By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 9 -- The UN's report into the 135 rapes in Minova is notable for what it doesn't say.
It doesn't say that the chief of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous refused to answer Press questions about the rapes for four months, going so far as to have the UN Television microphone seized to try to avoid Inner City Press questions about the rapes. Video here and here.
It doesn't say that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself belatedly said, on December 5, 2012 when asked by the Press, that the UN was doing its "utmost" -- four month after that, there have been only two arrests for the 135 rapes.
It doesn't mention the double victimization controversy, in which medical records were demanded and obtained without the women patients' consent.
The omission of even this issue, of which not only Ladsous' Department of Peacekeeping Operations and MONUSCO, but also the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, are aware from the self-congratulatory review of the UN's actions calls the report into question. This UN will never improve, as evidenced by Ban Ki-moon's terse dismissal of claims DPKO brought cholera to Haiti, if it cannot admit and only covers up its negligence and malfeasance.
The OHCHR, aware of the role of Ladsous in the Great Lakes Region during the Rwanda genocide, should have done a better job in this report.
While the report does, as Ladsous refused to do for five months, name two of the battalions at issue, it doesn't mention that one was trained by the US, and the other has been linked with the Hutu genocidaires-linked FDLR militia.
Of the UN's partners in the Congo, the FARDC, it says this: "The FARDC also has a poor human rights record and its soldiers have for years been responsible for many gross human rights violations. Poor discipline of soldiers and officers alike stems in part from the repeated integration of former rebels into the national army without formal training, or vetting mechanisms to ensure accountability. The FARDC lacks basic equipment and logistics, soldiers are poorly and irregularly paid, while allegations of corruption, particularly among senior officers, are rampant."
But it does not mention that the new Intervention Brigade will operate in support of just this FARDC. What could go wrong? Watch this site.
Footnote: That much of the coverage of the UN's whitewash report also omits these issues has previously been alluded to,partially analyzed and even filmed, but expect more in this regard - because this is another reason this UN does not improve.
