UNITED
NATIONS, July
2, updated
with transcript
-- As the US
takes over the
presidency of
the UN
Security
Council for
July, its big
debate will be
on the the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo and
the Great
Lakes region
on July 25,
with
Secretary of
State John
Kerry
presiding.
Inner
City Press,
which
exclusively
published the
full
text of the
DRC
Group of
Experts report,
asked US
Acting
Permanent
Representative
Rosemary
DiCarlo on
Tuesday about
rapes by the
DRC Army, both
in the
new Group of
Experts'
report and
those already
in the public
record
in Minova in
November 2012.
Ambassador
DiCarlo
said she
wouldn't
comment on the
Group of
Expert report
before it is
formally
introduced to
the full
Security
Council, but
that the US is
“clear with
DPKO [the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations]
and the TCC
[Troop
Contributing
Countries]
that they have
to abide by UN
guidelines.”
The
problem is,
the UN's
guidelines
have been
shifting. It
had been said
the UN
wouldn't
support DRC
Army units
engaged in
abuses.
But
even after two
units were
implicated in
the 135 rapes
at Minova,
DPKO's Herve
Ladsous
decided to
continue to
support them.
There have
been, as
confirmed in
the Group of
Experts'
report, only
two arrests
for the 135
rapes, and
some
suspensions --
a seemingly
lenient
punishment for
rape.
Likewise,
while
many had
assumed that
one certain
consequence
for a national
army being put
on the UN list
of child
soldier
recruiters
would be
banning for UN
peacekeeping
missions, Ladsous
has given
Chad, which
is on the
Child and
Armed Conflict
list, a “grace
period” of at
least four
months.
So what
ARE these
UN guidelines?
Ambassador
DiCarlo
added a
reference to
the behavior
demanded of US
forces, and
that by
answering she
was not
agreeing with
what Inner
City Press had
said.
That's
fine, but the
135 rapes in
Minova have
been reported
by
the UN Office
of the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights, and
the
figure of two
arrests is
from the Group
of Experts
report, which
Inner City
Press has
put online
here
exclusively,
as credited
by Bloomberg
News (from
Kinshasa).
Inner
City Press
also asked
Ambassador
DiCarlo about
the letter
by 19
members of the
US Congress
asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to
take
responsibility
for the
introduction
of cholera
into Haiti.
Di
Carlo said she
hadn't seen
the letter,
“we'll have to
get back to
you.” Video
here from
Minute 19:40.
Watch this
site.
DiCarlo
is the “charge
d'affaies”
in UN-ese
after Susan
Rice went
to Washington
and before
Samantha Power
arrives (by
the July 29
double
reception?)
She handled
Tuesday's
press
conference
ably.
There was no
question on
Kosovo or the
Balkans, the
nearest being
Cyprus (she
nailed it,
with a budget
reference.)
Inner
City Press
thanked her on
behalf of the
new Free
UN Coalition
for
Access,
which pressed
June's
president Mark
Lyall Grant of
the UK on
the continuing
lack of a
media
worktable at
the Security
Council
stakeout,
where one
existed before
and during the
relocation.
Watch
this site.
From
USUN
transcript:
Moderator:
We’ll go to
Matt Lee [Inner
City Press]
Reporter: For
the new Free
U.N. Coalition
for Access, thanks
for doing
this. I wanted
to ask about
the – I
understand you
can’t talk
about the
Groups of
Experts on the
DRC, but it’s
public
knowledge this
idea of the
rapes that
took place in
Minova back in
November. 135
rapes. And
there have
been two
arrests, it
appears, so
far of the
FARDC units
involved. One
unit was
actually
trained by the
U.S. I wanted
to sort of
sharpen the
question and
say, is the
U.S. satisfied
by DPKO
continuing to
work with
those units?
When this GOE report,
which is
already seen,
becomes
public, it
describes also
FARDC units
involved in
gold mining,
child
soldiers, and
the like, and
I just
wondered what
the U.S.
thinks the
role of the
Council is in
ensuring that
the UN system
doesn’t work
with the units
involved in
these
activities?
And also –
this is
definitely in
your national
capacity – 19 members
of Congress
wrote to the
Secretary-General
last month
about the role
of the UN in –
they said –
the
introduction
of cholera
into Haiti –
urging them to
take greater
responsibility
and for the UN
to do more.
And I wonder,
is the mission
aware of that
letter, and
has it taken
any action, or
been asked to
by those
Congress
people, to
ensure greater
UN action on
that issue?
Thanks.
Ambassador
DiCarlo:
Thanks for
your question.
First of all,
again, the
report will be
studied by the
Council, and
we will
certainly be
participating
in that
discussion. We
are,
ourselves, in
our national
capacity, I
would say that
we ourselves
assess reports
that we get
either from
the UN or from
elsewhere. We
are assessing
reports of
possible
outside
interference
in the DRC. We
continue,
obviously, to
be very clear
with DPKO,
with the UN,
with troop
contributors
that we expect
them to abide
by UN
guidelines –
that we expect
the kind of
behavior that
we would
demand of our
own forces,
and these are
areas that we
will continue
to look into
and continue
to make very
clear that
certain kinds
of behavior
are not
unacceptable.
Now I’m not
agreeing with
what you have
said. I’m just
saying that in
the case that
this has been
determined,
that is our
position.
Oh, Haiti
cholera. I’m
sorry, I
haven’t seen
that letter,
and we’d have
to get back to
you on that.
, 
