Peackeepers' Child Rapes in Central African Republic May Not Be In Statistics, Inner City Press Asks Lithuania PR, Watchlist Report

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 10 -- When a rare UN press conference on children in the Central African Republic was held, featuring Raimonda Murmokaite, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the UN and Janine Morna of Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict on September 10, Inner City Press went to ask about peacekeepers' child rapes in the country, and their impact. Video here.

   Ambassador Murmokaite, who recently visited CAR, had cited data from the CAR Task Force of 34 rapes from January to June, 2015. Inner City Press asked if this figure included the rapes ascribed to UN Peacekeepers, and to the French Sangaris Force. She replied that the figure was for rapes by “parties to the conflict.” But does that include the peacekeepers?

   While some might say that peacekeepers (at least UN peacekeepers, as distinct from French forces like Sangaris, or Licorne in Ivory Coast, which act as parties to the conflict) are not parties to conflict, the mandate for example of some parts of MONUSCO in the DR Congo are akin to parties to a conflict. So this question remains unanswered.

   Later on September 10 as UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous exited a closed door Security Council session about CAR, Inner City Press asked him when he will, at least, answer questions about peacekeepers' rapes. Ladsous did not answer. Periscope video here.

   Watchlist's report, “Vulnerable Students, Unsafe Schools: Attacks and Military Use of Schools in the Central African Republic,” is well worth reading; it is online. Watchlist has done work on the peacekeeper sexual abuse issue; here's hoping they do more.
   

Watchlist On Abuse in Nigeria Including By Army, Question of UN Peacekeeping Including DR Congo in UN's Central African Republic Mission

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 4, more here -- Not only kidnappings by Boko Haram but also abuses by Nigeria's Army and "self-defense" forces were cited on September 4 in a report by the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict.

  Inner City Press asked Watchlist's Janine Morna, author of the report, if Watchlist thinks UN Peacekeeping should review the participation of Nigerian soldiers, and to comment on Herve Ladsous' UN Peacekeeping saying it will use the DR Congo Army in its new mission in the Central African Republic.

  On the latter, Watchlist's Morna said she wasn't aware of that decision by UN Peacekeeping. Inner City Press followed up by citing the response of Babacar Gaye on August 19, citing "our boss Herve Ladsous," that the DRC Army will be included.

  We wondered then when Watchlist didn't follow up. Moderating on September 4 was Watchlist's board chair Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch. On other issues, HRW has lobbyists at the UN, including at the Security Council. Why not on this one? And why won't HRW and its lobbyist(s) disclose what topics the organization's Ken Roth raised to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon?

  We hope to have more on this - and on follow up on Watchlist's Nigeria report.

  What would it take for an army to be deemed to fail the supposed Human Rights Due Diligence Policy of UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous?

  The question is raised by the impending inclusion of units from the army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country with a large UN Peacekeeping mission, in the UN Peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic, MINUSCA. On its face, it strikes some as absurd.

  But the DRC army is also on the UN's list of child soldier recruiters. Shouldn't that by itself -- leaving aside the near total impunity for that army's 130 rapes in Minova in November 2012 - disqualify them from MINUSMA?

    UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous refused Press questions for months about the Minova rapes, video here. On the issue of the DRC Army being on the child soldier recruitment list, Inner City Press has been informed of concern in the Security Council, including from the chair of the Children and Armed Conflict Committee.

  But when Inner City Press asked Deputy Permanent Representative Peter Wilson of the UK, the Council's president for August, about the issue, he said that UN envoy -- and former UN force commander in the DRC -- Babacar Gaye had spoken about training for all troops joining MINUSMA. Transcript below.

   To Gaye himself, Inner City Press asked about the child soldier recruitment list. Gaye added the issue, also raised in the Council, of DRC hosting publicly-funded peacekeepers while sending its own soldiers to CAR. But, Gaye said, it is an "opportunity," they will "initially" be included.

  Gaye, ever genial, also answered a Press question about the territorial integrity of CAR. Tellingly, he concluded by saying that "our boss, Mr. Ladsous" wants helicopters flying on September 15. Beyond the obvious joke about drones, it reflects that Ladsous, as boss, is responsible once again for failing to implement or explain the supposed UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.

  What will NGOs which have also raised this issue say? About Ladsous's tenure at UN Peacekeeping, about those who put him there? We'll have more on this. 

  Ladsous' extraordinary refusal to answer Inner City Press questions, noted as far away as the UK's New Statesman, here, and evidenced on CAR as well, here, is intended to make more difficult Press reporting on UN Peacekeeping - and it does. Not impossible, however. This reporting will continue.

Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the human rights due diligence policy again on August 19 - and he said that MINUSCA chief Babacar Gaye will be expecting the question from the Press at 5 pm.  Video here.

  Inner City Press asked Dujarric if in Human Rights Watch's Ken Roth's meeting with Ban Ki-moon on August 18, this issue arose. Dujarric wouldn't say, not even what countries were discussed. Haiti cholera? No answer --including from HRW's top two spokespeople. We will continue to have more on this as well. Watch this site.

From the UK Mission's transcript:

Inner City Press: What about the inclusion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s troops in MINUSCA. There’s been some controversy because they’re listed on the child soldier recruitment list and also things about the Minova rapes. I am just wondering was this discussed in consultations? Are they going to remain until January 1st and then leave? Are they going to leave on September 15th and what’s the UK's position on whether a country on that list should be incorporated into a UN Peacekeepng Mission?

UK Amb Peter Wilson: I think in terms of consultations the Special Representative of the Secretary-General made it very, very clear that he is very keen to ensure that all of the troops are specially trained and that all of the troops adhere to the standards of the United Nations. That specific issue did not come up in the consultations just now, but it is important and several countries raised this, that all Troop Contributing countries are specially trained particularly in protection of civilians.

  

In Mali, UN Paying Listed Child Soldier Recruiter Chad for Peacekeeping Is Ascribed by France to Zerrougui, Ladsous Airbrushed Out

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- As the UN prepares to “blue-hat” in Mali the army of Chad, on the UN's own list of child soldier recruiters, the Ambassadors of the UK and France, but not Herve Ladsous the fourth French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row, took questions on the topic Tuesday. (Inner City Press first wrote about it on June 3, here.)

  Inner City Press asked UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant, June's UN Security Council president, why accepting Chad into a UN Peacekeeping mission while it is still on the UN's list of child soldier recruits doesn't diminish the stigma of being on that list.

  Lyall Grant replied that there should be regular troop reviews, and referred to Ladsous' four month “grace period.” He said it is an important issue to the UK.

  When French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud took questions, Inner City Press asked him about the report by Watchlist on Child and Armed Conflict that "by mid-April 2013, there were reports that Chadian troops fighting with French forces in Kidal and other parts of Mali were, in a few cases, detaining and questioning children over three weeks before handing them over to French forces."

  Unlike Lyall Grant, Araud's answer relied almost entirely on the UN Secretariat -- without once mentioning Ladsous, France's former Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN. Instead, Araud said that if UN Children and Armed Conflict envoy Leila Zerrougui is satisfied, he is.

  The irony is that when Inner City Press asked Zerrougui about accepting the Chadians, she said it was up to Ladsous. Round and round it goes, the blame game. More than one senior peacekeeping official predicts to Inner City Press that MINUSMA will be a fiasco. Watch this site.

In Mali, NGO Says Chad Detained Kids 3 Weeks, Gave to France: When Did Ladsous Know? EU Contradictions on "Harmful Precedent"?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 19 -- With UN Peacekeeping on the verge of incorporating a listed child soldier recruiter, Chad, into its mission in Mali on July 1, on Wednesday two non-governmental organizations came out against it: WorldVision and WatchList on Children and Armed Conflict.

  This resulted in the UN at the noon briefing finally answering in some detail the questions Inner City Press has been asking since early June, about Herve Ladsous of UN Peacekeeping allowing a "grace period."

  It is just this Ladsous grace period that WatchList on Children and Armed Conflict calls a "harmful, precedent setting action that, in addition to issues of credibility, could undermine efforts to demobilize children."

  WatchList's report also says that "by mid-April 2013, there were reports that Chadian troops fighting with French forces in Kidal and other parts of Mali were, in a few cases, detaining and questioning children over three weeks before handing them over to French forces."

  Inner City Press at Wednesday's noon briefing asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey if DPKO was aware of this, and when it was going to tell the public. Del Buey said he will asked DPKO; we will be waiting.

  DPKO being headed by its fourth Frenchman in a row, Ladsous, while the allegation involves detentions by Chad "with French forces" raises again the issue of conflict of interest for Ladsous, a French diplomat who represented his country at the UN during the 1994 Rwanda genocide (and argued for the escape of the genocidaires into Eastern Congo).

  The European Union's genial deputy head of delegation Ioannis Vrailis was also on the panel with the NGOs. Inner City Press asked him for the EU's position on the incorporation of a listed child soldier recruiter into a UN Peacekeeping mission by Ladsous.

  Vrailis used the word "scourge," but then seemed to support the very grace period the NGOs it calls experts say is a "harmful, precedent setting action that, in addition to issues of credibility, could undermine efforts to demobilize children." In the name of convenience... Or solidarity with a European Under Secretary General like Ladsous? Watch this site.

As Colombia Pushes Back at UN on Child Soldiers, Its FM Seeks UN Post from Craven Ban Ki-moon?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 3, updated -- While Colombia pushes back against the UN on child soldiers and other issues, its foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin is said by Inner City Press sources to be seeking a senior UN post, as early as June.

On April 3 at the UN, Inner City Press asked a panel from the Watchlist on Child and Armed Conflict about Colombia's record. The answers ranged from the government's pressure on and against the UN mechanism to its opposition to inquiries by the International Criminal Court, in which outgoing ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo concurred.

As Inner City Press reported from the Security Council, in connection with the last briefing by also outgoing Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy, Colombia accused Coomaraswamy of mission creep, saying that the UN should stay out of the issue. The argument, made more recently, is that this is merely crime, and not technically armed conflict.

While pushing back on the UN, Holguin is said to be seeking a UN job. There are only four open Under Secretary General positions in New York available: Public Information, Economic and Social Affairs, Field Support and Conference Services.

Some wonder how Ban Ki-moon's five year rule applies for example to Alicia Barcena at ECLAC, when her counterpart in Africa has recently been replaced.

How craven, some wonder, can Ban Ki-moon become? He has ceded UN Peacekeeping to France, and Political Affairs to the US. But, the question goes, to give a USG post to a country and official which pushes back at the UN?

The Watchlist in responding to Inner City Press noted child soldiers in Myanmar as well. Ban Ki-moon has said he may go there this month. But would he raise child soldiers?

From Tuesday's UN noon briefing, on the topic of DPA and Inner City Press' scoop on Jeffrey Feltman:

Spokesperson Nesirky: The recruitment process for these positions — and I am talking in particular about the ones that were recently advertised, unusually so, as you know, — but that’s a recruitment process that is under way. And when it is completed, we will make the appropriate announcements. I don’t have anything at the moment. I think you can also rest assured that our colleagues in the various departments are perfectly able to keep things moving along quite smoothly. Yes, Matthew?

Inner City Press: One follow-up on that. Some people say that, DPI, DGACM, DESA — these were all advertised in The Economist and there is a whole process, where as DPA wasn’t. So, some people interpret this to mean this is designated for the United States, maybe for Jeffrey Feltman. And I just wonder, what is the rationale for advertising some empty USG posts and not others — other than the explanation that I have just offered you?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, it sounds like you are doing my job for me. So, I am not sure I need to answer that. I think put simply, there is a transparent process under way to appoint senior officials, and when we have announcements to make on these appointments we will do so. I don’t have anything else at the moment.

Watch this site.

Children in Myanmar Are Political Football, UNICEF Has No Answer, Rohingya Ignored

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/caac1myanmar051009.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 10, updated May 11 -- While Myanmar wants off the UN's children and armed conflict list and the UN strangely praises them, three non-governmental organizations last week said that big problems remain, and spoke of Thai and Myanmar pressure on UNICEF to stay off of their border. Inner City Press asked about this pressure, and passed on to UNICEF the quote. Video here, from Minute 25:35.

UNICEF's spokesman on May 6 said he would get an answer. The next day, he said that "both the Thai and Myanmar reps are en route from a meeting and so I have no answers yet but hope to by tomorrow. Just wanted you to know we have not forgotten your questions."

Five days later, there is nothing. Children are the future, but in terms of explaining how it deals with pressure from repressive governments like Myanmar's, UNICEF is no better than its UN brethren.

This is a problem or conundrum of the UN. Charged with defending children, it has to work with governments. So even the biggest recruiter of child soldiers in the world, Myanmar, gets treated with respect. The UN's expert on the problem praised the government last week. UNICEF promises a response, but provided none.

The NGOs were better. Watchlist had the courage to criticize UNICEF. Human Rights Watch, asked for its position on elections, promises to revert to Inner City Press with an answer and did, that the 2010 elections have no promise of effecting real democratic change inside Burma. This process is a clearly orchestrated process to ensure continued military rule with a civilian facade, the 2008 constitution ensures that. There is no possibility under present conditions that these elections can promise a more open Burma, or be in any measure a free expression of what people inside Burma want.

Still, and this is telling, neither group had an answer on the problem of Rohingya, the multiply oppressed Muslims of Myanmar. The UN's envoy Ibrahim Gambari had said it is beyond his mandate. Watch List said, we can get that (info) to you, but has not followed up. Video here, from Minute 30:28. A group that is ignored not only by the UN, but even NGOs, is suffering indeed. We will continue on this issue -- watch this site.

Update of May 11 -- after the publication of the article above, five days after the critique was made and question asked, the following arrived from UNICEF, which we publish in full:

Subj: Answer
From: UNICEF
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 5/11/2009

I have received a response from my colleagues in Myanmar, and they advise that UNICEF Myanmar Field Offices covers all parts of the country including the border area. Children from the border area included in the 1612 reporting as well as ILO mechanism to monitor forced labour which includes underage recruitment. The present UNICEF coverage in Myanmar is considered adequate and there is no immediate plan to beef up presence.

That's not what Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict and Human Rights Watch say...

Update of May 11, 6 p.m. -- while Watchlist answered the questions in real-time, it has provided the appreciated information below about the Rohingya, in response to the article above:

Subj: Follow up from Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
From: watchlist.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 5/11/2009 5:13:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

Thank you for covering the launch of our report and sorry for not getting back earlier to you on the question of the Rohingya... In general, as we clarify in our methodology (p. ii), our report mainly focuses on the impact of armed conflict on children in Myanmar following our core mandate. In contrast, the situation of the Rohingya is mainly one of discrimination and neglect as a result of exclusion and discrimination by the Myanmar authorities on the basis of their ethnicity and religion. The Rohingya live under appalling circumstances as the Myanmar authorities deny them citizenship in their own country.

To alert to the dire needs of the Rohingya, we also further elaborated on their situation in our chapter on Refugees (p. 21):

Refugees in Bangladesh

Ethnic discrimination and religious persecution has caused 250,000 Muslim Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh since the early 1990s. Since 1982, the ruling authorities in Myanmar have refused to accept the Rohingya as Burmese citizens, turning them into stateless people in their own country, according to RI, “Rohingya: Discrimination in Burma and Denial of Rights in Bangladesh,” July 21, 2006. [The 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law has had the effect of rendering the Rohingya stateless. Their status as citizens had already been downgraded under the 1974 Constitution.] Many are denied basic rights to freely move, work or marry without an official permission. At the same time, SPDC officials have exploited refugees for forced labor during the day and forced sentry duty at night without any form of compensation, according to RI.

While most of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been forcibly repatriated to Myanmar, many returned to Bangladesh because the situation in Myanmar was not safe for them. Approximately 26,300 Rohingyas still live in two camps in the southern Cox’s Bazar area, according to the USCRI, World Refugee Survey 2008 – Bangladesh, June 19, 2008. An additional 100,000 to 200,000 live as unregistered refugees outside the camp areas, according to the same source. Since 2006, the Government of Bangladesh has allowed UNHCR to construct new shelters for refugees in both camps and allow other UN agencies and NGOs to run programs in the refugee camps. In addition, a very small number of Rohingya refugees have been able to resettle to a third country.

We will continue to follow these issues.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/caac1myanmar051009.html