by UN Tribune

Israel’s Gaza Invasion Likely to Spur UN Security Council Action

July 17, 2014 – Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza will likely lead to a Security Council resolution calling for withdrawal and a ceasefire despite US wishes that a regional solution be found to the crisis.

Washington would rather see an Egyptian-mediated fix but the current military government in Cairo no longer has clout over militant groups in Gaza.

The Council issued a carefully worded non-binding statement on Saturday calling for de-escalation and a resumption of the Egyptian-brokered 2012 ceasefire agreement. The statement, whose wording was fought over by Jordan and the US, made no reference to either Israel or Hamas but specified the protection of civilians.

In the five days since the Council’s statement, the number of civilians killed has risen steadily with some 50 children now among the innocent victims.

US envoy Samantha Power, who in April solemnly vowed to defend Israeli interests at the United Nations, had been silent on Gaza up until Thursday but shortly after State Dept. spokesperson Jen Psaki said the US is “heartbroken” by the high civilian death toll in Gaza and called on Israel to do more to protect civilians, she tweeted that the civilian toll is “heartbreaking” and the US is “using all diplomatic resources to support a ceasefire.”

Less than an hour later, Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza for the first time since Operation Cast Lead in December 2008. That three-week offensive killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, including 412 children and 110 women, according to UN figures.

In response, the UNSC passed Resolution 1860 on Jan. 8, 2009 with 14 Council members supporting, none against, and the US abstaining. Fighting ended ten days after its adoption.

That lead to almost four years of relative calm until fighting erupted in late-2012, which was ended by the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire.

The Obama administration is keen to avoid a showdown at the UN where the US has used its veto 43 times, the majority of times in support of Israel – most recently in 2011 when it cast the sole no vote on a Security Council resolution condemning settlements that was co-sponsored by some 80 UN member states.

But as the body charged with the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, and with a large UN presence on the ground in Gaza, expect the Council to take action in the coming days.

Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

Photo/UN Photo

07.17.14

by UN Tribune

Alleged Killer of Irish Peacekeepers Arrested in Detroit

Funeral of Private Derek Smallhorne who was killed along with Private Thomas Barrett in 1980

July 17, 2014 – A Detroit man accused of killing two Irish peacekeepers serving with the UN in Lebanon in 1980 was arrested by US authorities earlier this week.

Mahmoud Bazzi, who was a member of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA), was arrested at his home in Dearborn on an immigration violation that could lead to his deportation back to Lebanon.

He moved to the US shortly after the April 1980 torture and execution of Privates Derek Smallhorne and Thomas Barrett who were serving with the nine-nation UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Bazzi’s brother had been killed a week earlier in a skirmish with UNIFIL troops and the killing of the Irish peacekeepers was said to be a revenge attack.

Bazzi reportedly boasted in the Lebanese press of his responsibility for the killings but years later when confronted by a reporter from Irish television said the SLA militia forced him to confess publicly to the killings. A third Irish peacekeeper who was abducted along with Privates Barrett and Smallhorne, John O’Mahoney, was also shot but survived and says Bazzi was the triggerman.

A spokesperson for UNIFIL in New York said they are aware of the arrest of Bazzi.

“Pending clarity on charges filed by US authorities against the individual we won’t comment specifically,” Aditya Mehta said in an email to UN Tribune. “Any attack against UN Peacekeepers is unacceptable and constitutes a war crime. We remain eternally grateful for the service and sacrifices of Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne, who were killed while serving in UNIFIL in 1980, and urge the authorities to hold those responsible to account.”

Ninety Irish peacekeepers have been killed serving in UN missions, more than half, 47, were killed serving with UNIFIL.

In total, more than 3,200 UN peacekeepers have lost their lives in the line of duty.

– Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

07.10.14

by UN Tribune

De Mistura New UN Envoy for Syria

July 10, 2014 – Ban Ki-moon has appointed Swedish-Italian diplomat Staffan de Mistura as the UN special envoy for Syria.

De Mistura, who was previously UN representative to Iraq and Afghanistan, takes up the post vacated by Lakhdar Brahimi but unlike Brahimi or his predecessor, Kofi Annan, his is not a joint appointment with the Arab League.

While Annan was the joint UN-Arab League special envoy for Syria and Brahimi, the joint UN-Arab League special representative, De Mistura’s title is UN special envoy.

His deputy has been named as Egyptian Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, who previously served as the Arab League’s envoy to the IAEA in Vienna. Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that Ramzy’s appointment was made at the recommendation of the Arab League.

“I make it clear that Ambassador Ramzy was recommended by the League of Arab States, but he is going to be appointed by me, by the Secretary-General, and he is going to be the Deputy Special Envoy and he will work together with Mr. De Mistura,” Ban said. “But it is also important that we need to have closer coordination, consultation with the League of Arab States. That is a basic hallmark of our work until now, and it will continue to be so.”

Syria was suspended from membership of the Arab League in November 2011 and the decision by the UN to not appoint a joint envoy is viewed as a result of pressure from Damascus as well as a calculation that Damascus may work more cooperatively with an envoy not jointly appointed with the Arab League.

Annan served as joint special envoy from Feb. 2012 to Aug. 2012 and resigned after the failure of his six-point plan while Brahimi served from Aug. 2012 to May 2014 and resigned when it became clear that the Geneva Communique would not be implemented.

– Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

Image/UN Photo

07.09.14

by UN Tribune

UN: 23 Civilians Killed in Gaza Since Start of Israeli Offensive

July 9, 2014 – Seven children were among the 23 civilians killed since the July 7 start of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge offensive in Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Wednesday.

About 900 people have been displaced by the airstrikes that have destroyed or damaged some 150 homes, OCHA said in a situation report.

A total of 35 Palestinians have been killed since the operation began and approximately 300 people have been injured, including 71 children and 66 women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Four Israelis, including two civilians, have been injured as a result of rocket fire from Gaza, and some property has been damaged, OCHA reported.

It also says that hospitals in Gaza are operating but are short on supplies and electricity outages are disrupting operations.

In addition, 13 schools have been damaged by the strikes.

The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on Gaza at 10am ET on Thursday. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will brief the 15-nation body who are also expected to hear from the Israeli and Palestinian envoys to the UN.

07.09.14

by UN Tribune

Civilian Casualaties Up 24 Percent in Afghanistan

July 9, 2014 – Almost 5,000 Afghan civilians were killed or injured in the first six months of 2014 with women and children accounting for one-third of casualties.

The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented 4,853 civilian casualties from Jan. 1 to Jun. 30 2014, up 24 percent over the same period in 2013. The toll included 1,564 civilian deaths, up 17 percent, and 3,289 injuries, up 28 percent.

Total child civilian casualties increased 34 percent in the first six months of 2014 to 1,071 with 295 children killed and 776 injured, while total women civilian casualties increased 24 percent to 440, including 148 women killed and 292 injured.

“The nature of the conflict in Afghanistan is changing in 2014 with an escalation of ground engagements in civilian-populated areas,” the head of UNAMA, Ján Kubiš,, said in a statement. “The impact on civilians, including the most vulnerable Afghans, is proving to be devastating.”

Seventy-four percent of civilian casualties were attributable to anti-government forces, according to UNAMA, with the Taliban publicly claiming responsibility for 147 attacks that resulted in 553 civilian casualties with 234 civilians killed and 319 injured.

Attacks involving suicide bombers killed 156 civilians and injured 427.

Nine percent of civilian casualties were attributed to pro-government forces – eight percent to Afghan national security forces and one per cent to international military forces, while 12 percent occurred in ground engagements between insurgents and Afghan forces which could not be attributed to a specific party.

The remaining civilian casualties were caused by explosive remnants of war, such as landmines, UNAMA said.

– Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

07.08.14

by UN Tribune

UN ‘Dysfunction’ at Heart of Slow Response to Humanitarian Crises

July 8, 2014 – The global humanitarian system is failing to appropriately and rapidly respond to crises and the UN is at heart of this failure, according to a new report from Medecins Sans Frontiers.

The organization reviewed three recent crises – the refugee emergency in Upper Nile State, South Sudan from Nov. 2011 to Nov. 2012; the M23 mutiny in North Kivu, DRC, from April 2012 to April 2013; and the influx of Syrian refugees to Jordan from July 2012 to June 2013.

“The UN was at the heart of the dysfunction in each of the cases reviewed. There, historical mandates and institutional positioning have created a system with artificial boundaries (for example, between the coordination roles of UNHCR for refugees and OCHA elsewhere), to the detriment of those needing assistance and protection,” the report states.

“Further, the triple role of key UN agencies, as donor, coordinator and implementer, is causing conflicts of interest, especially in recognizing and correcting mistakes.”

Significantly, the report notes that “insufficiency of financing was not identified as a major constraint on performance in any of the three emergencies reviewed.”

Instead it says that disbursement of funds is slow and bureaucratic and the process for receiving funds in the field takes up to three months “which means it cannot be properly considered ’emergency response.'”

The report specifically criticizes the UN Refugee Agency’s role as coordinator, implementor and donor saying this triple role led to considerable “conflicts of interest” and this in turn made it difficult for “UNHCR itself to admit to bigger problems or to ask for technical assistance from other UN agencies, for fear of losing out on funding or credibility.”

It says that refugee status and not need or vulnerability was the primary determinant of assistance and that those registered with UNHCR and living in UNHCR camps were prioritized over those living in host communities.

The MSF report also states that “risk aversion” is a major problem in the global humanitarian response system and “populations received assistance in large part based on how easy they were to target and reach.”

“While the humanitarian system has grown massively, this had not led to a proportionate improvement in performance during emergencies,” the report concludes.

A spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs responded that it welcomes the contribution by MSF ahead of the World Humanitarian Summit which is being convened because of the “unprecedented strain on the international humanitarian system” and that “many of the report’s conclusions are reflected in OCHA’s own reviews of humanitarian operations.”

“The UN has already been addressing some of the concerns raised by MSF. We are working to improve our security management,” OCHA’s Clare Doyle said in an email to UN Tribune. “Aid organisations are using rapid mobile response teams, for example in South Sudan, to reach the most remote locations. Over 800,000 people have been reached by these teams since March 2014.”

She added that research does not indicate that aid workers are becoming more risk averse. “Figures from the Aid Workers Security Database do not support MSF’s assertion that humanitarian workers are becoming more risk averse, but indicate that the risk acceptance of humanitarian workers is increasing slightly.”

– Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

Image/UNHCR

The 22 Countries That Have Agreed to Resettle Syrian Refugees

Two Syrian sisters prepare to board their first flight in Beirut to start a new life in Hannover. © IOM/Remi Itani

July 1, 2014 – Germany leads among countries that have agreed to resettle Syrian refugees with the country pledging to admit 25,500 Syrians that have fled to a neighboring country, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.

The UN Refugee Agency called for states to provide 30,000 resettlement places for Syrian refugees in 2013-14 and an additional 100,000 in 2015-16 with a focus on the most vulnerable, especially women and girls, people with medical needs, refugees at risk due to their sexual orientation, those facing persecution because of religious or ethnic identity and vulnerable older adults.

European countries dominate the list of 22 countries that have agreed to provide resettlement for 34,722 Syrians with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Uruguay the only non-European countries to make firm pledges on resettlement. The US has also agreed to take an open-ended number of refugees.

The United Kingdom is not among the countries that have signed up with the UN Refugee Agency’s resettlement program but it has resettled Syrian refugees as part of its vulnerable persons relocation scheme.

These are the 22 countries that have agreed to admit 34,722 Syrian refugees from a second country in 2014.

Australia – 500
Austria – 1,500
Belarus – 20
Belgium – 150
Canada – 1,300
Denmark – 140
Finland – 500
France – 500
Germany – 25,500
Hungary – 30
Ireland – 310
Liechtenstein – 4
Luxembourg – 60
Netherlands – 250
New Zealand – 250
Norway – 1,000
Portugal – 23
Spain – 130
Sweden – 1,200
Switzerland – 500
USA – open-ended number
Uruguay – 120

Data provided by UNHCR.

– Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

06.27.14

by UN Tribune

More Allegations of Torture and Ill Treatment in Bahrain

June 27, 2014 – The United Nations expert on torture says his office has received information that torture and denial of medical treatment is continuing in Bahrain detention centers.

Juan Mendez, the special rapporteur on torture, also said that, despite his requests, the government of Bahrain have still not set a date for him to visit the country. The authorities in the Gulf country have “postponed” two of his previously planned visits.

“On a regular basis my mandate receives information and allegations of torture and ill treatment of detainees including beatings and forced confessions,” he said in a video address on Thursday. “We also receive information about denial of medical treatment to people who are suffering different ailments. Some of them originated in torture and some of them pre-existing but either way in violation of the obligation of the state of Bahrain to provide adequate medical treatment to anybody in detention.”

Mendez, an Argentine who was detained for 18 months during Argentina’s military dictatorship and suffered torture, also said that “there is very little information pointing to the fulfillment of Bahrain’s obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish torture.”

He added that the “important recommendations” made by the 2011 Independent Commission of Inquiry are “in a state of non-implementation.”

“We also receive frequent complaints of excessive use of force in the street. Since the clashes of early 2011 those reports have been unceasing which means that the government has not changed its policy regarding crowd control or excessive use of force,” he said.

– Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

06.25.14

by UN Tribune

UN Human Rights Experts Criticize Detroit Water Cutoffs

June 25, 2014 – The City of Detroit is violating the human rights of its citizens by disconnecting water services from those unable to pay bills, three independent UN human rights experts said on Wednesday.

The city’s Water and Sewerage Department has shut off thousands of households who have not paid their water rates for two months and the process has accelerated in recent weeks with 30,000 homes expected to lose water by the end of the summer.

“Disconnections due to non-payment are only permissible if it can be shown that the resident is able to pay but is not paying. In other words, when there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections,” said Catarina de Albuquerque, the expert on the human right to water and sanitation.

Water rates in Detroit, which declared bankruptcy in 2013, have risen 120 percent in the past decade and it is estimated that almost half of all households cannot afford to pay their water bills – which are also much higher than the national average.

The human rights experts also expressed concern that water shutoffs are primarily affecting African-American homes and may violate international treaties signed by the United States and are calling on the Federal government to step in to restore water services.

“When I conducted an official country mission to the US in 2011, I encouraged the US Government to adopt a federal minimum standard on affordability for water and sanitation and a standard to provide protection against disconnections for vulnerable groups and people living in poverty,” said Leilani Farha, the special rapporteur on the human right to adequate housing.

Under international human rights law, it is a state’s obligation to to ensure access to essential water and sanitation. “The households which suffered unjustified disconnections must be immediately reconnected,” the experts said in their joint statement.

– Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

06.24.14

by UN Tribune

Lack of Women in Military and Police Not Just a Problem in Afghanistan

Major-General Kristen Lund became the first female force commander of a UN peacekeeping mission last month.

June 24, 2014 – Less than one percent of Afghanistan’s 335,000 army, police and prison personnel are women, according to Ban Ki-moon’s latest quarterly report on UNAMA to the Security Council.

Of 185,131 members of the Afghan army, including air force, 1,138, are female and of the 145,939 police personnel and 5,600 prison guards, women accounted for 1,741 police officers and 273 guards.

While these low figures reflect the difficulty in recruiting female security personnel in a country where women’s rights are challenged and denied, Afghanistan is not alone in having poor female participation in military and police.

Less than four percent of the the UN’s almost 100,000 uniformed peacekeepers are female, according to the latest figures from the Dept. of Peacekeeping Operations.

But the UN is hardly to blame for these numbers as it relies on member states to contribute troops for its peacekeeping missions and, globally, women are under-represented in police and army forces.

Just 7 percent of Delhi’s police force are women and 16 percent of the NYPD’s most recent graduating class were women.

On the military side, women make up about 15 percent of active US army service members, while in Norway, which tops many gender equality indexes, only about 10 percent of the country’s military is female.

In 2009, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a campaign to increase the number of women peacekeepers to 20 percent in police units by 2014, and to 10 percent in military contingents. Those targets were not even close to being met.

The UN did appoint its first-ever female force commander last month when Major-General Kristen Lund, a Norwegian, was appointed head of the UN peacekeeping operation in Cyprus.

Ban’s report on Afghanistan notes that the Ministry of Defence is making efforts to recruit women, including through television advertisements but “the challenges encountered included a lack of female recruiters and facilities for women, a risk of abuse and cultural or family prohibitions.”

The Security Council will discuss Ban’s report on Wednesday.

– Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

Photo: UN Photo/Mark Garten

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