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After
51 UN
Personnel
Murdered in
2015, ICP Asks
of Haiti,
Louis Maxwell
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 21 --
What does
today's UN do
to protect its
staff? Inner
City Press has
recently been
informed by
staff and
reported that
local
employees of
the UN
Peacekeeping
mission in
South Sudan
are no longer
told of
dangers to
them in
Situation
Reports.
Now it
is reported
that 51 UN
personnel were
deliberately
killed in
2015. On
January 21,
Inner City
Press asked UN
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq, UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: on the
report of the
51 personnel
killed.
The
recommendation
for a
high-level
panel also
says that the
panel should
review if
compensation
is adequate of
the families
who died for
the
Organization
including the
family of
officer Louis
James Maxwell,
killed in the
line of duty
in Afghanistan
2009.
And I know
that in this
case
then-Chief of
Staff [Susana]
Malcorra
visited his
family.
There was a
lot of focus
on it at the
time.
But, the
compensation
and two, the
accountability,
was the issue
ever really
pursued with
the Afghan
Government in
terms of who
shot him and…
given that
there was
footage of who
did it?
Deputy
Spokesman:
We repeatedly,
over the
years, have
pursued the
question of
accountability
with the
Government of
Afghanistan,
including
through not
one, but
several heads
of the
Department of
Safety and
Security over
the
years.
Beyond that, I
would refer
you to the
Government
itself.
But, we have
continued in a
fairly intense
dialogue with
them.
Inner City
Press:
And I wanted
to… the same
report talks
about the…
sadly, the end
of the year
these two UN
police that
were killed in
Haiti that, I
believe, were
from
Rwanda.
It was said
that the UN
[Stabilization
Mission in
Haiti],
MINUSTAH, was
going to work
with the
Government to
try to find
out… this
report says
that they were
apparently
shot by
unidentified
assailants.
Has there been
any progress
in finding out
who killed
them and why?
Deputy
Spokesman:
We're not
aware of who…
of the
identity of
the
attackers.
It seemed to
be an attack
in the home,
in the
residence, of
these two
peacekeepers,
and we need to
know what the
circumstances
are.
But, the UN
Mission,
MINUSTAH, is
investigating.
The
report says:
"For the
second year in
a row, the
greatest loss
of life had
been recorded
in Mali where
at least 25
personnel,
including 11
peacekeepers
and 14
civilians and
associated
personnel,
were killed...
For the second
year in a row,
South Sudan
topped the
list of
countries
where the
highest number
of staff had
been either
detained or
abducted or
disappeared,
four of whom
(one staff
member from
2014) have now
been presumed
no longer
alive...
There is a
call for a
high level
panel, citing
the case of Louis Maxwell
in
Afghanistan:
murdered and
cover-up here.
In the UN's
continued
withholding of
news and
answers about
South Sudan,
the reports of
the UN's own
knowledge of
abuses are now
being withheld
from its own
impacted
national
staff.
Back on
January 11,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
the withheld
situation
reports, video
here, transcript here:
Inner City
Press: South
Sudan, we've
been back and
forth about
these
situation
reports, and I
want… one, I
wanted to ask
you whether
you have
anything in
your binder
about fighting
near a place
called
Diabio.
But I also
wanted to ask
you, I've now
heard that the
situation
reports will
no longer be
distributed
electronically
and, more
troublingly,
that local UN
staff are not
supposed to be
told the
contents of
the
reports.
I'd like you
to check that…
[cross talk] …
given… given…
Spokesman:
I don't know
what situation
reports you're
talking
about.
You're
obviously…
you're getting
situation
reports that…
[cross talk]
Inner City
Press:
My overall
question…
Spokesman:
Obviously, you
know, there
are different
types of
reports.
There are
those done by
the
peacekeeping
mission which
I give to you.
Inner City
Press:
UNDSS
(Department of
Safety and
Security).
Spokesman:
There are
others done,
like you said,
by DSS.
These are the
ones you seem
to have
unlimited
access to,
which is, I
guess, good
for you.
The point is
DSS is
entrusted to
keeping our
staff safe,
and I trust
them to share
the
information
they need to
share to
ensure that
all staff,
whether
national or
international,
have the
information
they need to
be able to
stay safe.
Even if
that were
true, what
about
civilians?
We'll have
more on this.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
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