Release
of
UN
Peacekeepers
Far From Haiti
Mocks Ban's
Zero Tolerance
Claims
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 9 --
When video
emerged in
Haiti of UN
peacekeepers
from Uruguay
abusing a
teenaged boy,
Uruguay sent
the soldiers
who
appeared on
film back to
Montevideo,
saying they
would be
prosecuted.
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
applauded this
and claimed
again
that the UN
has a "zero
tolerance
policy" for
abuse.
But
now the
soldiers have
been released
in Uruguay,
because
predictably a
prosecution
far away from
Haiti was
unable or
unwilling to
get
evidence from
the victim and
other
witnesses in
Haiti.
On
Monday Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
if Ban now
saw the flaw
in leaving it
entirely up to
troop
contributing
countries to
discipline UN
peacekeepers
accuse of
abuse. Video
here,
from Minute
11.
Nesirky
replied
that "you
know... it is
for national
authorities to
undertake
investigation."
He urged Inner
City Press to
"check with
the Uruguayan
authorities."
But
it's a UN
question, and
Inner City
Press asked it
again: now
that even in a
case that Ban
praised the
troop
contributing
country for
its action,
the accused
are released
based on a
trial court
far away being
unable
or unwilling
to get
evidence from
the victim and
other
witnesses,
will Ban seek
to reform the
system to
ensure
prosecution of
wrongdoers in
the
jurisdiction
of the alleged
crime?
Nesirky
said, "it
would be a
matter for the
member
states." While
Ban makes
claims of zero
tolerance, he
is apparently
not proposing
any reform.
And so it goes
at the UN.
MINUSTAH
patrols in
Haiti, zero
tolerance not
shown
Meanwhile,
there
has been no
further follow
up answer to
Nesirky's
earlier
response that
abuse
by
other MINUSTAH
peacekeepers
in Fort
Dimanche was
being
investigated,
nor to
repeated
requests for
the UN's
response to
the
claim filed
with it for
compensation
for allegedly
introducing
cholera onto
Haiti.
Various
UN
officials held
a press
teleconference
call last
week, hosted
by the
UN Foundation,
that even
discussed the
cholera
epidemic,
without once
acknowledging
widespread and
credible claim
that cholera
was
introduced to
the island by
UN
peacekeepers
from Nepal.
This UN seems
to operate in
a parallel
universe,
seeking not to
engage the
obvious
flaws its
supposed "zero
tolerance"
policy or its
critics,
or in this
case victims.
We will
continue on
this.
, 
