UNITED
NATIONS, June
13 -- So who
paid for the
Syria death
toll study
released by
the UN Office
of the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights on
June 13?
Both
the authors of
the report at
the Human
Rights Data
Analysis Group
and
OHCHR
spokesperson
Rupert
Colville have
told Inner
City Press
that
HRDAG worked
"pro bono."
HRDAG's
Patrick
Ball went
further,
telling
Inner City
Press, "We did
the work pro
bono because
doing analysis
of this kind
is the mission
for which we
receive
support from
our donors."
But
who are the
donors? There
is an
"anonymous
US-based
private
foundation."
Ball declined
to disclose
who it is, so
Inner City
Press asked
Colville if
the UN even
knows. He
replied:
"Donors
have
a right to
remain
anonymous if
they want to.
If we felt
there
was something
going wrong
with the way
statistical
analysis is
being
handled, we
might ask
questions on
that -- but we
don't any
reason
to."
How
could that be
-- especially
since
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
at noon said
that OHCHR
reported there
had been
93,000 deaths,
how could
OHCHR say it
didn't see any
reason
to ask who
paid for the
study? There
are other
questions
outstanding.
For
now, consider
that the HRDAG
report concludes
that
"the content
of this
analysis does
not necessary
reflect the
opinion on
OHCHR" -- but
Reuters
headline was
"U.N. says
93,000 killed
in Syrian
conflict,
fears for
Aleppo" and
they called it
a "UN
report."
That
is -- a UN
report that
the UN , when
asked, doesn't
even know who
paid for.
Watch this
site.
, 
