|
On
Khobragade,
UN Won't Say
If Told US Of
Her
Accreditation,
Stonewalls
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 31 --
Back on
December 26
Inner City
Press asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's two
top
spokespeople
to
"please
confirm
that Indian
diplomat
Devyani
Khobragade was
accredited to
this session
of the UN
General
Assembly, that
the UN
accreditation
runs through
December 31,
and state if
such
accreditation
confers full
diplomatic
immunity."
But
for five days,
the UN
spokespeople
provided no
answer at all.
So at the last
UN noon
briefing of
the year on
December 31,
Inner City
Press asked
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
in person
about the
immunity, and
also if the UN
had informed
the US, as
"host
country," of
Khobragade's
accreditation
to the General
Assembly. From
the UN
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: there’s
a statement
today by the
Indian
Ministry of
External
Affairs [video
here from
Minute 13:10]
that they
believed
that the UN
informed the
US that the
diplomat was
accredited to
the
General
Assembly up
until today,
and they also
separately
believe
that that
accreditation
to attend the
General
Assembly
involves full
diplomatic
immunity. I
wanted, I
don’t… the
second one is
a
legal question
that the UN
may have an
answer to. But
the other one,
does the UN
routinely
inform the
host country
of all
individuals
who
are accredited
to the GA? And
separately,
does that mean
that she
had full
diplomatic
immunity?
Spokesperson:
I would need
to check with
the Office of
Legal Affairs
on this. This
is primarily,
as you know,
almost
exclusively a
matter between
the Indian
authorities
and the host
Government. If
there is a UN
angle related
to a GA pass,
then of
course, I
would come
back to you.
But I need to
check again
with Legal
Affairs on
that.
Although
he
had the
question in
writing for
five days,
Nesirky said
he'd have to
check with the
UN Office of
Legal Affairs;
he insisted
the question
is mostly or
almost
entirely
between the
Indian
authorities
and the US as
host country.
Video
here and
embedded
below.
Well,
no - the
question of
whether the UN
informed the
US of of Ms.
Khobragade's
accreditation
is for the UN
to answer. And
the UN should
answer on that
type of
immunity being
accredited to
the UNGA
provides.
This
dodging is
more and more
the rule: also
at the
December 31
noon briefing,
when Inner
City Press
asked about a
ruling by the
UN's own
Dispute
Tribunal that
its acting
head of
investigations
Michael
Dudley
"altered and
withheld"
evidence about
scandal
in the UN
Medical
Service
(which Inner
City Press exclusively
uncovered),
Nesirky
said he
doesn't speak
for the unit
Dudley works
in, the Office
of Internal
Oversight
Management,
but that he'd
ask them for
an answer. OK
- but when?
Next year?
Footnote:
The
UN Dispute
Tribunal
ruling on
Dudley cites
Inner City
Press'
reporting, and
calls Inner
City Press "a
daily online
media outlet
that
specializes in
reporting on
the United
Nations."
Inner City
Press on
December 31
also asked
about another
case it first
exposed, that
of David Bax
of the UN Mine
Action Service
in Mogadishu
sharing
genetic
information
with US
intelligence
and other
abuses.
From
the UN transcript:
Inner
City
Press: I just
wanted to be
sure I ask
again about
this David Bax
in Somalia.
There was a
UNOPS [United
Nations Office
for Project
Services]
investigation,
it was about
the middle of
the year that
it
was said that
it had begun.
I wanted to
know, you
know, if it’s
finished or
when the idea
for finishing
it is? And the
second one,
there was a
decision in
the last week
by the Dispute
Tribunal on
the
Head… Acting
Head of
Investigations
for OIOS
[Office for
Internal
Oversight
Services],
Michael
Dudley, and it
seemed to… it
was
pretty damning
and it said
that evidence
was altered
and withheld
in
an
investigation
of the UN
Medical
Service. So, I
wanted to
know,
now that that
investigation,
or the Dispute
Tribunal
process is
finished, what
is the
thinking of
OIOS in terms
of a Head of
Investigations
that was found
by a UN body
to have
altered it or
withheld
evidence?
Spokesperson:
I do not speak
on behalf of
the Office of
Internal
Oversight. As
you know, it
reports
separately, so
therefore, I
will check to
see if
they have
anything to
say. But I do
not speak on
their behalf.
And
with regard to
the
investigation
you were
referring to
out of
Mogadishu, I
don’t believe
we have any
update on that
at this
point.
The UN
alongside
trying to
rehabilitate
Bax tried to
put the clamp
on any follow
up by saying
the Office of
Project
Support is
investigating.
But it's been
six months
now. We'll
have more on
the UNOPS, and
who will head
it, soon.
Watch this
site.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest service,
and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2013 Inner City Press,
Inc. To request reprint or other permission,
e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
|
, 
