At UN
On Death
Penalty,
Darfur &
South Sudan,
Reprisals
& Ban
Ki-moon's
Vanity Book
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 6 --
The UN
Bookstore,
which has yet
to put on the
shelves the
Ban Ki-moon vanity
press book
Ban handed out
to heads of
state last
month, was the
venue
for a book
discussion
on October 6:
“Death
Penalty and
the Victims:
Discussion
with the
publication’s
editor, ASG
Ivan
Simonovic; ASG
for Human
Rights Andrew
Gilmour;
criminal
defence
attorney
Walter Long
and
photographer
Lucinda
Delvin,
moderated by
Ms. Cristina
Gallach,
Under-Secretary-General
for
Communications
and Public
Information”
It was not on
USG Gallach's
UN Television;
Inner City
Press went and
live-streamed
it on
Periscope.
Ms Delvin
showed a photograph
of an electric
chair she said
is called
“Yellow Mama;”
Mr. Long said
the US should
not have
killed Osama
Bin Laden but
rather should
have taken him
to the World
Court.
Inner City
Press asked
ASG Simonovic
about UN
Peacekeeping's
policies on
turning people
over to
government's
that have the
death penalty;
he referred
back to the
stand off
about the
sheikhs in
Darfur, and
more recent
cases in South
Sudan. (Inner
City Press
previously
asked him a
question on
March 11,
2016, here
at Minute
22:20, to
which it still
awaits an
answer.)
To Andrew
Gilmour,
recently and without
competition
named as
Simonovic's
successor,
Inner City
Press asked
about his new
mandate on
people facing
reprisal for
cooperating
with the UN.
He confirmed
it - call it a
soft launch --
and said yes,
it would apply
to those in
South Sudan
who spoke with
the visiting
UN Security
Council. He
did not answer
on Burundi.
To USG
Gallach, who
without once
speaking to
Inner City
Press ordered
it ousted from
the UN in
February (UN
human rights
inquiry here,
testimony
to Human
Rights Council
here) and
its files
evicted in
April, Inner
City Press
asked about
the delayed
release of
Ban's vanity
press book,
which was
published by
her DPI. She
referred the
question to
the head of
the UN
bookstore, who
said the
released was
delayed --
from August --
to October 25
to coincide
with UN Day.
But why they
was it put
online, only
to be taken
off? And
how much did
it cost to
produce.
We recommend
the
photographs; the Periscope (for now)
is here,
and a photo
of a photo,
here.
, 
