At UN, Of North Korea Chemical Weapons Gear & Luxury Goods, Budget Fights & South Sudan Troop Contributing Countries

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 20 -- It was the Friday before Christmas when the UN's North Korea sanctions committee met. Afterward chairperson Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg emerged and said the report on the Cuba / Panama ship is not yet ready, that they had discussed three "older" cases.

  Two involved Syria, but not chemical weapons components, rather protective gear for chemical weapons. There were two cases of luxury goods, she said, but little discussion of them. She called them minor.

  One thought of Dennis Rodman. But Inner City Press asked Lucas when it was, she thought the ship report might be ready. She said she still hoped for the end of 2013. There are eleven days left.

  Lucas noted that beginning January 1 there will be five female Permanent Representatives in the Security Council's 15 seats, with the possibility of going up to six. In the General Assembly, she said, there are now 30 female Permanent Representatives, of 193, the highest level ever.

  She said women should be involved with peace and security are discussed. Inner City Press wonders: would more women on the Council have pushed UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous to stop covering up the Congolese Army's mass rapes in Minova? We'll see.

  Elsewhere in the North Lawn building, the UN budget fight was heating up, with a "long weekend" to come. Inner City Press asked about it at the day's noon briefing and got something of an answer, which it will paste below for now. We'll have more.

  On the way to the North Korea meeting, UN Peacekeeping's closed door meeting with Troop Contributing Countries on South Sudan was letting out. Sources told Inner City Press that while some peacekeepers "have been evacuated, some were not able to get out."

UN Peacekeeping or the UN Spokesperson's office should be providing more information, but instead the Spokesperson has announced no briefing next week. And Ladsous' DPKOdribbles information, often false or incomplete, only to handpicked scribes who will provide positive coverage. So what will happen in coming days and, in the case of the North Korea ship, by the end of the year? Watch this site.

Subject: your question on the ACABQ
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 1:57 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

The Secretary-General has expressed the view that the General Assembly may wish to give consideration to the service of the members of the Advisory Committee becoming available full time.

Given the volume and complexity of the issues before it, consideration could be given as to whether the present working arrangements of the Advisory Committee are any longer optimal to enable the Committee to maximize its utilization of the expertise of its members in support of the requirements of the General Assembly and other governing bodies.

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On DPRK, UN Draft Has Exemption for Diplomats' UN Travel, Zeroes in on Yachts, Jewelry

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 5 -- Two hours after US Ambassador Susan Rice circulated a draft resolution on North Korea's February 12 nuclear test to UN Security Council members, a self described “Security Council Diplomat Familiar With the Negotiations” (or Text) described and answered questions about the text.

The diplomat, dubbed SCDFWN or, here, “ScudFawn” said among other things that the draft resolution has precedent setting travel elements -- to kick out of countries anyone working for particular entities -- as well as banking provision based on Iran sanctions.

ScudFawn said the draft deals with North Korean diplomats “who abuse their diplomatic privileges.”

Inner City Press asked ScudFawn if this might apply to Democratic People's Republic of Korea diplomats at the United Nations, and how that could be consisted with the UN's Host Country Agreement.

ScudFawn, familiar with the text, answered that the draft has a line on this issue, stating that nothing in the travel bans or kick out of territory provisions can be read as impacting North Korean diplomats' travel to UN headquarters.

But once in New York, it seems, violations of the Vienna Convention such as abuse of diplomatic pouches could result in expulsion.

In provision likely to be widely reported, ScudFawn said the draft is more specific about luxury goods, listing for example jewelry and yachts.

One imagines, too, joked about the trip of Dennis Rodman. At last night's Council on Foreign Relations session with Michael Posner, reported by Inner City Press, Posner was asked about Rodman's trip. Posner said he liked Rodman when he was with the Chicago Bulls, that's it. Rim shot, no rebound. Watch this site.