At UN, Midnight for Commission on the Status of Women, on Sovereignty & "Delay of Sexual Debut," Scribes & Censors Absent, FUNCA in the House

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 21 -- It was past 11 pm on Friday night but the UN Commission on the Status of Women had not wrapped up its work. At issue was a line in the Malawi sponsored resolution on HIV and AIDS about encouraging "delay of sexual debut." A reference to reducing the number of partners had already been removed.

  There were other disputes, as delegates told Inner City Press, about reproductive rights, family diversity and a new one: sovereignty. 

  A Western diplomat complained to Inner City Press that "the vast majority of countries agree to the language from last year." But of course something is different this year: Ukraine, and Crimea. (Click here for an article on Beacon Reader.)

  A pro-choice Arab delegate told Inner City Press that the hard-liners on reproductive rights were Qatar, which sponsored a stealth event on Syria earlier on Friday, covered here, and Sudan. Inner City Press asked a Sudanese diplomat who said no, its position was on behalf of the African Group.

  The original source scoffed, Sudan wants to pick up political support on Darfur and Abyei by being the lead on this culture war issue. And perhaps it is so: this is the UN.

  In the house, or basement Conference Room 3 in this case, were Permanent Representatives from such countries and Norway and Switzerland, the Philippines and Egypt. There was the deputy of Nigeria, usually upstairs in the Security Council, and a young delegate from South Sudan.

  It was a classic and telling UN moment, including the fact that the scribes of the UN Correspondents Association, whose president Pamela Falk and sidekick Evelyn Leopoldrepeatedly demanded the first question this month about the CSW, were nowhere to be seen. 

    There were hard working internal journalists, including a "Green P" -- non resident -- and one resident correspondent from Egypt. There was a single wire service reporter who believes in the issue. There was Inner City Press, and there was the Free UN Coalition for Access. This is how and where the real work of the UN gets done. But the scams and censorship continues upstairs. Watch this site.

   

Ethiopia Minister Who Un-Tweeted Gay Rights Is Still Listed as CSW Speakers As Vallaud-Belkacem Cancels Presser: Minova or Mistral?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 11 -- Among the listed speakers at the UN Commission on the Status of Women is Ethiopia's Zenebu Tadesse, as Speaker Number 42. 

  Back in Addis, her re-tweets of messages supporting gay rights led her to say that these in fact were not her tweets. Now some wonder, will she be Ethiopia's speaker, and what happens next?

    Meanwhile in other CSW news, when French minister on the rights of women Najat Vallaud-Belkacem came to the UN last March for the Commission on the Status of Women, Inner City Press asked her about the 135 rapes in Minova by two battalions of the Congolese Army which UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous supports.

  Then, Vallaud-Belkacem said that "time is the enemy" in rape investigations. In June 2013, when Inner City Press asked again, she acknowledged that there had not "yet" been enough arrests.

   Now it is March 2014 and there have been no convictions for the Minova rapes but Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to run UN Peacekeeping, continues to support the 41st and 391st Battalions of the Congolese Army, while refusing to answer Press questions.

  This is what France's domination of UN Peacekeeping and now more at the UN has come to: impunity, lack of accountability, statements like that of Ambassador Gerard Araud last week that "there is no Navi Pillay report" that France's disarming of ex Seleka in Central African Republic put Muslim communities at risk, but click here for that.

  What does Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a spokesperson for the government of Francois Hollande, now say one year later?

   She cancelled her 10:15 UN press conference at March 11, the day after French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud repeatedly refused to answer Press questions on France going forward with a sale of two Mistral warships to Russiaeven while denouncing Russian actions in Crimea and Ukraine.

 Fifteen months after two units of the Congolese Armycommitted over 100 rapes at Minova, "Sexual Violence in Conflict" was the topic of a panel discussion at the UN on March 6.  

   The UN's envoy on the topic, Zainab Bangura, praised Congolese president Joseph Kabila for his new focus on rape. But have there been any convictions at all for the 135 rapes 15 months ago?

  The Enough Project, which ran the event, promised that questions like this one, submitted on paper in the room and on Twitter, will be answered. We'll see.

  The head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous dodged Press questions about the Minova rapes for months, evendirecting his spokesperson to seize the microphone so the questions couldn't be asked. Click here for that video.

  On March 6 Ladsous was at it again, refusing to answer a Press question about allowing a UN-listed child soldier recruiter into "his" mission on Mali and prospectively in the Central African Republic. At the UN, grandiose speeches are given, but too often there is little follow through and no accountability.

 Here's a place to start: the US-trained 391st Battalion of the Congolese Army FARDC, which took part in the mass rape at Minova.

   That was more than 14 months ago, and yet at a February press conference by the UN Mission in the Congo MONUSCO, it was reported that in the already delayed interview of victims in Minova, interviewers spoke with barely a quarter of the more than 200 listed victims. Still no justice. 

  Again: the 391st Battalion, one of two charged with the Minova rapes, was trained by the United States. (Click here for comment the US Mission to the UN provided to Inner City Press, which also first reported that Ambassador Samantha Power raised Minova to Joseph Kabila in October.) 

  Kobler acknowledged that the most recent hearing in the Minova case had been postponed, that witness statements have still not been taken. Video here, from Minute 6:32. 

  Given that the UN says it has a Human Rights Due Diligence Policy of not supporting army units engaged in abuses, how much longer will the UN accept this? Fifteen months and counting.

   Watch this site.
   

On Rapes by DRC Army, Belkacem Said “Time Is Enemy" - A Year Ago. With No Convictions Since, Now What?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 7 -- When French minister on the rights of women Najat Vallaud-Belkacem came to the UN last March for the Commission on the Status of Women, Inner City Press asked her about the 135 rapes in Minova by two battalions of the Congolese Army which UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous supports.

  Then, Vallaud-Belkacem said that "time is the enemy" in rape investigations. In June 2013, when Inner City Pressasked again, she acknowledged that there had not "yet" been enough arrests.

   Now it is March 2014 and there have been no convictions for the Minova rapes but Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to run UN Peacekeeping, continues to support the 41st and 391st Battalions of the Congolese Army, while refusing to answer Press questions.

  This is what France's domination of UN Peacekeeping and now more at the UN has come to: impunity, lack of accountability, statements like that of Ambassador Gerard Araud last week that "there is no Navi Pillay report" that France's disarming of ex Seleka in Central African Republic put Muslim communities at risk, but click here for that.

  What does Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a spokesperson for the government of Francois Hollande, now say one year later?

 Fifteen months after two units of the Congolese Army committed over 130 rapes at Minova, "Sexual Violence in Conflict" was the topic of a panel discussion at the UN on March 6.  

   The UN's envoy on the topic, Zainab Bangura, praised Congolese president Joseph Kabila for his new focus on rape. But have there been any convictions at all for the 135 rapes 15 months ago?

  The Enough Project, which ran the event, promised that questions like this one, submitted on paper in the room and on Twitter, will be answered. We'll see.

  The head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous dodged Press questions about the Minova rapes for months, evendirecting his spokesperson to seize the microphone so the questions couldn't be asked. Click here for that video.

  On March 6 Ladsous was at it again, refusing to answer a Press question about allowing a UN-listed child soldier recruiter into "his" mission on Mali and prospectively in the Central African Republic. At the UN, grandiose speeches are given, but too often there is little follow through and no accountability.

 Here's a place to start: the US-trained 391st Battalion of the Congolese Army FARDC, which took part in the mass rape at Minova.

   That was more than 14 months ago, and yet at a February press conference by the UN Mission in the Congo MONUSCO, it was reported that in the already delayed interview of victims in Minova, interviewers spoke with barely a quarter of the more than 200 listed victims. Still no justice. 

  Again: the 391st Battalion, one of two charged with the Minova rapes, was trained by the United States. (Click here for comment the US Mission to the UN provided to Inner City Press, which also first reported that Ambassador Samantha Power raised Minova to Joseph Kabila in October.) 

  Kobler acknowledged that the most recent hearing in the Minova case had been postponed, that witness statements have still not been taken. Video here, from Minute 6:32. 

  Given that the UN says it has a Human Rights Due Diligence Policy of not supporting army units engaged in abuses, how much longer will the UN accept this? Fifteen months and counting.

   Watch this site.
   

At UN on CSW, Kenyan Activist Denounces Harmful Traditions- UNCA 1st Questions?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 6 -- With the UN nearly full with delegates to the Commission on the Status of Women, a showdown is brewing on the question of the place of “tradition and culture” in the proposed outcome document.

  In that context, the UN held a press conference Wednesday morning top heavy with references to indigenous traditions and culture and violence against indigenous women and girls.

  As the second questioner, Inner City Press put queries to, after offering welcome from the Free UN Coalition for Access, to Agnes Leina, the Executive Director of Il’laramak Community Concerns in Kenya and Shimreichon Luithui-Erni, Program Coordinator of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact in India. Video here, from Minute 40:40.

  The question was, since tradition is being cited against the proposed outcome document, was it the speakers' intent to say that at least indigenous tradition should not be used in that way?

  Shimreichon Luithui-Erni of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact in India distinguished between “supporting the positive aspects” of tradition and the negative, that should be left behind. But who decided which is which?

  Agnes Leina of Il’laramak Community Concerns in Kenya said that the UN is full of talk about “HTP,” or “Harmful Traditional Practices,” giving as examples under-age marriage and female genital mutilation.

  She said that the way to proceed is to ask “strategic questions” about traditions that are not helpful. People says, it's always been this way, and you should ask both why and what benefit comes from it now?

  It brought to mind the supposed tradition of given the first question at (some) UN press conferences to the UN Correspondents Association, as was demanded and given on Wednesday morning (video here, from Minute 24), but caused a fiasco at the February 20 press conference of Evo Morales who did not accede to this “tradition.”

  Not only does this monopolization of the first question, now by UNCA members who were not elected but only pay dues, not provide any benefits -- it is, in the phrase used by Agnes Leina, a “Harmful Traditional Practice.”

  It is harmful because it props up the legitimacy of UNCA after its leaders devoted most of their meetings in 2012 to trying to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN. Click here to view June 20, 2012 request from Voice of America to the UN's Stephane Dujarric. Since then these UNCA leaders have sought to hold back a new, necessary journalist-defense organization, the Free UN Coalition for Access.

  They did this by tearing down flyers. FUNCA fought for a bulletin board separate from UNCA's glassed in exclusive board, which UNCA's Executive Committee used for months in 2012 to post a letter denouncing Inner City Press.

  They did it by opening at least four counterfeit social media accounts to anonymously attack people joining FUNCA and to send false message to UN Mission to undermine Inner City Press and FUNCA.

  Most recently, their ally in the UN Department of Public Information Stephane Dujarric a week ago sent a formal letter of complaint or threat to Inner City Press for having quoted and run audio of UNCA President Pamela Falk of CBS and her first vice president Louis Charbonneau of Reuters from a meeting which Inner City Press said loudly was on the record, and of which Falk said “he's going to write this up.”

  The false complaint by the UN, which was immediately challenged including by another attendee of the meeting,has not for one week and counting been withdrawn or explained. These are traditions that the UN or at least its Department of “Public” Information must leave behind. Watch this site.

On Rapes by DRC Army, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem Says “Time Is Enemy,” Will She Tell Ladsous?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 5 -- When French minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem took media questions at the UN on Tuesday, she brought up sexual violence in conflict, saying she'd met with UN expert Bangura on the topic.

  Inner City Press when called on asked her about Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row atop UN Peacekeeping, delaying three and a half months and counting in taking action of the 126 rapes in Minova by the Congolese Army, which his MONUSCO mission continues to support.

Ladsous refused to answer on Nov 27, Dec 7 and Dec 18 (video)

  Vallaud-Belkacem to her credit took the question seriously, saying that “time is the enemy” in rape investigations. 

  Precisely. 

 So why, after Ladsous on February 6 (after complaints by the Free UN Coalition for Access) told Inner City Press on camera that the UN knows the identities of the majority of the perpetrators, is the UN now continuing to wait for a Congolese investigation that is mostly not looking at rapes, and on rapes is looking elsewhere?

  Again to her credit, after mention France's work with the ICC, Vallaud-Belkacem asked if her answer was responsive. Inner City Press suggested, in France, that she raise the issue of the Minova rapes (and “time is the enemy”) to Herve Ladsous. 

  It's not Bangura who needs to hear it, and it seems no other UN official dares speak to Ladsous, or say that this emperor has no clothes. Vallaud-Belkacem might also consider that Ladsous unlike other (countries') Under Secretaries General has refused to make public financial disclosure. Watch this site.

Footnote: While waiting for Najat Vallaud-Belkacem to arrive, the focus of some in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium was on making sure that the UN Correspondents Association UNCA, increasingly known as the UN's Censorship Alliance, could get the first question. At the February 20 press conference by President Evo Morales of Bolivia, this turned into a fiasco. He did not want to call on UNCA, but UNCA insisted, repeatedly.

  This time it was not a problem: the French Mission to the UN was running the press conference, and they well know (some say use) UNCA. Still to the credit of the recently promoted spokesman (our au revoir to the last one is here), though somewhat inevitably, after a number of French journalists in a row, Inner City Press was allowed a question. 

 There appeared to be some push-back when the FUNCAwelcome and thanks were offered -- there shouldn't be, it is not or should not be French policy to have one-party rule in anything. Watch this site.

Bachelet on Congo Probes as CSW Teeters on Tradition, Censors Rewarded?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 4 -- When Michele Bachelet gave a UN press conference on Monday, Inner City Press thanked her, on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, and asked a long-pending question. What of UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous' seeming grace period for rapists within the Congolese Army he partners with?

  While Ladsous on February 6 said the UN knows the identity of the majority of the perpetrators of 126 rapes at Minova from November 20-22, so far the UN has not stopped working with anyone. They say they are waiting, still waiting, for the Congolese investigation to be finished.

  Bachelet said that sometimes the UN offers technical assistants for investigations, for example from the American Bar Association. But have they heard? And why would the Congolese authorities report on the guilt of battalions now fighting the M23 (and ACPLS and Mai Mai) rebels?

  It was the opening of the Commission on the Status of Women that brought Bachelet for the press conference. She was asked about the possibility that this year's CSW, like last year's, might end with no outcome document given the insistence of some countries on exemptions for “tradition and culture.”

  She said sometimes mutually agreeable language can be found, that action is most important. She said that of those women not covered by laws against violence, 70% “live in OIC countries” (referring to the Organization for Islamic Cooperation).

  Bachelet was asked by CNN Chile about her political ambitions back home. She declined to answer, saying her focus is on CSW. She has, or had, the cache and credibility to force reform at the UN. Here's hoping.

  Footnote: Before and after Bachelet's press conference, Inner City Press attended CSW events in the UN's North Lawn building. A 1:15 pm event was moderated -- and therefore promoted on Twitter -- by Voice of America's Margaret Besheer, who in 2012 led efforts to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Still moderating, still joshed at by the UN official in charge of Accreditation: this is the UN's position on censorship and accountability. At a 3 pm “High Level Panel,” the first speaker was Canada, bragging how seriously Canadian men and boys take the issue of violence against women. Next came Egypt; see here, above and what this site.

At UN, Churkin Says US Broke Solidarity on Syria, Mbeki Invited Mbeki, Qs on S. Sudan

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 4 -- When Russian Permanent Representative Vitaly Churkin took questions Monday about his upcoming month as President of the UN Security Council, Inner City Press asked him about Syria, Sudan and South Sudan.

  After deadly car bombing in Damascus also impacted the Russian embassy there, Churkin circulated a draft press statement, the same as is routinely adopted by the Council after such attacks. The US proposed an additional paragraph about the Assad government.

  Monday Churkin told Inner City Press this was a “killer” amendment, that the US had broken solidarity by proposing it.

  Inner City Press asked about the now biweekly Council sessions on Sudan and South Sudan. Churkin said they might be “excessive,” but this month Thabo Mbeki of the High Level Panel will be invited to one of the two sessions, set for March 12 and 27.

 Of the four Russian pilots killed when South Sudan shot down a helicopter in December, Inner City Press asked about the status of the investigation, and what the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) had told the pilots about the danger in the area.

  Churkin said he will meet with UNMISS chief Hilde Johnson on March 6, and has asked for a report from UNMISS before the Council's March 21 session on the Mission. There are other questions too, he said, about what the Mission is accomplishing.

  Of Russia's thematic debate on Afghanistan, Churkin was asked if “the Soviets” had invited the Taliban. Well, no. Churkin declined to answer a question if Russia was trying to undermine language in the Commission on the Status of Women by seeking exemptions for tradition and culture.

  Churkin quipped that it was clear the journalist does not respect tradition and culture, but declined to answer further.

  Inner City Press began by thanking Churkin for the briefing on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, and hoping to hear from him -- or, of course, Deputy Pankin -- at the stakeout throughout the month. The UN Department of Public Information, or at least one official under pressure, has tried to call into question FUNCA's right to press the UN for reforms. But as an analogy, FUNCA can be viewed as the CSTO to the others' NATO. Watch this site.

At UN, Ahmadinejad Defends Iran's Treatment of Women, Mocks Obama & Ban Ki-moon

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/iran1presser050410.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 4 -- When Iran dropped its candidacy for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council last month, some described it as restoring at least some credibility to the UN, as when Bosnia stepped in and beat out Belarus for a seat two years ago.

But when Inner City Press asked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Iran's successful replacement candidacy, for a seat on the UN Commission on the Status of Women, despite gender discrimination and repression, Ahmadinejad had a different and lengthy answer.

He said the switch was procedural, that Iran had always wanted the CSW seat more than the Human Rights Council, which within the Asia Group Pakistan was supposed to run for. Due to a misunderstanding, Ahmadinejad said, Iran temporarily made a grab for the HRC, before returning to the seat promised to it, on the Commission on the Status of Women.

But how does Iran intend to use the seat, Inner City Press asked, since it has refused to sign the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women? We will never sign that, Ahmadinejad vowed. He went to on paint of picture of "love and complementariness" in Iran.

Women won't do menial jobs in Iran, he said, nothing "like you and me, cleaning the street or driving a truck." He said he had read that 70% of married women in Europe suffer physical abuse, but refuse to complain for fear of losing their families. Women are better off, he concluded, in Iran than in Europe.

Ahmadinejad's answers came during a more than one hour long press conference held Tuesday across the street from the UN. The room in the Millennium Hotel was full, with journalists from the Daily News, Washington Post (which said it was not invited) and wires, and even Christiane Amanpour (who was not called on).

The moderator had taken a list of reporters who wanted to ask question, which Inner City Press arrive too late to sign. But having covered Iran's Nowruz receptions -- "be more positive next time," the Iranian mission admonished, leading Inner City Press to ask "or what?" -- the moderator nodded and allowed the question.

In fact, many journalists remarked that Ahmadinejad's press conference was more open and democratic than those of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, or the pre-screened stakeout by Hillary Clinton the previous day. There, the US State Department decided in advance which questions to take. At Iran's event, alongside some very pro Tehran question, questions were taken about for example the reports of North Korean weapons intercepted on their way to Iran.

We don't need weapons from them, Ahmadinejad answered. If America finds and seizes such weapons they can keep them. Regarding Ban Ki-moon, Ahmadinejad said that if the UN were in Tehran and Iran had a Security Council veto, Ban would never have spoken as he did on Monday. Asked repeatedly about sanctions, he said that if they go through, it will mean that US President Obama has "submitted" and been taken control of by a gang. This order, he said, will soon collapse.

But what of those arrested and disappeared after the contested elections? Ahmadinejad did not answer that question, fastening instead on the women's rights part of the question. Whether the Iranian mission will in the future allow such questions to be asked, and even answered, remains to be seen.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/iran1presser050410.html

As UN Invokes Immunity to Defeat Sex Harassment Case, UN Claims It's in Its Interest

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un1lubbers030310.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 3 -- While the UN this week is full of talk of women's rights, the UN has repeatedly invoked immunity to fight of the sexual harassment lawsuit of Cynthia Brzak, most recently in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. The UN not only said it is "absolutely immune against such cases, it also gave the impunity to former UN system employee Ruud Lubbers.

But when UN spokesman Martin Nesirky was asked about the widely reported case, he said that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has "no comment." Minutes later, when Mr. Ban's Advisor on Woman's Issues Rachel Mayanja was asked about the case, she claimed that the UN "does not invoke immunity easily." Video here, from Minute 11:10.

In fact, when Inner City Press asked UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq about the UN's failure to invoke immunity when two national staff members were arrested and allegedly tortured by the government of Sri Lanka last year, Haq conceded at the UN "normally" invokes immunity, article here.

On March 3, Ms. Mayanja said that UN only invokes immunity "if the interests of the Organization are at stake."

So does the UN have an "interest" is sexual harassment?

When Ruud Lubbers was questioned by the Press about the case, he offered to demonstrate. "Come here," he said on camera to a reporter, then patted him on the back. Video here, from Minute 10:30.

Lubbers said he would do that same to Nane Annan, the wife of then Secretary General Kofi Annan. Video here, from Minute 15:25. Soon thereafter he resigned.

Why then as the UN continued to insist that Ruud Lubbers should be immune? And why would it misspeak about it? We will continue to pursue answers, during and after the current Commission on the Status of Women meetings at the UN. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1lubbers030310.html