By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 30 – Amid the killing and displacement of Rohingya
from and in Myanmar's Rakhine State, Inner City Press on October 30 asked
Ambassador Matthew Rycroft of the UK, the UN Security Council's penholder on
Myanmar, about the draft resolution, transcript below. On October 31, UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Knut Ostby is becoming "interim" UN
Resident Coordinator in Myanmar after Renata Lok-Dessallien is belatedly
removed but gets another post in UNHQ. Inner City Press asked him if
"interim" means Ostby has to try out for and please the Myanmar
government in order to become permanent Coordinator, and what post it is that
Lok Dessallien is getting in New York: anything to do with human rights? The
latter was not answered, and on the former, Dujarric referred to a recruitment
process. We'll have more on this - particularly given the flawed recruitment
process by which Ban Ki-moon named his own son in law UN Resident Coordinator
in Kenya, without any recusal. Watch this site. From the UK transcript: Inner
City Press: On Myanmar [Burma], what’s the progress on the resolution? When do
you think you might put it to a vote? Amb Rycroft: "We’re making good,
careful progress with our Council colleagues on that. We want to keep everyone
together if we possibly can. This is a difficult issue for many of us. We are
determined, though, to step up, and we see the atrocious situation of the
Rohingya in Rakhine state, and for those who have fled into Bangladesh. We
commend the Bangladeshi authorities for what they are doing by providing much
needed support. I think the whole international community has agreed on what
needs to happen; there needs to be an end to the violence, full humanitarian
access, accountability, implementation of the Kofi Annan recommendations, and
for all the refugees to be able to return safely as and when they want to do
so. So that’s the consensus, and we now need to work carefully to get that into
a resolution if there is the appetite for that." When Yanghee Lee, UN
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, took questions
on October 26, Inner City Press asked her about the government not approving a
replacement for UN Resident Coordinator Renata Lok-Dessallien, who is now
leaving at the end of October. Ms. Lee confirmed that the government has
rejected a UN Assistant Secretary General being sent, not wanting that special
attention. Later on October 26, speaking of UN Security Council proposals on
Myanmar at a quiet film event hosted by one of the too-quiet proponents,
Yanghee Lee was quoted going beyond what she said in the UN: "#UN Special
Rapporteur on #Myanmar: #SecurityCouncil needs to adopt strong #Burma
resolution- appeals to #China #Japan& #Russia not to block." As to
Russia, its foreign ministry spokesperson
Maria Zakharova said, "we are ready for a
constructive discussion of further steps of the UNSC on this issue." And
given China's recent absention on extending the mandate of the Syria chemical
weapons JIM investigative mechanism while Russia vetoed and Bolivia voted no,
many are left wondering about... Japan, as referenced by Yanghee Lee. While
some might mechanically cite rifts between Japan and Yanghee Lee's South Korea
(see for example Japan opposing registration at UNESCO of "comfort
women" documentation, Inner City Press story here), there's more to be
said about Japan, Myanmar and the Rohingya. Watch this site. In the UN Press
Briefing Room, Yangee Lee on October 26 told Inner City Press that a person
already in the country could be interim Resident Coordinator and that while a
new UN Special Adviser might be necessary, it would be important who that
person is. Some might ask, why not her? Two hours later on October 26 Inner
City Press aske UN spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:
on Myanmar and the UN's presence there, the Special Rapporteur, Yanghee Lee, in
a press conference this morning, you know, acknowledged that the UN had asked
for an Assistant Secretary-General to replace Ms. [Renata] Lok-Dessallien and
had been rejected by the Government. She's…
would be in a position to know. So, I
take… given that, can you say, one, why hasn't… why… you know, can… will you
confirm it as a Secretariat representative? And where does it stand… given that
we're now 26 October and the… the Resident Coordinator is leaving by the end of
the month, where does it stand in terms of having a replacement? What did Mr.
[Jeffrey] Feltman leave the country… what was his understanding in terms of who
would be running the country team in less than a week? Deputy Spokesman: I do expect, in the coming days, we'll be
able to have an announcement about who will be the Officer-in-Charge of our
operations in Myanmar. We're not at that
stage yet, but, like I said, I do expect to have an announcement shortly, and
we'll have the details at this point. Inner City Press: Given that she's now
said that an ASG [Assistant Secretary-General] was proposed… I'd asked you
about Mr. Magdy of… of UNDP [United Nations Development Programme], whether he
was the one, but it seems like… do you have a problem confirming that? She's also a UN system official or Special
Rapporteur. Is she wrong? Deputy
Spokesman: I'm not going to dispute the
words of the Special Rapporteur. We
don't go into the discussions that we're having on various positions. Once we have an announcement to make, like I
said, we'll make it. We're not at that
point just yet. Yanghee Lee directed Inner City Press to the Flickr photographs
on her mandate's website; they are here, including the toddler she described in
her closing statement to the Third Committee on October 25. This is one side of
the UN on human rights; here is another: the UN delivered a threat to Inner
City Press to “review” it accreditation on Friday afternoon at 5 pm. The UN
official who signed the letter, when Inner City Press went to ask about the
undefined violation of live-streaming Periscope video at a photo op by UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres, had already left, minutes after sending the
threat. This comes two days after Inner City Press asked Guterres about the UN
inaction on threatened genocide in Cameroon, and the UN claimed Guterres hadn't
heard the 15-second long question. https://youtu.be/0ACPJsva5Rk
It also comes after Alison Smale the head of the
Department of Public Information which would “review” Inner City Press'
accreditation has ignored three separate petitions from Inner City Press in the
six weeks she has been in the job, urging her to remove restrictions on Inner
City Press' reporting which hinder its coverage of the UN's performance in such
crises as Yemen, Kenya, Myanmar, and the Central African Republic where
Guterres travels next week, with Smale's DPI saying its coverage of the trip
will be a test of its public relations ability. But the UN official who
triggered the complaint is Maher Nasser, who filled in for Smale before she
arrived.