UN
Experts Urge
Transparency
on Drone
Deaths, UN
Peacekeeping Withholds
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
29 -- After
the US said it
will review
the deaths of
Warren
Weinstein and
Giovanni Lo
Porto by drone
strike, the UN
on April 29
announced that
four of its
Special
Rapporteurs
said the
report should
be released,
subject to
narrow
national
security
exemptions.
"The
experts
stressed that,
subject to
redactions on
the grounds of
legitimate
national
security,
their results
must be open
to public
scrutiny, and,
where
appropriate,
adequate
reparation to
victims and
their families
must be
offered," the
UN said.
When Inner
City Press asked
the Office of
the UN
Spokesperson
about this
withheld
report, and
another one
about UN
Peacekeepers
shooting at
unarmed
demonstrators
in Haiti, the
excuse for
withholding
was that these
are "internal"
documents. So
much for
transparency.
Doctor,
heal theyself.
The
experts urging
transparency
on April 29
were Juan
Méndez,
Special
Rapporteur on
torture and
other cruel,
inhuman or
degrading
treatment or
punishment;
Christof
Heyns, Special
Rapporteur on
extrajudicial,
summary or
arbitrary
executions;
Ben Emmerson,
Special
Rapporteur on
the promotion
and protection
of human
rights and
fundamental
freedoms while
countering
terrorism; and
Gabriela
Knaul, Special
Rapporteur on
independence
of judges and
lawyers.
What
do these UN
Experts think
of UN
Peacekeeping's
and Ladsous'
performance?
On April 2
Ladsous
appeared at
the UN
Security
Council media
stakeout but
after reading
a prepared
statement
refused to
answer Press
questions
about the
underlying
Tabankort
agreement with
the MNLA which
led to the
Mali shooting.
Video
I here.
Inner City
Press also
asked about
shooting at
civilians by
Ladsous'
peacekeepers
in Haiti,
caught on
video, and
asked if that
withheld
report would
be released.
Ladsous said,
I do not
respond to
you. Video
II here.
Inner City
Press asked if
it isn't now a
pattern,
peacekeepers
shooting at
unarmed
civilians not
only in Mali
but also
Haiti, and if
Ladsous will
take
responsibility.
Ladsous'
spokesman
Nicholas
Birnback then
grabbed the
UNTV
microphone and
moved it away
from Inner
City Press.
This happened
before with
Ladsous and
his previous
spokesman. Video here, story
here. At
that time,
after the Free UN Coalition for Access
complained,
the UN
Spokesperson
told FUNCA it
would not
happen again.
Now it has.
Accountability?
Tellingly,
the Ladsous
scribe who
angled for and
got the first
question asked
pointedly if
the
peacekeepers
in Mali
weren't from
Rwanda.
Ladsous leered
and said the
Troop
Contributing
Country, then
spoke again at
the end to lay
the blame on
them. Video
II, here, near
end.
In the public
record is Ladsous'
1994 memo
supporting the
escape of the
Hutu
genocidaires
who formed the
FDLR into
Eastern Congo,
where now
Ladsous'
MONUSCO finds
one excuse
after another
NOT
to neutralize
the FDLR
as it did the
largely Tutsi
M23 armed
group.
, 
