Canadian
FM Freeland Cites Assault on
Multi-lateralism at WPS Event
While UN Dissent Channel Under
Assault
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
September 26 – When Canada's
Foreign Minister Chrystia
Freeland spoke on the topic of
Women, Peace and Security at
German House on September 26,
she joked that the audience
were the wonkishly converted
and urged those present to
more directly engage with
those who think differently.
She said the UN General
Assembly wee so far had
featured robust attacks on
multilateralism - the
reference, it seemed clear,
was to Donald Trump - but that
countries like Canada and
Germany must work together to
confront it. She cited the #MeToo
movement, but not the UN's
dismal response to sexual harassment
in its ranks, at UNAIDS and
UNFPA. Periscope video here.
Also speaking were Heiko Maas,
Federal Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Germany; Netumbo
Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of
International Relations and
Cooperation, Namibia; Josep
Borrell, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, European Union and
Cooperation, Spain. A
moderator was Karin Landgren
whose served among other
places in Burundi and who's quoted
a colleague, "'Our dissent
channel is Inner City Press,'
joked a UN colleague,
referring to a journalist
known for asking difficult
questions." With that channel
under assault, literally,
what will Landgren and these
countries do? But that's
another story, like this one
from earlier on September 26:
When Swiss Foreign Minister
Ignazio Cassis help a press
availability early on
September 26, Inner City Press
went to ask him something it
first asked the UN, about
complaints that despite
invitations to Geneva by the
UN Working Group on Enforced
Disappearances victims from
Biafra and Ambazonia in
Cameroon were denied visas by
the Swiss embassy in Abuja,
Nigeria.
Cassis said he
was unaware of the issue but
to ask the consul general. He
was otherwise responsive,
about the political
consideration in Switzerland
about arms transfers -- the
country's former UN
Ambasssador Peter Maurer, now
heading the ICRC, this week
called for review as to Yemen
-- and the North Korea
process.
Is
Switzerland on the short list
to host the second round of
talks between Kim Jong Un and
Donald Trump? Cassis replied
he didn't know where on the
list the Swiss are but that
they play a unique role. He
repeated this as to Iran,
where Switzerland represents
the US' interests. Here were
his bilateral meetings:
1045 EU
High Representative Federica
Mogherini
1100
Foreign Minister Abdelkader
Messahel, Algeria
1230 Foreign Minister Osman
Mohammed Saleh, Eritrea
1300 Foreign
Minister Augusto Santos Silva,
Portugal
1330 EU
Commissioner Johannes Hahn
1430 Foreign
Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood
Hussain Qureshi, Pakistan
1530 Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov,
Russian Federation
1700 Foreign
Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin
Zayed Al Nahyan, United Arab
Emirates
It's UNGA
madness, in four languages. We
hope to have more on this.
***
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