At
UN,
Ban Asked His
Lawyer O'Brien
for Basis to
Delay
Palestine
Filings,
Sources Say,
Briefing Still
Denied
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 9 --
The
Palestinian
Authority has
said it will
hand a request
to UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
September 20.
But
disgruntled UN
officials tell
Inner City
Press that Ban
has
sought a legal
opinion from
his top
lawyer,
Patricia
O'Brien, that
he
is not
required to
immediately
pass the
request on,
and can delay
it. These
officials say
that O'Brien
has responded
with just such
a
memorandum.
Inner
City Press
has repeatedly
asked that
O'Brien, like
nearly all
other UN Under
Secretaries
General, come
and take press
questions, on
a range of
issues now
including this
one. She has
refused, and
neither Ban
Ki-moon nor
his
spokesperson's
office have
tried or been
successful
in persuading
her that
providing some
public
explanation is
part of
the job of
being the UN's
top lawyer,
that even her
predecessor
Nicolas Michel
did.
At
the September
8
UN noon
briefing Inner
City Press asked
Ban's new
Deputy
Spokesman
Eduardo del
Buey:
Inner
City
Press: I had
asked you this
thing about
the ICC
(International
Criminal
Court)
question, I
asked it again
to Mr. Deiss,
what is the
role of the
Secretary-General
if a country
becomes an
observer State
and the UN
takes the
document for
the joining of
the ICC, is it
automatic or
does he have
some
discretion,
maybe you
don’t have the
answer yet
today, but I
wanted sort of
it’s coming
right up [to]
this being a
live issue.
Deputy
Spokesperson
del Buey: No,
but I think
the best thing
to do,
Matthew, is to
ask the ICC.
Ban &
O'Brien shake,
Palestinian
filing and
memo not shown
Inner
City
Press: The UN
definitely has
a role. I
mean, two
Member States
have said the
paper gets
filed with the
Secretary-General;
one has
said he has
some
discretion,
the other one
says he
doesn’t. So I
just wanted to
know what he
understands,
or Patricia
O’Brien of OLA
(Office of
Legal
Affairs), who
we’ve
repeatedly
asked to come
give
a briefing,
what her
understanding
of the
legality of
the
Secretary-General’s
role because
it is more
important,
it’s, it’s
important what
the
Secretariat
thinks its
role is, not
what the ICC
thinks your
role is...
it’s Ms.
O’Brien, but
we’ve asked to
have a
briefing, she
hasn’t come,
maybe this one
question can
be
answered by
OLA?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, we’ll
see whether
what we can
get for you.
Watch
this site.
, 
