UNITED
NATIONS, April
19 -- When
the UN
announced on
the
afternoon of
April 18 that
it was
replacing as
Herve Ladsous'
Police
Adviser in the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations the
Swedish
Marie Orler
with a Germany
man, Stefan
Feller, there
was little
time
to put the
switch in
context.
But
it
is
noteworthy
that just as
Ban Ki-moon
replaced a
female Deputy
Secretary
General, Asha
Rose Migiro,
with a Swedish
man, Jan
Eliasson, now
he has
replaced a
woman, not by
coincidence
Swedish,
with another
man.
That
Feller is
German is not
the main point
-- but
that he is
European, like
Ladsous the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to
head UN
Peacekeeping
(and like
Eliasson) is
significant.
Why
has
France been
allowed to
name the last
four DPKO
chiefs?
Because it
has a veto on
the Security
Council,
including over
selection and
re-appointment
of UN
Secretaries
General. And
why does
France have
that veto
power? Because
it ostensibly
was a victor
in World War
II.
Now,
over
70% of the
UN's and
DPKO's work is
in Africa.
What does it
say
that both the
head of DPKO,
Ladsous, and
his top Police
Adviser,
Feller, are
European?
Inner
City
Press raised
this issue
when Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon named
out of work
Italian
politician
Romano Prodi
as his envoy
to the Sahel
in Africa. For
that, there
was push back
from the UN
Secretariat.
(And on
March 18, the
UN Department
of Public
Information
conducted a
non-consensual
raid on Inner
City Press'
office, rifled
through
papers and
took
photographs,
which were leaked
on March 21 to
BuzzFeed right
after that
publication
contacted
Ban's
spokesman for
comment on the
raid.)
Perhaps
not
surprisingly,
on the evening
on April 18, UN DPI
official
Stephane
Dujarric
contacted
Inner City
Press
“urgently”
about its
tweet --
yes, a 140
character
message --
about Feller's
appointment.
Durjarric
has previously
criticized
Inner CIty
Press' tweet
about Ban
himself.
This time,
Dujarric demanded
an explanation
of the tweet.
Well here
it is:
It
reflects
UN decay that
Ban Ki-moon's
top
Peacekeeper
and top Police
Adviser are
both European
men, given the
percentage of
their work
that is in
Africa. It
smacks, yes,
of
colonialism.
And of the UN
being lost, in
top appointments,
in the legacy
of World War
2.
And
what
of Ban's
speeches about
women in top
positions in
the UN? Here,
an outgoing
official, one
of the UN's
top women, is
replaced by a
man, just as
Ban replaced
Asha Rose
Migiro with a
man.
(Orler,
as Inner
City Press
reported, was
at least
responsive to
questions,
unlike
Ladsous, who
on camera
refused
questions
about 126
rapes in
Minova by
the Congolese
Army, his
partners, on November 27, December
7 and
December
18.
On
February 1,
Orler's office
sent answers
to questions
Inner City
Press asked
Orler in her
final
briefing. And
how will
Feller be? The
UN, including
DPI and
Dujarric, done
nothing
publicly
or
substantively
about Ladsous'
outrageous
refusal to
answer
question.)
But
where
is Asha Rose
Migiro now?
Ban named her
his envoy on
HIV / AIDS
in Africa.
And?
Back
on
December 27,
2012, Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
top three
spokespeople
about the
process to
replace Orler
(and whether
France
or another
European
country would
get the post).
They
responded:
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Thu, Dec
27, 2012
at 5:08 PM
Subject:
Question
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
On
the
Police
Adviser: DPKO
advises that
the post of
Police Adviser
is
a rotational
post that is
filled by
active-duty
officers on
secondment
from national
service,
normally for a
limited
period. The
current Police
Adviser has
been in
service since
2009 and a
note
verbale has
been
circulated to
seek
nominations
from member
states to
the post. The
selection
process is in
progress.
Then
it
still took
more than
three and a
half months,
and then was
announced not
in a noon
briefing but
in an
afternoon
e-mail. But
Dujarric was
there, with
his hawk-eye
on even the
tweets of the
media
he acccredits
to enter the
UN. Or is it
ALL media, he
watches? We'll
have more on
this.
, 
