As
UN
No-Comments on
Cambodia Court
Resignation,
HRW Praises UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 19 --
After Laurent
Kasper-Ansermet
quit from the
UN-affiliated
Extraordinary
Chambers in
the Courts of
Cambodia
(ECCC), Inner
City Press on
March 19 asked
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Deputy
Spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey about it:
Inner
City
Press: a
second judge
of the
Cambodian
tribunal,
extraordinary
courts in the
chambers of
Cambodia has
quit, Mr.
Kasper-Ansermet,
and
he said that
he has been
interfered
with by the
Cambodian
Government
and disallowed
from
investigating
further
genocide
suspects.
Given
the UN’s role
in the court,
what’s its
response to
this second
resignation?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, the
Secretary-General
has received
Judge
Kasper-Ansermet’s
resignation as
reserve
international
Co-Investigating
Judge of the
ECCC. He is
very grateful
to Judge
Kasper-Ansermet
for his
service and
the situation
of the ECCC
continues to
be of serious
concern and we
are examining
it closely.
Question:
This will be,
I mean, given
what he said
publicly that
he was
undermined by
the
Government… I
mean, do you
have more to
say, are
you going to
be naming…?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, we
have no
comment at the
time being for
the
reasons for
his
resignation.
Ban
has been
particularly
weak on human
rights in
Cambodia, click here
for just one
previous
Inner City
Press story.
In
nine hours
after the
March 19 "we
have no
comment," no
update of any
kind was
provided by
the UN.
Nevertheless,
Human
Rights Watch
chief Ken Roth
at 9 pm
tweeted that
"UN concerned
by second
judge's
resignation
from Khmer
Rouge tribunal
due to
Cambodia
interference
in broader
inquiry."
What
was Roth's
tweet based
on, given what
the UN
actually said?
A UN
New Service
propaganda
article, of
course, which
ignored what
Del Buey
actually
said.
Previously,
when
Inner City
Press asked
for a summary
of at least
what issues
Roth and
HRW had raised
in their
meeting with
Ban Ki-moon,
the request
was
denied. HRW's
UN flack
Philippe
Bolopion,
hired as a
former
journalist
covering the
UN, replied:
Subject:
Re:
Press request
for read-out
of Ken Roth's
meeting with
Ban
Ki-moon, incl
re Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
Sudan /
Haroun, or
explanation,
thanks
From: Philippe
Bolopion [at]
hrw.org
Date: Sat, May
28,
2011 at 10:04
AM
Cc: Ken Roth
<rothk@hrw.org>,
"roth@hrw.org"
<roth@hrw.org>
To: "Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
InnerCityPress.com
Hi
Matthew:
To preserve
our ability to
have frank
discussions
with UN
officials and
advance our
advocacy
goals, we
don't
typically
communicate on
the content of
discussions we
have with
them.
Despite
this lack
of
accountability
repeatedly
being raised
-- it seems
clear that the
big funders of
HRW would get
such a summary
-- no
information
had
been provided.
HRW
held a press
conference
largely
praising Ban
Ki-moon's
human rights
performance.
Now,
HRW's Ken Roth
adopts the
UN's own
propaganda
over what was
actually said
at the UN. Is it any
wonder that
Ban Ki-moon
gets weaker
and weaker on
human
rights?
Watch this
site.
, 
