Ten
Swiss Years in
UN Spin HRC
&
Sanctions
Reforms, Going
Big in
Small Five
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Review
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 4 --
Switzerland
joined the UN
ten years ago,
and
its UN Mission
website
presents it as
an unmitigated
success. But
closer
examination
finds that
some of its
claimed
impacted, on
and of
the UN, are
more ambiguous
than
presented.
Switzerland
makes
much of the
Geneva-based
Human Rights
Council. But
just this
month, Sudan's
candidacy for
the HRC while
its president
has been
indicted for
genocide by
the ICC has
drawn fire.
Word has been,
for
Sudan to drop
out, it will
get a quiet
commitment for
lighter
treatment by
the HRC.
Last
week on
August 30,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Associate
Spokesman
Farhan Haq
about the
efficacy of
any challenge
to
the
Secretariat to
Sudan's
candidacy:
Inner
City Press:
there's a
letter that
was sent to
Patricia
O’Brien
about Sudan’s
candidacy for
the Human
Rights
Council. It’s
been
publicly
announced; I
don’t know if
the UN has
received it.
And
also, does the
Secretariat
have any role
in ruling on
the
eligibility
of countries
to run in
elections for
the Human
Rights
Council?
Associate
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq:
Well,
certainly,
Member States
can request
our expertise,
our legal
expertise, on
points of
order if they
choose
to do so. In
this case,
though, the
question of
membership in
the
Human Rights
Council is up
to the Member
States, as it
properly is,
and we will
leave it in
their hands
how to handle
this issue.
Now,
amid claims by
some it
vindicates the
HRC, Sudan is
backing out.
But
in exchange
for what?
Sudan's
National
Congress
Party's
secretary of
organizations
Adil Awad on
September 2
said he now
expects Sudan
to be relieved
of monitoring
by a special
rapporteur...
On
the
positive side,
Switzerland's
(increasingly
leadership,
and
lonely) role
in the
so-called Small Five for
reform of the
Security
Council's
working
methods
stands out.
Their draft
resolution was
withdrawn,
but Ambassador
Seger seems
committed to
press forward,
bringing a
legal approach
too rare in
the UN. Seger
insists,
correctly, on
more
participation
in the
Security
Council as
head of a
Peacebuilding
Commission
configuration.
Seger's
predecessor
Peter Maurer
now heads the
ICRC and is
headed to
Syia.
On
the other hand
it was
unfortunate
that Nicolas
Michel, while
serving at the
UN's top
lawyer, also accepted
Swiss payments
for his
housing, in
violation of
the UN charter
and rules, as
exposed by
Inner City
Press.
And
Joseph Deiss,
while he was
PGA, was only
halting in
disclosing who
paid for his
housing and
travel. For a
PGA, it is
legal to take
from
one's country.
But Deiss
appeared to
deny it,
when Inner
City Press
first raised
it.
The
ombudsperson
of the Al
Qaeda
Sanctions
committee was
something of a
good reform.
But recently,
for example,
the reform
proved
illusory. A
person removed
from the Al
Qaeda list,
businessman
Jim'ale, was
then
just put on
the Somalia /
Eritrea
sanctions list.
Switzerland is
in the
position to
critique and
even reform
these things. We'll
be watching.
, 
