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In UN, Website on Human Rights Commissioner Is
Blocked, No Follow Up on Calls for Reform
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
June 16 -- The search for the next
High Commissioner for Human Rights has been spotlighted online for all
to
see... except in UN headquarters. When
one accesses the Internet through UN servers, the website HumanRightsCommissioner.org
is blocked. Searching for the site Monday afternoon in the UN's Dag
Hammarskjold Library, rather than information about the
the selection process, a message was
displayed that "you
have been redirected to this page because the site you are attempting
to access
is blocked according to the policy as detailed in ST/SGB/2004/15."
The underlying policy allows staff
"limited personal use of ICT resources" unless these involve
"pornography or engaging in gambling" or would "compromise the
interests or the reputation of the Organization."
Inner
City Press previously reported on the
similar blocking of www.GlobalCompactCritics.net,
a site which watchdogs the
UN's Global Compact with corporations. After initially defending the
blocking,
the Global Compact made inquiries with the UN's information technology
bureaucracy and their outside contractor, Secure Computing,
and access
to the site was restored. Will the
same take place with HumanRightsCommissioner.org? Or will it remain
blocked
until the winner is announced, blessed by a panel including the
outgoing chief
of the Office of Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel?
UN computers in lock-down, HumanRightsCommissioner.org not shown
On June
12, Inner City Press asked the spokesman for General Assembly President
Srgjan
Kerim to elaborate on his quote that the GA should be consulted. From
the
transcript:
Inner City Press: There's a quote
out by Srgjan Kerim about the selection process for the High Commission
for Human
Rights, that he said that 'at some point, I believe that Member States
should
have input.' At what point should they
be consulted, according to him? ... Are
the regional groups supposed to be consulted?
Is he saying the process should be other than it is?
Spokesperson: I believe the
quote speaks for itself, in the
sense that he feels, as the President of the General Assembly, that the
Assembly should be consulted on this process.
Inner City Press: Formally or
informally?
Spokesperson: Either way, but it
should be consulted.
Inner City Press: And has it
been?
Spokesperson: I'm not
aware. I'll follow up with the President
and see
what happens.
Four days
later, nothing further has been publicly said.. Are they just playing
out the
string until a winner can be named? Watch
this site.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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[at] innercitypress.com
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Other,
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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