On
Palestine,
UN Practice
Shows Ban
Would Have to
Decide on ICC,
Official
Admits, Then
Gets Cut Off
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 16
-- The
question of
whether a move
by Palestine,
as an Observer
State, to join
the
International
Criminal Court
could
be acted on or
stymied by
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
Friday
asked by Inner
City Press and
surprisingly
answered by
Gabriele
Goettsche-Wanli,
Chief of the
Treaty Section
of the UN
Office of
Legal Affairs.
The
day after Ban
Ki-moon
refused to
answer the
question, and
days after
Inner City
Press reported
that Ban asked
OLA chief
Patricia
O'Brien for a
memo
empowering him
to not act on
Palestine's
request, Ms.
Goettsche-Wanli
came to a
press briefing
about treaties
generally.
Inner
City Press
quoted to her
from a 1999
OLA document
that she
acknowledged
is still
in force, that
"the Secretary
General must
ascertain
whether a
state or an
organization
may become a
party to a
treaty
deposited
with him."
Ms.
Goettsche-Wanli
said this is
the case, and
that the
Secretary
General
in making his
determination
will
"follow... the
General
Assembly" --
significantly,
not the
Security
Council, where
the
US has said it
would veto a
Palestinian
request for UN
membership.
So
if Palestine
requests
Observer State
status in the
General
Assembly and
as
expected wins
it, then takes
the steps to
join the ICC,
Ban Ki-moon
should
"follow... the
General
Assembly" and
deposit the
filing,
allowing
Palestine to
join and refer
for
prosecution
for
example the
situation in
Gaza.
But
well placed
sources in the
Secretariat
tell Inner
City Press Ban
has sought and
gotten a legal
opinion
contrary to
this from
Patricia
O'Brien. She
has been asked
again and
again to come
and give a
briefing,
but has
refused. In
previous
years, she and
not an
underling did
the pre-UNGA
press
conference on
treaties. Now
she is nowhere
to be seen, at
least to
answer
questions.
Ban &
Netanyahu
shake, Ban
answer on ICC
for Palestine
not shown
Footnote:
after
Inner City
Press asked
the questions
and got the
answers above,
another
journalist
asked for the
answers "in
layman's
terms."
Ban's Deputy
Spokesman
Eduardo del
Buey cut it
off, saying
that Ban
answered the
day
previously.
The journalist
pointed out
that Ban had
not answered.
It is not a
hypothetical
question. But
it is one that
Ban and
O'Brien do not
want to
answer. Watch
this site.
, 
in