At
UN,
Jeremic
Pitches for
Budget for His
Office, Urges
Action Before
Xmas
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 16 --
Serbia's Vuk
Jeremic made a
pitch for a
budget for the
President of
the General
Assembly, the
position he
won
in a contested
election with
Lithuania's
candidate
during the
summer.
As
Inner City
Press has
pointed out in
the past, the
UN budget for
the
PGA is only
partial, which
gives more
affluent
countries like
Bahrain,
Switzerland
and most
recently Qatar
an advantage,
and forced
Nicargua's
Miguel
d'Escoto
Brockman to
hold his own
fundraisers,
in Los Angeles
and elsewhere.
Skeptics
might
point out that
Jeremic has
his own reason
for feeling
the
pitch, as
after a change
in government
in Serbia the
budget he was
to
receive from
his country
fell into
question.
But whatever
his
reasons, if
the Fifth
(Budget)
Committee
moves forward
on the
proposal, it
would make
things more
fair and less
unseemly in
the
future.
Jeremic
also
encouraged the
Budget
Committee to
bring its work
to a
conclusion as
early as
possible.
Often, as
Inner City
Press has
covered in
person, the
Committee
worked until
Christmas eve,
staying
up all night
as the
documents are
finalized to
be adopted in
the
General
Assembly hall
at dawn.
Eritrea's
incoming
member of the
Advisory
Committee on
Administrative
and
Budgetary
Questions gave
a speech last
December, how
the endgame
working
conditions of
the Budget
Committee were
"like Occupy
Wall Street,"
with people
sleeping
standing up or
sitting, as
was then
required in
Zuccotti Park
/ Liberty
Square in
lower
Manhattan.
The UN's
Vienna Cafe
was full of
pizza boxes,
and later
liquor. We'll
see what
happens this
year.
The
Second
Committee, by
contrast, has
booked time in
the UN's North
Lawn
Building this
weekend, to
try to finish
its work so
members can
"go
to Doha" for
the climate
meeting there.
Conditions in
Doha i Qatar
are
hardly Occupy
Wall Street.
In fact, Qatar
is close to
occupying Wall
Street for
real.
The US' Budget
Committee
Ambassador Joe
Torsella was
to his credit
Tweeting on
November 15
about the
report
detailing the
UN's failures
in Sri Lanka.
But will he,
Jeremic, the
US or any
other member
state push for
accountability?
Watch this
site.
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