With
AIDS Activist in Uzbek Jail, UN Quiet, on Gambia Expulsion Too
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March 2 -- The head of UNAIDS Michel Sidibe, flanked by
singer Annie Lennox, told the Press on Tuesday that the UN is
"pushing advocacy" for AIDS eduction and activists.
Inner
City Press asked why the UN had said nothing about Uzbekistan's
imprisonment of AIDS activist Maxim Popov back in September 2009,
and
the burning of a pamphlet he worked on promoting the use of condoms
and clean needles.
Mr.
Sidibe said
that UNAIDS has been trying to "better understand the case,"
saying it was "mixed with corruption issues." Video here,
from Minute 32:45.
Whatever the
regime of Islam Karimov is alleging
about Mr. Popov, it is incontroverted that his AIDS pamphlet was
deemed illegal for promoting condoms and clean needles. So why did
the UN stay quiet?
UNAIDS' Sidibe gets marching orders from UN's
Ban, Uzbek lockdown not shown
Inner
City Press
also asked about The Gambia, here President Jammeh has claimed he can
cure AIDS by the laying on of hands. Jammeh previously expelled
the
UN Development Program's resident coordinator, and more recently
expelled UNICEF's country representative.
UNICEF
continues
to say it has no idea why its representative was expelled. Nor did
UNICEF, which reportedly funded Mr. Popov's pamphlet, appear to
advocate for his release. Why would these UN organizations claim
to
be engaged in "hard advocacy" but in fact remain silent? To paraphrase,
Silence = Death. Watch this site.
* * *
Sex Abuse by
Peacekeepers UN-Solved Amid CSW Shindigs at UN
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March 1 -- With the UN teeming with participants in the
Conference on the Status of Women, Inner City Press on Monday asked
the personal representatives of the president of the Congo and of the
prime minister of Morocco about UN peacekeepers charged with sexual
abuse or exploitation.
"In the DRC," the Moroccan
representative said, "there were accusations proven to be
false." Video here,
from Minute 23:30. The Congolese
representative stared at her.
But
even as to the
Congo, when a UN peacekeeper is accused, the most that is done is to
repatriate the soldier back to his home country. After that, it is
never clear if there is prosecution or punishment. Inner City Press
asked the Moroccan representative about the case of more than 100
Moroccan soldiers repatriated from the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire,
UNOCI -- where they ever prosecuted?
I
am not sure, was
the answer, then a reference to one person being prosecuted. The
representative said that in Morocco the army and gendarmes take this
seriously, the police less so. But where is the showing of what was
done with the repatriated peacekeepers? The UN provide obscurantist
statistics, saying the Troop Contributing Countries don't want to be
exposed.
The
Congolese
representative said that the repatriation is the most that can be
done. Inner City Press asked about charges that Joseph Kabila, whom
she represented, has done too little about rapes committed by his
army, particularly by the units that came in from the CNDP. Video here,
from Minute 19:45. This question was not answered. On this, and
other UN system sleaze in Kinshasa, we will continue to inquire this
week. Watch this site.
CSW meeting in UN on March 1, accountability
for UN sex abuse not shown
Footnote:
the CSW as not only filled the UN cafeteria, so recently the site of
an anthrax scare, but at a more elite level has given rise to a
string of receptions. On Monday, the UK's Mark Lyall Grant has
invited heads of CSW delegations to the UK mission, while Egypt's
Maged Abdelaziz makes a similar invite to his country's Art Deco
mission on 44th Street..
On
Tuesday, Chile's
Heraldo Munoz invites delegates and Permanent Representatives to his
residence on East 57th Street. This competes with the EU reception on
72nd Street and Madison Avenue. On Wednesday March 3, Ambassador
Susan Rice invites the same crowd to the U.S. Mission. Many parties,
little accountability. Again, on this, and other UN system sleaze in
Kinshasa, we will continue to inquire this week. Watch this site.
, 
