Sky News: UN Watch Slams Syrian Atrocities, U.N. Inaction
Now on YouTube: UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer was recently interviewed by Sky News TV political editor Adam Boulton on Syria’s bloody crackdown. Neuer described how the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been firing indiscriminately and killing hundreds of peaceful protesters, as well as funeral mourners, people in mosques, and civilians in their homes. Also in the segment was British MP Rory Stewart of the ruling Conservative Party, who agreed that the Assad family had for many years received favorable treatment in the West. Normalization with Syria “is all finished” now, said Stewart. Damascus needs to be “named and shamed” and treated like a “pariah state.” Click here to watch the video.
More UN Watch Media Impact
“The UN Secretary-General is accused of presiding over an ‘opaque’ system, in which senior officials are hired after vacancies are not properly advertised and applicants’ backgrounds are not always checked. Mr Ban, who was eased into a second term earlier this month with no opposition, has not increased transparency in hiring practices, a report by the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) found. Mr Ban denies giving out favours but concedes there are ‘political realities that he must reflect in the organisation,’ which the JIU described as “tantamount to reserving jobs for member states”. Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said: ‘The growing culture of transparency and freedom of information has not reached the UN. Getting information from it is often like pulling teeth.’” —J. Swaine, “Ban Ki-Moon ‘tries to censor criticism of UN,'” The Telegraph, June 28, 2011.
“Geneva-based group U.N. Watch said North Korea chairing the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament was ‘asking the fox to guard the chickens.’ But an official at the U.S. mission to the United Nations in Geneva, where the Conference on Disarmament is based, said the move was dictated by the rules of the 32-year-old body. Spokesman David Kennedy said as far as the United States was concerned ‘it’s business as usual.’ —The Washington Post (Associated Press), “North Korea assumes rotating presidency of global disarmament body,” July 1, 2011.
