By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 19 -- The day after the US and four European nations announced they'll put forward a resolution on Syria, the question persisted of whether a referral to the International Criminal Court will be included. France has said the ICC referral should be made.
When Inner City Press asked Germany's Deputy Permanent Representative Miguel Berger about the resolution, he said the four European and the US are already at work.
Inner City Press asked if an ICC referral would be included in the draft. Berger said that is being discussed, along with eying the upcoming Human Rights Council session on August 22.
Berger added that given events on the ground, it would be "very difficult for Russia" to oppose a resolution on Syria.
Inner City Press asked a representative of India, which holds the presidency of the Council for August, about a possible ICC referral. The response was negative, including because "there is no escape clause" - because even Article 16 deferral has yet to be used.
A European representative, from a country not currently on the Security Council, also expressed to Inner City Press skepticism about an ICC referral.
But the problems may run deeper. A representative of a veto-wielding Council member said that even a sanctions resolution would be problematic. "We just passed the PRST," the representative said, referring to the Presidential Statement adopted August 3. "The Council can't just keep making demands."
Meanwhile Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's acting deputy spokesman Farhan about Ban's read out of his call with Bashar al Assad, which recited that Assad said military and political operations had stopped -- did Ban think that was true?
The Secretary General thinks it should be investigated, Haq said for the second time. Does he not have a television?
Inner City Press asked if what Ban's Department of Political Affairs (DPA) chief Lynn Pascoe told the Council -- that Assad "implied" operations were over -- was different from Ban's read out. Haq said that Pascoe and DPA were responsible for the read out.
Other Ban Administration sources say they disagreed with the inclusion in Ban's read out of what Assad said. But they were apparently overruled. Watch this site.
