Exclusive:
On UNSC
Reform, Ashe
Names
"EU-Heavy" Group,
Debate
Up Amid
Complaints
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive Must
Credit
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 23 --
The possible
reform of the
UN Security
Council, made
higher profile
this month by
Saudi Arabia's
rejection
of a seat due
to
dysfunction,
is the subject
of a letter by
President
of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe, not
yet put on his
PGA website.
Inner
City Press has
obtained the
letter, and
multiple
complaints
from UN
member states,
and puts
the
exclusively
puts the
letter online
here.
In
it, John Ashe
who was and
perhaps will
again be the
Permanent
Representative
to the UN of
Antigua and
Barbuda
announces a
new
"Advisory
Group" on
Security
Council report
and the
speed-up fo
the GA debate
from December
up to November
7-8.
Some
UN member
states tell
Inner City
Press that
Ashe is
"acting for
his own
country which
bodes badly" -
but is of
course not
without
precedent.
Ashe's
advisory group
will be
composed of
the Permanent
Representative
of
Belgium,
Liechtenstein,
San Marino
(Ban Ki-moon's
golf partner),
Sierra Leone,
Papua New
Guinea and
Brazil, its
former foreign
minister.
Several
states
complain that
the list is
"top heavy
with Europeans
--
three out of
six -- and as
one Latin
country put
it, is being
"led
by the G4."
The
perspective of
Inner City
Press and the
new Free
UN Coalition
for
Access
focuses on
transparency
-- if the PGA
website has a
section of
"Letters," why
on the evening
of October 23
is this letter
not it. It is
published
here,
exclusive must
credit -- but
this
should not be
necessary.
Inner
City Press and
FUNCA have
previously
asked that
Ashe's office
disclose which
staff members
are seconded
from which
missions, and
any and all
non-UN budget
funding to the
office. Ashe
is a genial
diplomat,
who quoted
Justin
Timberlake in
his most
recent press
conference.
But
transparency
is key. We
will have more
on this. Watch
this site.
, 
