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Nkunda and UN's Expulsion of NGO Not Considered by Rights
Committee
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, April 3 -- The UN
Human Rights Committee, which has held most of its just-concluded
session in
New York in meetings closed to the press and public, emerged Friday to
speak at
length in what was called a press conference on three countries --
Rwanda,
Australia and Sweden -- leaving less than ten minutes for questions.
Inner City
Press asked if the Committee's consideration of Rwanda included support
given
to
militia leader Laurent Nkunda in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and,
separately, the issue of criminalizing the use of the names of
ethnic group,
Hutu, Tutsi and Batwa.
Committee member Ruth Wedgwood, who had spoken at
length about Rwanda
and Sweden, said that support of Nkunda has not been considered, adding
"the ICC has a case on him, if I recall." But International Criminal
Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has not indicted Nkunda, but only
his
deputy Bosco, who now apparently works, like the UN, with the DRC's
army.
Ms. Wedgwood said the situation of the Batwa had
been discussed --
"with the Ambassador, who's here," she said, pointing. Rwanda's
Permanent Representative Joseph Nsengimana was sitting in the press
briefing
room, taking notes. Often, diplomats are barred from the briefing room
unless
their Mission sponsored the presentation. Despite Ambassador
Nsengimana's
always pleasant demeanor, whether the general limitation to
attendance to the
press should be violated to let in representatives of the countries
being
reported on is something the UN should consider.
Rwanda in 1962, UN human rights assistance since not shown
Inner City Press also asked the panel, which had
twice mentioned
receiving information from non-governmental organizations or NGOs, if
they were
aware that the UN's Committee on NGOs recently disbarred at least for a
year
the human rights NGO Arab Commission on Human Rights. As Inner
City Press covered exclusively,
Algeria complained that ACHR in Geneva had let a person speak who was,
Algeria said, a terrorist. The group was disbarred. Inner City Press
asked if
the Human Rights Committee monitors the expulsion of some human rights
groups
from the UN. No, Ms. Wedgwood said, I am not aware of their hearing
process. It
seems like something the Committee should be concerned about.
There was only one other questioner, about the
just-announced
appointment of Richard Goldstone as part of the Gaza investigation by
the Human
Rights Council. (The Council is made up of governments, the Committee
by
"independent experts.") Panelist Nigel Rodley replied drily that the
Committee does not cover current events. Committee head Yuji Iwasawa,
however,
did say that drafting of a General Comment on Article 19, freedom of
expression, has begun. One wonders how it might related to the
Council's recent
resolution against the "defamation of religion." On that, Inner City
Press asked earlier if Ban Ki-moon had any comment. He did not.
There was no time on Friday to ask Australia
questions, and only one on
Sweden: an extradition threatened in 2008 back to Eritrea, which the
UN's own
Committee on Torture complained about (and stopped, or delayed). The
Human
Rights Committee, in considering Sweden's implementation of the
International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, apparently did not consider
this case.
Given the number of closed meetings that they had, one wonders what
they do.
Footnote: A fourth
country, Chad,
was let off the hook because its delegation arrived late and nothing
could be
scheduled. They will re-appear in Geneva in July. So who paid for the
failed
trip to New York, and what did the Chadian delegation do?
Click here
for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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