Sanctions'
Impacts
in Iran
Reviewed, In
Eritrea
Ignored by
Keetharuth
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 24 --
This is the
tale of two
special
rapporteurs on
human rights
of the UN
system, on two
countries
under
sanctions:
Iran
and Eritrea.
Iran
rapporteur
Ahmed Shaheed
of the
Maldives
devotes what
he Thursday
called the
longest
section of his
report to the
impact of
sanctions.
Inner City
Press asked
him about
financial
restrictions
making it
difficult to
import
medicine, even
to transfer
funds to
charities
working after
earthquakes.
Video here from
Minute 12:29.
Shaheed
acknowledged
that the
banning of
Iran from the
SWIFT payments
system
has had an
impact. Other
sources tell
Inner City
Press there
are law
firms
preparing
reseach on
just this
issue.
On
the other hand
the UN's
rapporteur on
Eritrea,
Shelia
Keetharuth of
Mauritius, has
produced a
21-page report
which mentions
the word
"sanctions"
only once,
there calling
it a
"targeted"
sanctions
regime.
Inner
City Press
asked
Keetharuth why
the impact of
sanctions was
not
included in
her report,
and what she
thought the
impacts were.
Video
here, from
Minute 11:07.
She
replied that
she has only
the mandate
since November
1, 2012 --
that
is, in seven
days, for an
entire year.
No time?
The
question
arises: does
the UN Office
of the High
Commissioner
for
Human Rights
not give
rapporteurs
any training?
Recently
Inner
City Press
obtained and
exclusively
published an
internal OHCHR
plan to take
over the "rule
of law"
functions of
the rest
of the UN
system,
and the
staffing of
the Special
Representatives
on
Children and
Armed
Conflict,
Sexual
Violence and
Conflict, R2P
and
the Prevention
of Genocide.
Not
does OHCHR not
tell its
rapporteurs
what is
expected to be
covered in
a report?
Watch this
site.
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