Syria
Panel Chair
Pinheiro Has
No Info on
Al-Nusra,
Won't Say
Funders
Responsible
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 16 --
Human rights
abused in and
by Syria are
denounced
daily in the
UN and
elsewhere.
But
even the UN
Security
Council
earlier this
month
condemned
suicide
bombings in
Aleppo claimed
by the
anti-government
Al-Nusra
Front.
So
one would
expect the UN
panel chaired
by Paulo
Pinheiro to
have
information
and a position
on Al-Nusra,
and perhaps
even its
funders.
Inner
City Press on
October 16
asked Pinheiro
about
Al-Nusra, and
Ansar
al-Islam: is
his panel
collecting
information on
these groups?
Does
the
"Responsibility"
described in
his panel's
report
extend to the
funders of
such groups? Video
here, from
Minute 28:22.
Pinheiro
said
no, "we don't
have the
specifics...
we don't have
the answer."
On
responsibility,
he said it
would be "very
irresponsible"
to answer that
question. His
fellow
panelists
Karen AbuZayd,
formerly the
head of UNRWA,
did not choose
to answer. Video
here, from
Minute 30.
Here's
hoping that
the two newly
appointed
panelists,
Vitit
Muntarbhorn
and
Carla del
Ponte, can do
a more serious
job on this
side of the
panel's
responsibility.
Footnote:
At
the end of the
press
conference,
Pinheiro was
asked if he
had
mentioned the
International
Criminal Court
to the
Security
Council in
last Friday's
Arria formula
meeting which
Inner City
Press covered
in
real-time.
Pinheiro
answered that
it would have
been rude.
But
Permanent
Representative
Cabral of
Portugal,
which
requested the
meeting,
afterward told
Inner City
Press that the
ICC was raised
by
the panelists,
with the
admonition
that of course
a referral is
up to
the Security
Council. Watch
this site.
, 
