At UN in Geneva, US Dodges on Drones and Spying, Stop & Frisk and Haiti Deportations

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 14 -- When the US delegation to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva took the floor on March 14, it was a full court press. A Native America staffer of the Mayor of Salt Lake City sung the US' praises, assurances were given about "so-called drones or remotely piloted aircraft."

  But of the elephant in the room, NSA spying, the speaker from the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice used a single line: DOJ is "monitoring" a number of private action. You don't say.

  The head of the US delegation, Mary McLeod, said but did not explain why the US Administration has "no current expectation to become a party to the optional protocol" to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -- which the US says does not apply to its actions outside of its borders. 

 This seems noteworthy right now as the US talks of Russian actions in Crimea.

  On the New York City stop and frisk program, the DOJ speaker acknowledged that the Department had taken no position on the facts; he noted the appeal filed by former Mayor -- and now UN official -- Michael Bloomberg, but that Bill De Blasio as withdrawn the appeal.

On immigration, Alabama House Bill 56 on immigration verification came up, with the US saying it was "on the ground" in Alabama to make sure it didn't block undocumented children from schooling. One almost expected to hear that NSA surveillance could help in these local goals.

The morning session closed with a slew of questions: Walter Kalin asked why the US deports people to Haiti even amid the cholera epidemic -- for which, Inner City Press notes, the US has said the UN should be immune. 

 Others questioned forced medication of those detained, lack of legal protection for farm workers and abuses in the guest worker program and, yes, Prism and NSA spying. And they they broke for a Geneva lunch. This is the UN. Watch this site.

   

On Yemen, Amnesty For Saleh Hit by Human Rights Committee, Dodged by SC

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 29 -- Yemen was addressed by the UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Committee on Thursday. The former, with power, declined to comment on Ali Saleh's impunity. The latter, without power, said that the Amnesty Law should be repealed.

On March 14, Inner City Press reported on an ill-attended Human Right Committee session at which Yemen's new Human Rights Minister Hooriah Mashour said, among other things, that there had been "two thousand martyrs" during the uprising against Saleh, and that the US had killed civilians with drones at Majala. Click here for Inner City Press' March 14 report.

On March 29 when the Human Rights Committee released its "concluding observations" on Yemen, Inner City Press asked Commissioners Krister Thelin and Lazhari Bouzid what they had done with the 2000 casualty figure, much high than that used for example by the UN, on Saleh's impunity and the US drone issue.

Thelin said that "each government is responsible for what happens" on its territory. Apparently they will not be reviewing the US drone strikes, even as the UN itself under Peacekeeping chief Herve "The Drone" Ladsous is moving toward using unmanned surveillance vehicles, as first exposed by Inner City Press last week.

On amnesty, Thelin directed Inner City Press to Paragraph 6 of the concluding observations, which says "The State party should repeal Amnesty Law No. 1 of 2012."

By contrast, when Inner City Press asked outgoing Security Council president Mark Lyall Grant about Saleh, he replied that he did not want to discuss any particular individual:

Inner City Press: On Yemen, in the Presidential Statement, where it says those who violated human rights should be held accountable. How should people read that with regard to Ali Saleh, the former President, who’s been widely charged with human rights violations, and on Mali it’s said that these ECOWAS Presidents couldn’t fly in, that they were blocked at the airport, the town of Kidal is about to fall. Does the Council.... do you expect during your Presidency to take up Mali again, is that your information, and what’s happening in terms of the Council and this coup d’état in Mali?

Amb Lyall Grant: I don’t want to comment on latest developments in Mali because I’ve been in the Council all morning so I’m not abreast of the latest developments on that. On the question of accountability, yes, the Presidential Statement made clear that all those guilty of crimes against humanity for acts of terrorism should be held accountable. That is the principled view of all Council members and it is included in the Presidential Statement because we believe it should apply in all cases. I don’t want to comment though on particular individuals in the case of Yemen. Thank you."

So when will the Human Rights Committee take up Mali? This session, it considered Cape Verde which has not filed any report in 18 years. Thelin noted that the Cape Verde Permanent Representative, a fixture around the UN, did come to the session, but couldn't answer the questions. The session was open, but how many people or journalists attended?

Footnote: On Turkmenistan, Inner City Press asked Thelin if the UN's projection that opening a regional center in the country would help to open it up, and if UNDP programs on human rights lead to improvements the Committee can see. He called Turkmenistan still a closed society, and said that UNDP programs have "no direct effect" on the human rights issues the Committee reviews. Your tax dollars at work.

As Yemen Rights Debated in Half Empty Room, Saleh Impunity Defended

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 14 -- Yemen's human rights record was debated Wednesday in a less than half full UN conference room. Minister Hooriah Mashour faced questions from the members of the UN Human Rights Committee, on topics ranging from women's rights through drones to the immunity deal for Ali Saleh.

Ms. Mashour's responses did not begin until 5 pm, and for nearly an hour she focused on women's rights, saying that in her ten years -- that is, in Ali Saleh's times -- she has received few to no complaints of marital rape, "it is not a problem in Yemeni society."

She acknowledged that parts of the country are under the control of Al Qaeda and of the Houthis, and that southerners were forced to retire from the military, but may be compensated.

Finally at 5:48 pm she addressed the "amnesty law," calling it difficult but "we opted for the immunity versus the transitional justice. We gave immunity at the same time that we had to go for a frank dialogue between the parties concerned... to keep in the national memory of our nation."

This issue of impunity was considered a hot one not long ago. Now with much focus transferred to Syria, the UN room for Yemen is mostly empty. In it there was talk of UN Assistant Secretary General, and major Ban Ki-moon adviser, Amat Al-Alim Alsoswa, who was an Ali Saleh era minister.

"As for extrajudiary killings," Hooriah Mashour continued,, "we do not have enough information on this issue. We tackled with the USA regarding the unmanned vehicles, there were certain manuevers in the Arab Sea and the Gulf. However there was not enough transparency. How come civilians who had nothing to do with terrorism... like in Majala... this is bothering us, especially that the victims are civilians."

Sounds like the US in Pakistan. Or Afghanistan. Or Somalia, if you follow it. So where is the US response? Watch this site.

Footnote: Before the "open" session reported on above, there was a closed session of briefings by human rights groups, including AlKarama about which Inner City Press has previously reported. Now the group's executive director Mourad Dhina has been arrested by France, which talks such a big game about human rights. We hope to have more on this.

Nkunda and UN's Expulsion of NGO Not Considered by Rights Committee

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/hrun1rwanda040309.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 3 -- The UN Human Rights Committee, which has held most of its just-concluded session in New York in meetings closed to the press and public, emerged Friday to speak at length in what was called a press conference on three countries -- Rwanda, Australia and Sweden -- leaving less than ten minutes for questions.

Inner City Press asked if the Committee's consideration of Rwanda included support given to militia leader Laurent Nkunda in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and, separately, the issue of criminalizing the use of the names of ethnic group, Hutu, Tutsi and Batwa.

Committee member Ruth Wedgwood, who had spoken at length about Rwanda and Sweden, said that support of Nkunda has not been considered, adding "the ICC has a case on him, if I recall." But International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has not indicted Nkunda, but only his deputy Bosco, who now apparently works, like the UN, with the DRC's army.

Ms. Wedgwood said the situation of the Batwa had been discussed -- "with the Ambassador, who's here," she said, pointing. Rwanda's Permanent Representative Joseph Nsengimana was sitting in the press briefing room, taking notes. Often, diplomats are barred from the briefing room unless their Mission sponsored the presentation. Despite Ambassador Nsengimana's always pleasant demeanor, whether the general limitation to attendance to the press should be violated to let in representatives of the countries being reported on is something the UN should consider.

Inner City Press also asked the panel, which had twice mentioned receiving information from non-governmental organizations or NGOs, if they were aware that the UN's Committee on NGOs recently disbarred at least for a year the human rights NGO Arab Commission on Human Rights. As Inner City Press covered exclusively, Algeria complained that ACHR in Geneva had let a person speak who was, Algeria said, a terrorist. The group was disbarred. Inner City Press asked if the Human Rights Committee monitors the expulsion of some human rights groups from the UN. No, Ms. Wedgwood said, I am not aware of their hearing process. It seems like something the Committee should be concerned about.

There was only one other questioner, about the just-announced appointment of Richard Goldstone as part of the Gaza investigation by the Human Rights Council. (The Council is made up of governments, the Committee by "independent experts.") Panelist Nigel Rodley replied drily that the Committee does not cover current events. Committee head Yuji Iwasawa, however, did say that drafting of a General Comment on Article 19, freedom of expression, has begun. One wonders how it might related to the Council's recent resolution against the "defamation of religion." On that, Inner City Press asked earlier if Ban Ki-moon had any comment. He did not.

There was no time on Friday to ask Australia questions, and only one on Sweden: an extradition threatened in 2008 back to Eritrea, which the UN's own Committee on Torture complained about (and stopped, or delayed). The Human Rights Committee, in considering Sweden's implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, apparently did not consider this case. Given the number of closed meetings that they had, one wonders what they do.

Footnote: A fourth country, Chad, was let off the hook because its delegation arrived late and nothing could be scheduled. They will re-appear in Geneva in July. So who paid for the failed trip to New York, and what did the Chadian delegation do?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/hrun1rwanda040309.html