Security Council. Watch this site.

On Syria, Portugal Says ICC Cited in UNSC Arria Formula Meeting by Delegation, Another Delegation Dismissive

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

 

UNITED NATIONS, October 12 -- The was a meeting on Syria of UN Security Council diplomats on Friday morning, but it was low profile and many of the Council member's Permanent Representatives either didn't come or left early. As Inner City reported, the sign outside North Lawn Conference Room 6 referred only to a closed Arria formula meeting; no mention of Syria.

   Afterward Inner City Press asked Permanent Representative Cabral of Portugal, which organized the Arria formula meeting, "What happened in there?"

  Speaking exclusively to Inner City Press, Cabral replied that, "They brought to us the full horror of the situation. There was avery good phrase by Professor [Paulo] Pinheiro, that civil war breeds violence and ruthlessness and lack of rule of law. I find it very credible. They did try to do an honest job in the midst of a difficult circumstance. They have a balanced approach and I think an impartial one."

  Cabral paused. "Now, what do we do? In terms of human rights and ensuring accountability, and a way out of conflict [which will be] only a political one. As Professor Pinheiro said, increasing the military capacity of the opposition and government would only lead to more suffering. So, we must support Brahimi, we must create conditions for a peaceful negotiation."

  Inner City Press asked Cabral if the International Criminal Court had come up. Cabral nodded and said, "there were references from some delegations."

  The briefers, Inner City Press reported just after the meeting began included Assistant Secretary General Ivan Simonovic and two members of the Human Rights Council panel on Syria, not only the above (or Cabral) mentioned chairman Paulo Pinheiro but also member Karen AbuZayd.

  Cabral replied, "They did mention the ICC -- saying the responsibility is for the [Security] Council."

  Another delegation that DID speak to Inner City Press after the meeting snarked that "those who talk then most about this didn't even stay."

  Inner City Press asked and was told that Pinheiro and Abu-Zaid would hold a briefing for the press on Tuesday, October 16. Apparently they'll be in New York over the weekend until then. Why didn't or don't they speak publicly on Friday after the meeting? Watch this site.

At UN, Quiet Arria Formula Meeting on Syria and Human Rights, Wheel Spinning on Mali and Haiti?

By Matthew Russell Lee

 

UNITED NATIONS, October 12 -- With little fanfare, Security Council ambassadors filed into Conference Room 6 in the UN's North Lawn building Friday morning. The sign outside referred only to a closed Arria formula meeting; no mention of Syria. But that was the topic.

  An inquiry with the Presidency confirmed that this Arria formula meeting was called by Portugal, which told Inner City Press speakers included Assistant Secretary General Ivan Simonovic and two members of the Human Rights Council panel on Syria, chairman Paulo Pinheiro and member Karen AbuZayd (Carla del Ponte was appointed to fill out the panel on September 28 but apparently is not here).

  Inner City Press asked and was told that Pinheiro and Abu-Zaid would hold a briefing for the press on Tuesday, October 16. Apparently they'll be in New York over the weekend until then. Why not speak publicly on Friday? This is the UN.

  This too is the UN - after months of saying how dire the situation in northern Mali is, the Security Council is slated to adopt a French draft resolution later on Friday.

  But this resolution still will not authorize any action in or on Northern Mali, but rather ask for a plan in 30 days, or perhaps not even that specifically.

  Also Friday afternoon the Security Council is slated to extend the mandate of its Haiti mission MINUSTAH for yet another year. A protest is planned across First Avenue, under the banner "UN out of Haiti." But no one seems to hear.

   In the previous evening's US Vice Presidential debate, neither Haiti or even Mali, despite the Al Qaeda issue, were raised. And so it goes. Watch this site.

Pinheiro Won't Compare Syria to Myanmar, Annan Might Not Include Rights?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 23 -- Amid talk that the situation is Syria is the most deadly or brutal, Inner City Press on Friday asked the head of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria Paulo Pinheiro to compare it to Myanmar, on which he previously reported. Pinheiro refused, saying comparison is "not useful." Why not?

Inner City Press earlier on Friday asked Joint Special Envoy (JSE) Kofi Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi a series of questions, including

"yesterday outside the Security Council's Arria formula meeting with the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, a number of Permanent Representatives told me of calls that the JSE should both insist that any monitoring mechanism include human rights monitoring and reporting AND that the JSE should be pushing the Assad government to allow entry into Syria by the International Commission of Inquiry. Please respond."

Spokesman Fawzi told Inner City Press, "the JSE is considering all options for the monitoring mechanism."

Unclear if that meant Annan would insist on a human rights component, which is for example missing in the recent UN mission to Abyei UNISFA, and in MINURSO in Western Saharan, Inner City Press asked all three Commission of Inquiry members if they think human rights must be included.

Pinheiro said he wouldn't tell Annan what to do. Yakin Erturk disagreed, saying the human rights must be a part of every mission in Syria.

Inner City Press asked asked Annan's spokesman Fawzi:

is there any answer yet to the question of whether the Kofi Annan Foundation has solicited (and if so, if it has received) funds in the past three years from Qatar, Saudi Arabia or the UAE or government aligned business interests or businesspeople in these three countries?

Can you disclose any more of the individuals in the JSE's box of consultants, even if not yet deployed or paid, but certainly if deployed or paid? What is Mr. Nicolas Michel's status?

Fawzi replied

"I do not have access to any information about the KA Foundation. Please contact Ms. McCoy for any questions about the KA Foundation. Let me stress that Mr. Annan has nothing to do with the KAF in his role as JSE. They are completely separate. No consultants at the moment. Nicholas Michel is not with the Mission at the moment."

But when Inner City Press asked Ms. McCoy, she referred the question to the UN, which has in turn referred it to Fawzi. This is getting circular. Watch this site.