By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 13,
updated --
French
soldiers in
the Central
African
Republic
allegedly
sexually
abused
children, as
exposed in a
UN Office of
the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights report
leaked to the
French
government by
longtime OHCHR
staffer Anders
Kompass.
The
UN did not,
however, give
the report to
the host
country
authorities in
CAR. And
according to UN
documents,
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous then
urged that the
whistleblower
Kompass be
made to
resign.
(Ladsous
denied this, video here, but then took no
questions.)
On
May 13 at a
press
conference
appropriately
called "Code
Blue" held at
the Ford
Foundation
half a block
from the UN,
Inner City
Press asked
the panel
about Ladsous'
reported role
in the
cover-up,
about the
selective
invocation of
the UN's
stated Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy (to
justify not
fighting the
Hutu FDLR
militia, while
un-applied to
French troops
in CAR), and
why the UN
never told CAR
authorities.
Aids-Free
World's Paula
Donovan spoke
passionately
about the need
for a
Commission of
Inquiry with
subpoena
powers,
including for
Ladsous'
e-mails.
Inner City
Press ran back
to the UN for
the noon
briefing and
asked
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric to
respond. He
said the UN is
in discussions
with Aids-Free
World and is
on the same
side.
So what about
subpoena
power?
Dujarric said
he didn't know
what that
meant in the
UN context.
That is, the
context of
opaque
impunity.
At
Ford
Foundation it
emerged that
before the
Code Blue
press
conference, UN
Peacekeeping's
Tony Banbury
-- presumably
selected
because more
articulate and
less tainted
than Ladsous
-- had briefed
select
journalists
on the topic
in advance.
(None of them
put a single
question to
the UN Spokesman
on the rapes
or Code Blue.)
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric about
this - was
there a
transcript?
There was no
answer. This
is how the UN
works, or
doesn't. The
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
is opposing
this, unlike
the old United
Nations
Correspondents
Association,
UNCA, now the
UN
Censorship Alliance.
Update:
Agence France
Presse AFP
managed to write
about this
without
mentioning
Ladsous; there
is a history
to this, here.
On
the FDLR,
Dallaire said
he'd spoken
with MONUSCO's
Force
Commander,
that the DRC
Army wanted to
go it alone.
That is, on
the FDLR, not
the largely
Tutsi M23. And
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping -
here
is his history
- complied.
We'll have
more on this.
Graca
Machel said UN
Peacekeeping
has gotten
worse. In the
back, a
staffer from
Ladsous' DPKO
took note. The
UN scribes who
have protected
and spun for
Ladsous were
present: what
would they
write?
Theo
Sowa said the
line must be
drawn when
immunity
becomes
impunity. The
panel might
also take note
of impunity
for cholera in
Haiti.
Anwarul
Chowdhury said
a key is
transparency:
how many
cases, which
countries. But
DPKO chief
Ladsous
refused
questions on
rapes, video
compilation
here.
On
May 12, Inner
City Press
asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
UN
Peacekeepers
shooting tear
gas at
protesters in
Bangui
(Dujarric
called it "not
a major
demonstration")
and about HOW
the UN will
investigate
itself. Video
here and
embedded
below.
Dujarric
replied, here,
implied that
the delay in
investigating
the rapes was
attributable
to the leaker,
Kompass. But
since France
acknowledged
receipt of the
report in July
2014, he is
not to blame
for the delay.
Nor for the UN
not formally
telling CAR
about the
rapes.
Inner City
Press on May
12 asked when
the
independent
investigation,
implied by
High
Commissioner
Zeid and
referred to by
US Ambassador
Samantha
Power, would
begin. "At
some point,"
Dujarric
replied. More
delay.
, 
