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UN Council Fails to Act on India Shooting Spree,
Waiting for Word, Going on Vacation
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
November 26, updated Nov. 27 --
As news of the
shooting attacks in India spread globally, it received little attention
and no
action at the UN Security Council in New York. In the Taj Mahal Hotel
in Mumbai
at 10 p.m. local time, guests with U.S. or UK passports were rounded up
and the
shooting began. The Council was meeting from Friday afternoon into the
evening.
While the agenda included Kosovo
and Lebanon, one assumed that India would be
added under "Other Matters," given over 80 shot dead in the
Subcontinent's financial capital. But no.
Inner City
Press asked the UK's ambassador at the meeting, Deputy Permanent
Representative
Karen Pierce, if the Council would at least be issuing a statement
about the
attacks. Not tonight, she said, adding that "we are talking to the
Indians." Video here, from Minute
8:47.
But U.S.
Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff later said the Council
has not
heard anything from India, and that is it "protocol" for the Council
to ask India if a statement would be useful.
The UK's
Pierce said that "on a personal basis I'm happy to support" a
statement by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. U.S. president-elect Barack
Obama
also put out a statement, as did the European Union. The UN Security
Council stayed silent, and
will apparently remain so at least until Friday, given the Thanksgiving
holiday
on Thursday.
UK's Karen Pierce, stars and stripes but no Council statement on India
If the
Council does not meet on
Friday -- and no session is yet scheduled -- then
Wednesday's was the last of the November presidency of Costa Rica,
whose
Ambassador Jorge Urbina did not come out to speak with the press on
Wednesday,
despite saying that morning that he would. The month had begun with
promises of
transparency. It ended with a whimper and inaction.
Footnote:
Ironically, earlier on Friday UN official
Alan Doss was asked about sexual abuse by Indian peacekeepers in the
Congo, as
that country's government moved to block the deployment of any more
Indians in
North Kivu. Video here.
A country as big as India can be seen in many ways, particularly at
the UN.
Update of November 27,
8 p.m. -- more than 24 hours
later, and after an opaque consultation process, the UN for the Council
sent
out the following:
Subj:Security Council Press
Statement on the Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai
From:unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
Date:11/27/2008 7:48:45 P.M.
Eastern Standard Time
Security Council Press Statement on the Terrorist Attacks in
Mumbai
The members of the Security Council condemned in the
strongest terms the
terrorist attacks in Mumbai that started on 26 November 2008, which
included
the taking of hostages and caused numerous deaths and injuries.
The members of the Security Council expressed their
condolences to the families
of the victims and to the people and Government of India.
The members of the Security Council underlined the need to
bring perpetrators,
organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of
terrorism to
justice and urged all States, in accordance with their obligations
under
international law and relevant Security Council resolutions,
to cooperate
actively with the Indian authorities in this regard.
The members of the Security Council reiterated that all acts
of terrorism are
criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, and
reaffirmed the
need to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the
United
Nations, threats to international peace and security caused by
terrorist
acts.
The members of the Security Council reminded States that they
must
ensure that measures taken to combat terrorism comply with all their
obligations under international law, in particular international human
rights,
refugee and humanitarian law.
The members of the Security Council reiterated their
determination to combat
all forms of terrorism, in accordance with its responsibilities under
the
Charter of the United Nations.
New York, 27 November 2008
We
will
have more on this.
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
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here
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AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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