UNITED
NATIONS, June
10, updated --
Three weeks
before the UN
is slated to
take over
the mission in
Mali, how to
deal with Chad being
on the UN's
list of
child soldier
recruiters
remains in
play.
The
UN and its
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations led
by Herve
Ladsous
claim to have
policies of
human rights
due diligence
and zero
tolerance.
Under that,
Chad should be
banned, at
least until it
is
off the UN's
Children and
Armed Conflict
list.
But
the UN needs
troops in
Mali, and both
Chad and the
Bamako-based
Malian
authorities
are historic
(colonial)
allies of
France, for
which Ladsous
served as
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
at the UN,
notably during
the 1994
genocide in
Rwanda,
supporting the
flight of
the
genocidaires
into Eastern
Congo.
And
so, NGOs and
UN sources
exclusively
tell Inner
City Press,
Ladsous is
working
toward a
so-called
"grace period"
on child
soldier
recruitment.
It would be
similar to the
policy Ladsous
stealthy
adopted after
135 rapes by
his partners
in the
Congolese Army
in
Minova in
Eastern Congo
in November
2012, dubbed
"three strikes
and maybe
you're out."
In
that case,
Ladsous never
implemented
the stated
policy.
Support
continues to
the 391st and
41st
Battalions
despite only
three arrests
having been
made, for 135
rapes. A
request by
Inner City
Press to
Ladsous for an
update on May
29 resulted in
Ladsous
saying, "You
know I don't
respond to
you." Video
here.
Despite
a
second request
by Inner City
Press on May
30 to
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
Office of the
Spokesperson,
still no
Minova rape
update
has been
provided.
Ladsous'
lack of
transparency
undermines
OCHA
(whose new
Assistant
Secretary
General on
June 4 told
Inner City
Press the
question
should be put
to DPKO), and
the Office of
the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights, with
operates
jointly with
DPKO on
these issues
in the Congo
On
Chad - Mali,
DPKO's
attempts to
work around
stated UN
policies is
undermining
UNICEF and
Ban's office
on Children
and Armed
Conflict, led
by Leila
Zerrougui,
both of which
are quietly
negotiating
with DPKO.
While
in some cases
such quiet
negotiations
might be
merited, that
is not the
case now, on
the
undermining of
a
publicly
stated human
right policy,
by a UN
official like
Ladsous
who
refuses to
answer Press
questions
about mass
rape,
advice by an
alleged war
criminal, and
cholera in
Haiti.
At
least one NGO
has been
willing to say
on the
record, for
publication by
Inner City
Press, that
"after a
2-year period
of inaction on
the Action
Plan, there
should now be
no
short-cut to
Chad’s
de-listing"
and "we don’t
want any
grace period
to act as a
loophole." (After
the NGO
provided and
then agreed to
this quote, we
are
nevertheless
removing its
name.)
Inner
City Press'
view: that's
how Ladsous
has
operated on
the mass rapes
in Minova in
the DRC. Will
he get away
with it in on
the issue of
child
soldiers, in
Mali? Watch
this site.
, 
