Mogherini
Tells Press
Ukraine Has
Overshadowed
Syria, Of ICC
Carve-Outs
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May
16, updated --
Syria has been
overshadowed
by Ukraine,
Italian
foreign
minister
Federica
Mogherini told
Inner City
Press on May
16,
expressing
unequivocal
support for
the
Franco-American
draft
resolution for
the UN
Security
Council to
refer parts of
the Syrian
conflict to
the
International
Criminal
Court.
Inner
City Press
asked
Mogherini if
Italy, like
Argentina and
Chile and
other
non-Council
members,
believes that
the carve-outs
in the draft
resolution for
citizens of
countries
(other than
Syria) which
not
members of the
ICC and for
the Golan
Heights and
Israel,
undermine
international
law.
Mogherini
did
not address
that in her
answer. Inner
City Press
also asking
about ICC
Prosecutor
Fatou
Bensouda's
call this week
for key
partners
of Libya to
form a contact
group.
Mogherini
replied that
of course
Libya is a key
partner of
Libya -- some
would point
out how far
back
to the
pre-revolutionary
period that
partnership
goes -- but
did not
address
Bensouda's
contact group
proposal.
In
her opening
remarks
Mogherini
brought up
Italy's
opposition to
the
death penalty
and
specifically
in the case in
Sudan, also condemned
by the US
State
Department's
Marie Harf,
in which
Meriam Yahya
Ibrahim Ishag
has been
sentenced to
death for
apostasy and
to
flogging for
adultery.
Having
met with UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon,
Mogherini was
on her way
to meet New
York City
Mayor Bill De
Blasio,
accompanied by
the
Italian
language press
corps that
attended
her 12:45
pm press
conference
at Italy's
Mission to the
UN. Many
were
interested in
the fate of
the two
Italian
sailors held
in India; some
opined that
Modi's
election makes
their
release or
transfer even
less likely.
The
Italian press
corps at the
UN is a mixed
bag, some
energetically
covering
issues like
the death of
migrants and others
more in a
ceremonial,
even entrepreneurial
role: eminence
gris, en
italiano.
If via Italy's
advocacy for
Security
Council reform
the country
ever were to
get
permanent or
more frequent
representation
on the
Council, one
imagines
things would
pick up. Watch
this site.
Update:
after
publication of
this story,
the UN put out
this read-out:
, 
