At UN,
“Zero
Tolerance”
Can't Be
Demonstrated,
Qs Limited to
Diplomats
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 20 --
Amid generally
self-congratulatory
talk at the UN
on January 20
Ameerah Haq,
perhaps freed
to speak by
leaving her UN
position,
acknowledged
that the UN
“can't
demonstrate”
its stated
zero tolerance
policy for
sexual abuse.
Given the lack
of punishment
or even trials
for some UN personnel
allowed to
flee countries
like Haiti
after being
accused of
rape, the
statement
seems obvious.
But UN
officials,
chief among
them UN
Peacekeeping's
Herve Ladsous,
refuse to
admit or even
answer
questions
about it.
So upon
hearing
Ameerah Haq's
candor, Inner
City Press ran
down for the
question and
answer
session. The
event was in
Conference
Room 5,
sponsored by
the
Netherlands,
whose foreign
minster (and
former UN
envoy to Cote
d'Ivoire and
Mali) Bert
Koenders was
on the panel,
next to
Ameerah Haq.
When question
time came,
however, only
the Permanent
Representatives
of countries
were allowed
to ask - or
mostly just
say - things.
The United
Arab Emirates
noted how the
UAE's foreign
minister
signed on for
the UN's
He4She
campaign, for
example;
Koenders
chimed in to
call his
colleague a
leader.
The context
was that the
Netherlands is
running for a
Security
Council seat
for 2017-2018.
Koenders
raised this
earlier on
January 20,
speaking
across First
Avenue from
the UN, noting
his country's
contribution
to
peacekeeping.
(They carried
out air
strikes in
Northern Mali,
it seems,
that very
day.)
As the
already-beginning
US electoral
race to
culminate in
November 2016
shows, it is
never to early
to start
campaigning.
But we'd
suggest that
Koenders and
the
Netherlands,
and other
candidates,
make sure to
take a wider
range of
question than
just from
other
Permanent
Representatives
going forward.
Beyond running
an accessible
race, the only
way the UN
will improve
on issues like
sexual abuse
is by moving
beyond self
congratulation
and addressing
its weaknesses
and lack of
accountability.
And on Ameerah
Haq's candor,
and how this
issue might be
addressed in
the ongoing
review of UN
Peace
Operations,
heading from
Dhaka to Rio
but hopefully
hearing from
elsewhere
including
Haiti, we'll
have more.
Watch this
site.
, 
