As
ICC Is Used In
NBC's Crossing
Lines, Of UN's
Failure
in Sri Lanka
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
TV Review
UNITED
NATIONS, June
29 -- The UN
system has
become so
low-profile if
not to
say irrelevant
during the
tenure of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
that any
mainstream
coverage might
seen good. And
so some
welcomed
NBC's new
series
“Crossing
Lines,” which
uses the
International
Criminal
Court, albeit
inaccurately
and absurdly.
In
the pilot
double
episode, a
“dream team”
of six
detectives
wants
to investigate
four killings
in four
European
countries, but
doesn't
have
jurisdiction.
How to solve
this plot
problem?
Travel to The
Hague and meet
Luis
Moreno Ocampo
facsimile
Donald
Sutherland.
At
first
Sutherland /
Ocampo demurs.
But then after
a reference to
Kosovo, a card
is played: the
crime of
aggression.
That's it --
Sutherland
gives the
detectives a
warrant. And
they're off to
Paris.
But
there the
local
authorities
are not
impressed by
the ICC, not
unlike
the current
government of
Kenya. The
detectives are
locked up
until
they show
their ICC
paper. They
are released.
Simple as
that.
The
bad guy uses
diplomatic
immunity,
American, to
drive through
check
points without
getting his
car searched.
This week at
the UN, Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
deputy
spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey about a
Peruvian
diplomatic to
the UN now
charged with
human
trafficking.
Not
our problem,
Del Buey in
essence said.
Transcript
here. And
below.
The idea of
the ICC being
used against
immunity,
though, brings
to mind for
example the
UN's own
immune Ruud
Lubbers,
here. Or
why not the UN
bringing
cholera to
Haiti?
The
whole thing makes
one wonder
why the ICC
could do
nothing --
nothing!
-- about the
killing of
40,000
civilians in
Sri Lanka in
2009. There
wasn't even
much call for
ICC
involvement,
unlike today
in Syria.
It's only TV.
And that was a
war without
witnesses.
One
imagines a
realistic show
about the UN.
One imagines.
Watch this
site.
From
the UN's
transcript of
its June 26,
2013, noon
briefing:
Inner
City Press:
could I ask
you about a
charge of
human
trafficking
against a UN
diplomat that
works at the
UN in the
Peruvian
Mission. And
given --
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, excuse
me…
Inner
City Press:
Alright.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
He does not
work at the
UN.
Inner
City Press: In
the UN.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
He works for
the Peruvian
Mission.
Inner
City Press:
Okay,
absolutely. He
is a UN
diplomat. My
question is
just, given
the important
of this topic
to the
Secretary-General
and
the
Secretariat in
general, does
he take any
interest in
this case? Do
they see this
as a proper
use of
immunity? If
the
allegations
are
true is this a
proper use of
the term human
trafficking
and is there
some concern
that people
work in the
building, not
for the UN,
have
you know,
immunity that
this may be a
loophole for
human
trafficking?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, we are
not going to
prejudge what
happens until
we have the
information,
Matthew.
Inner
City Press:
Right, but you
will seek the
information…?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, we are…
Inner
City Press: I
mean, at some
point?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
…we are
obviously
monitoring…
Inner
City Press:
Okay.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
…the
situation, but
as I said at
the beginning,
this… the
reports we’ve
seen are of a
Peruvian
diplomat
assigned
to the
Peruvian
Mission at the
United
Nations…
Inner
City Press:
Sure.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
…not a United
Nations staff
member…
Inner
City Press:
No, I
understand.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
…not a member
of the general
Secretariat.
Inner
City Press:
Sure.
, 
