UN
Torture
Expert Dodges
on Libya,
Manning &
Cambodia ECCC,
O'Brien
1-WayTalk
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 18 --
With the UN's
Human Rights
(Third)
Committee
considering a
proposal
introduced by
Thailand which
would reign in
Special
Rapporteurs
and
Representatives
under charges
of double
standards, UN
Torture expert
Juan E. Mendez
on Tuesday
notably took
sides.
Mendez
was asked,
by Inner City
Press, about
charges that
Libya's
Transitional
National
Council is
engaging in
torture.
Mendez
replied that
while he had
--
rightly --
called on
Gaddafi's
forces not to
torture, since
Gaddafi's
fall he has
"not received
any complaint
that I could
act upon,
even though we
did early on
when Gaddafi
very much in
charge call on
his forces"
call for
compliance,
since then "I
haven't
received any
complaint."
But
the charges
against the
TNC are made
by, among
others, Amnesty
International.
Does AI not
file its
complaints
with Mendez?
Or in Mendez
unable to
read the newspapers
and begin an
inquiry? Who
complained to
him about
Gaddafi,
leading to his
public call?
Likewise,
while
Mendez was
blocked from
visits
complying with
international
law with
Bradley
Manning,
charged with
providing
information to
Wikileaks,
Mendez on
Tuesday said
he has had
"productive
communications"
with the US.
Long-time
UN
official
Mendez, whose
jobs have
included
advising on
the prevention
of genocide,
also seemed to
go soft on the
UN of Ban
Ki-moon when
Inner City
Press asked
him about the
widespread criticism
of Ban and
his top lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien for
failing to
stand up for
the
independence
of the UN
funded
Extraordinary
Chambers in
the Courts of
Cambodia.
Mendez
said, "I
have read
about some
concerns
[about] the
role of UN
[but] nothing
that I have
read falls
under my
mandate as
special
rapporteur on
torture."
Well, the
cases being
blocked
concern not
only
genocide but
also torture
under the
Khmer Rouge.
So will no one
in
the UN system
be willing to
speak about
errors in
Ban's handling
of
Han Sun and
the ECCC?
(C) UN Photo
Mendez
previously on
genocide, now
comment on Ban
& ECCC not
shown
Patricia
O'Brien,
who has refused
to answer any
questions from
the press
because, Ban's
spokesman has
said, as chief
counsel it
would hurt her
work, has now
written a
defensive letter
to the editor
of the New
York Times.
One
way
communication
is apparently
okay: just not
any questions.
So it
goes in
today's UN.
, 
