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.
, 
