Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

ICP Asks Heyns About Lankans Killed in Sri Lanka & Saudi, Killer Robots Talks

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 30 -- When the UN's Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Christof Heyns held a press conference on October 30, his topics were foreign nationals facing the death penalty and best practices in investigations. Inner City Press asked Heyns about Sri Lankans and others executed in Saudi Arabia, and the shrinking of the promised investigation into killings in Sri Lanka in 2009. Video here.

Heyns said he had a case or cases about Sri Lankans in Saudi Arabia; he was generally upbeat about the process in Sri Lanka, saying there will be Commonwealth judges. Inner City Press might ask, what about Shavendra Silva? What about the UN's own role in the White Flag killings? Secretary General Ban Ki-moon almost reflexively calls for investigations. But what does the UN actually do?

Inner City Press also asked Heyns about the (Stop) Killer Robots issues, specifically about the US and UK only agreeing to talk about “emerging” - that is, future - technologies, and not “existing” ones. Video here. (From Minute 4:36.) Heyns said yes that is the issue. We'll have more on this.

On October 22 when UN Rapporteur of Freedom of Expression David Kaye held a press conference before his appearance before the UN's Third Committee, his topic was whistleblower protection, on which the UN itself is particularly weak.

When called on, Inner City Press asked Kaye about retaliation against UN official Anders Kompass for blowing the whistle on alleged child rapes by French troops in the Central African Republic. Video here and embedded below.

Kaye said he would avoid speaking about individuals cases, but said that the UN suffers from a lack of transparency. He should know that while UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous is listed in the Kompass ruling(s) of the UN Dispute Tribunal as trying to get Kompass fired, Ladsous has refused to answer on his role, other than a terse “I deny that.”

Photo: UN Rapporteur @davidakaye; @FUNCA_info here with Qs on UN #FOIA, UN DPKO & whistleblowers pic.twitter.com/BhazfWuVUO
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) October 22, 2015

Likewise, Ladsous has claimed the right to refuse to respond to ANY Press questions, in which the UN Spokesperson's Office has taken to backing him up. (When Ladsous did speak, he linked the peacekeepers' rapes to “R&R,” here.)

Earlier this month, Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access asked if UN Peacekeeping's MONUSCU mission had any comment or action on Burundian journalist Egide Mwemero being silenced then arrested in Eastern Congo. So far, none. These are cases Kaye could work on.

Free speech ironies at the UN were on display right in Kaye's press conference. The representative of the UN Correspondents Association, which among other things took funds from now-indicted David Ng's South South News and then give it an award, and gave Ng a photo op with Ban Ki-moon at Cipriani, demanded to ask the first question, even claiming that the UN Department of Public Information has granted this “right” in writing. Where?

In fact, UNCA leaders tried to get the Press thrown out of the UN, with missives to DPI, one of which (from Voice of America) was released under the US Freedom of Information Act, another of which Reuters' bureau chief has gotten Banned from Google on the claim that his anti-Press complaint was copyrighted. Is this is whistleblower? UNCA has become the UN's Censorship Alliance. We and the new Free UN Coalition for Access will have more on this, and on free speech issues through the UN system.

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