UN
Ban
on Human
Rights, It's
All MDGs, In
Indonesia
Silence on
West
Papua
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 20 --
The UN's Ban
Ki-moon flew
25 hours to
Indonesia but
he did not
raise human
rights, it
seems, at
least not
Indonesia's
crackdown on
West Papua.
Inner City
Press has
asked about
the crackdown,
without any UN
response. Then
as Ban's time
in
Indonesia
began, on
November 17
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press; there
has been this
ongoing
problem in
western Papua
where there
was a
crackdown,
there were
people that
were cracked
down
on by the
Government, so
various
advocacy
groups had the
people
cracked down
on are saying
both the
Secretary-General
to [United
States]
President
[Barack]
Obama, the
various people
that are going
to Bali that,
wondering
whether this
issue will be
raised in any
way. Do you
know, I mean,
you say don’t
prejudge, but
I guess there
must be, sort
of, talking
points and a
plan of
action. Does
the
Secretary-General
plan to raise
any
Indonesia-specific
issues while
in Indonesia,
including this
one?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Let’s wait and
see. I do not
know the
answer at this
point. Let’s
wait and see.
Okay, other
questions,
please? All
right, okay,
thank you, and
have a good
afternoon.
Nesirky
never got
back with an
answer, but
his Office
e-mailed out
read-outs of
Ban's
meetings in
Indonesia --
no mention of
human rights,
much less West
Papua.
In fact, Ban
was even asked
about human
rights, and
answered
only in terms
of the
Millennium
Development
Goals,
ignoring the
human
rights
question
altogether.
(c) UN Photo
Ban's team in
Indonesia,
including Orr
& Pascoe,
1
says he filed,
silence from
the other
Here is the
UN's
transcript:
Q:
In
spite of
progress made,
there are
still some
challenges for
ASEAN,
such as
inequalities,
human rights,
economics, and
good
governance.
What does the
United Nations
think about
this?
SG:
Clearly
there are
gaps,
inequality,
between rich
and poor and
between
the groups.
This is one of
the serious
challenges we
have to
address.
The MDGs
[Millennium
Development
Goals], which
were adopted
by world
leaders in
2000 with a
deadline of
2015, is now
making
progress. But
we are
experiencing
different
scorecards the
scorecard for
progress
is uneven.
That is what
we also see
among ASEAN
countries.
However,
I'm
encouraged.
I'm optimistic
that with such
strong solid
among
ASEAN
countries,
expanding
their
cooperative
relations with
other
areas, with
strong
political
commitment and
leadership,
most of the
ASEAN
countries we
hope will be
able to
realize most
of the goals
of
the MDGs.
For
example,
Indonesia has
already hit
the target
when it comes
to
cutting in
half extreme
poverty. They
have made good
progress in
education and
gender
empowerment.
But there are
some areas in
which
they have to
do more.
I
raised this
issue with
ASEAN leaders
this morning
during the
course
of the
UN-ASEAN
summit meeting
and I'm
raising this
issue with all
the leaders,
all the
leaders.
There
is
some
scepticism [as
to] whether we
will be able
to meet the
target
by 2015, but
with strong
political
leadership
supported by
resources,
adequate
resources, I
think this is
still doable.
What
will
happen after
2015? That we
are going to
discuss in
2013 at the
United Nations
General
Assembly. I'm
now working on
that.
And
so it goes at
Ban's UN.
Watch this
site.
, 
