At UN, of Liberian Rapes and Sri Lankan Child Soldiers, OCHA Says a Better Story Must Be Told
By Matthew Russell Lee
April 14, 2008
The Inner City Press 
Original Source: http://www.innercitypress.com/un4148muse041408.html
UNITED NATIONS, April 14 -- I cannot honestly argue that rape is a threat to the security of the country, the UN's envoy to Liberia Ellen Margrethe Loj told the Press on Monday. She had spoken to the Security Council about the rape of girls as young as three years old. Video here, from Minute 56:50. 
            But Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's 21-page written report to the Council on the UN Mission in Liberia mentions rape in only two places, neither with much focus. Inner City Press had asked Ban's Deputy Spokesperson about a critique of Ban's and the UN's lack of action on the issue in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the spokesperson had answered by referring to Ban's report on the DRC, which like the one on Liberia hardly focuses on the issue. Video here, from Minute 15:32.  Beyond mentioning it, what is the UN doing, in places where it has tens of thousands of peacekeeping troops?
            In a place where the UN has very little presence, Sri Lanka, the UN Security Council has yet to refer documented recruiters of child soldiers to the International Criminal Court. But one of the main culprits, Colonel Karuna of a breakaway LTTE faction, is in custody in Britain, being investigated not only for the passport infraction he was arrested on, but also for war crimes. Monday at the UN, Inner City Press ask if the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict organization is in favor of referral of recruiters to the ICC. The answer appears to be yes, video here from Minute 24:02.  
    Human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseka pointed out that while Sri Lanka has not signed on to the Rome Treaty and joined the International Criminal Court, there are other options available. The Security Council, or at least its working group on children and armed conflict, is being asked to visit Sri Lanka, or at least those portions of the country they'd be given access to. Last time he was there, UN humanitarian coordinator John Holmes was called a terrorist by a member of parliament, for calling the country dangerous. 
            Also on Monday, back from a trip to the Gulf, Holmes told the Press that the UN has image issues in the Middle East. While in the region, he was questioned about the cost of bureaucracy at the UN. Holmes stress that these doubts, or myths as he called them, were not expressed by official interlocutors, but rather by others he met on the margins. Inner City Press asked for his response to quotes by the UK's John Webster, that the UN must make a better case for multilateralism, and by Holmes' own colleague Robert Smith, that the Central Emergency Relief Fund should double in size to $1 billion. Holmes shook his head, saying that a doubling in size is not needed at this point, though it might be in the future, if what he called the food price crisis grows worse. Video here, from Minute 25:32.
            After the briefing, Inner City Press asked Holmes if Haiti, for example, has yet applied to the CERF. Not yet, he answered. He stressed the relatively small size of the CERF compared to Haiti's needs. But if not the UN, who? Returning full circle, if the UN will not even try to stop mass rape in the countries where it has tens of thousands of peacekeepers, what will it do?