UN's
Ban Praises
Pillay After
Asking Her to
Quit,
Hypocrisy on
Syria &
DRC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 10
-- As the UN
Human Rights
Council's 21st
session got
underway, it
was a striking
for what was
not said as
for
what was. UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
introduced
High
Commissioner
Navi Pillay,
saying he
supports her
work and
independence.
What
Ban didn't say
is that he had
urged Pillay
to quit, then
offered
Pillay's
native South
Africa as a
deal another
high UN post
atop the
Department of
General
Assembly and
Conference
Management, as
exclusively
reported
by Inner City
Press, before
giving Pillay
two
years instead
of four, as a
compromise.
Ah,
independence.
Pillay
listed a slew
of countries
beyond Syria
that "deserve
attention,"
but did not
include among
them not only
Sri Lanka,
where no one
has yet been
held
accountable
for mass
killing of
civilians, but
also Somalia,
where in
connection
with the UN
Security
Council
endorsed (and
UN funded)
AMISOM
mission, the
Kenyan Navy
has
been shelling
Kismayo,
killing a
pregnant woman
and children.
Then
there was
hypocrisy.
Qatar spoke,
saying that it
supports the
rule of
law in
neighboring
Arab
countries.
Does that
include its
arming of
extremist
rebels in
Syria?
Belgium
brought
up the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
saying that
there
must be
accountability
for crimes
against
humanity.
Given
Belgium's
colonial
history, the
obvious
question arose
of statute of
limitations
for crimes
against
humanity.
An interesting
difference in
the Monday
morning
session was
Thailand
defending how
Myanmar has
"addressed"
the Rohingya
issues, while
Indonesia did
not follow in
that line.
Switzerland
has
claimed the
Human Rights
Council one of
its major
accomplishments
for its ten
years now as a
UN member. (Click here for
Inner City
Press'
review.) HRC
proponents are
citing the
withdrawal of
Sudan as
a candidate as
the most
recent proof
of the merits
of the HRC.
But
it's Kenya
taking the
spot, which is
shelling
civilians in
Somalia,
as well some
say as
breaking its
agreement at
the UN in New
York to
accept a vice
presidency of
the General
Assembly in
order to not
run
also for the Advisory
Committee on
Administrative
and Budgetary
Questions, for
which it is
now, along
with the HRC,
also running.
And
so it goes in
the UN.
, 
