Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

On S. Sudan, After AU Finds No Cooperation by UNMISS, UN Claims No Request Made

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 28 -- The UN's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, under Herve Ladsous, has been slow to report on crimes against (some) civilians, much less to protect them as this month in Leer. Inner City Press on October 28 asked the UN to respond to criticism from the African Union, that

"the Commission was unable to access any data in the possession of the UNMISS which has been
documenting the violations committed since the start of the violence in December 2013 — despite the resolution of the Security Council mandating it to cooperate with AUCISS."

On November 4, Inner City Press asked UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic about it, as trascribed by InnerCityPro.com:

Inner City Press: The AU report on South Sudan that came out – it seemed to say, “the commission was unable to access any data in the possession of UNMISS which had been documenting the violations committed since the start of the violence in December 2013.” I know there’s a human rights team in UNMISS; what’s behind the AU saying they were unable to get data?

Simonovic: In the other part of the report, they also praise cooperation with the human rights team there, in the sense of logistics, in the sense of support, indicating the victims that were afterwards interviewed by the group. The information that has nt been shared was procedure related. It was a requirement that there was to be a formal request for the information sharing. Such a request, to the best of my knowledge, has never been properly, formally filed. And this was the reason. However, there was quite an extent of cooperation and informal information.

Inner City Press: The issue of privacy was cited. Was the idea that the UN has a separate standard for sharing information with an international human rights body?

Simonovic: Well, it is the same procedure as would be employed for example in cooperating with the ICC. With the ICC there are also protocols. Unfortunately they are sometimes quite bureaucratic and take some time for some reason, in this case..

Here's from the AU Report's Paragraph 27: "the Commission was unable to access any data in the possession of the UNMISS which has been documenting the violations committed since the start of the violence in December 2013 — despite the resolution of the Security Council mandating it to cooperate with AUCISS."

So, despite the UN's claims about "Rights Up Front," not only did UNMISS not comply with general requirements of reporting on harm to civilians - the AU says UNMISS didn't even comply with UN Security Council resolutions. Who will answer for this?

On October 28, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press: I'm sure you've seen finally, after much delay, the AU [African Union] released its report on South Sudan. There's a lot in it, and many people are saying many things about it, but the thing I'd wanted to ask about is the section that has do with the UN. And it says… this is in paragraph 37. And this is… it's sort of surprising. It says, "The commission was unable to access any data in the possession of UNMISS [United Nations Mission in South Sudan] which had been documenting the violations committed since the start of the violence despite the resolutions of the Security Council mandating it to cooperate with AU CISS. So what does DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] say?

Spokesman: Well, obviously, we welcome the report and the issuance of the report, which the Secretary-General has called for, had called for. I think the issue of transparency is an important one, as is the issue of accountability. As for the details of the report, I think we're still reading through it. So if I have something to add…

Inner City Press: Right. Eventually, there's some direct allegations about the mission…

Spokesman: I understand.

Inner City Press: Okay. I have one more...

On October 29, Dujarric returned with this, on which Inner City Press followed up:

Yesterday I was also asked about the report of the African Union on the human rights situation in South Sudan.

I can tell you that in line with relevant Security Council resolutions, the UN Mission supported the African Union Commission of Inquiry.

The Mission fully cooperated with the Commission's investigation team at all stages of its work in South Sudan, in accordance with standard practices and policy, including the need to preserve confidentiality and to protect victims and witnesses.

This support is acknowledged in the report of the Commission, in its paragraph 3 where it states that the Commission would like to thank the former Special Representative of the Secretary General, her interim successor, and their team for the immense support provided to the Commission in the course of its work in South Sudan.

Inner City Press followed up:

Inner City Press: thanks for the response on the African Union report. But, obviously, I mean, they said that no data was provided to them. So maybe there's some... I just... I guess I would like you to explain, because this same issue seemed to have come up with the rapes in the Central African Republic, that the UN seems to have some reading of confidentiality, which either makes it impossible to make information available or, in this case, you know...

[Cross talk]

Spokesman: I think they're two different... very much two different cases. The case in the Central African Republic, as you know, is the subject of an inquiry.

On South Sudan, you know, obviously, people can interpret it different ways. Obviously, there is a need to respect the confidentiality of witnesses and victims. When you are a human rights investigator and you collect those names and the witnesses, you do so in confidence. So it's important to protect that. I think it's clear from the AU mission's report that, overall, they were very grateful for the support and work from the peacekeeping mission.

Inner City Press: But they said any... the Commission was unable to access any data in the possession of UNMISS.

Spokesman: Well, I think people can have different interpretation.

Inner City Press: Right.

Spokesman: The AU have... has said what it has said and I have said what I have said.

An internal UN document leaked to Inner City Press, which exclusively published it here, shows the high degree of dysfunction in the country, and in the UN.

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