{"id":75023,"date":"2016-06-13T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=75023"},"modified":"2016-06-12T17:56:58","modified_gmt":"2016-06-12T16:56:58","slug":"u-n-chief-admits-he-removed-saudi-arabia-from-child-killer-list-due-to-extortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/06\/u-n-chief-admits-he-removed-saudi-arabia-from-child-killer-list-due-to-extortion\/","title":{"rendered":"U.N. Chief Admits He Removed Saudi Arabia from Child-Killer List Due to Extortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>

Photo: Amer Hilabi\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

9 Jun 2016 – <\/em>U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon publicly acknowledged Thursday [9 Jun] that he removed the Saudi-led coalition currently bombing Yemen from a blacklist of child killers \u2014\u00a072 hours<\/a> after it was published \u2014 due to a financial threat<\/a> to defund United Nations programs.<\/p>\n

The secretary-general didn\u2019t name the source of the threat, but news reports<\/a> have indicated it came directly from the Saudi government.<\/p>\n

The U.N.\u2019s 2015 \u201cChildren and Armed Conflict\u201d report<\/a> originally listed the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen under \u201cparties that kill or maim children\u201d and \u201cparties that engage in attacks on schools and\/or hospitals.\u201d The report, which was based on the work of U.N. researchers in Yemen, attributed 60 percent of the 785 children killed and 1,168 injured to the bombing coalition.<\/p>\n

After loud public objections<\/a> from the Saudi government, Ban said on Monday [6 Jun] that he was revising the report to \u201creview jointly the cases and numbers cited in the text,\u201d in order to \u201creflect the highest standards of accuracy possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

But on Thursday, he described his real motivation. \u201cThe report describes horrors no child should have to face,\u201d Ban said at a press conference. \u201cAt the same time, I also had to consider the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would defund many U.N. programs. Children already at risk in Palestine, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and so many other places would fall further into despair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia is one of the U.N.\u2019s largest donors in the Middle East, giving hundreds of millions of dollars<\/a>\u00a0a year to U.N. food programs in Syria and Iraq. In 2014, Saudi Arabia gave\u00a0$500 million<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 the largest single humanitarian donation to\u00a0the U.N. \u2014 to help Iraqis displaced by ISIS. Over the past three years, Saudi Arabia has also been become the third-largest donor to the U.N.\u2019s relief agency in Palestine, giving\u00a0tens of millions<\/a>\u00a0of dollars to help rebuild Gaza and assist Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unacceptable for member states to exert undue pressure,\u201d the secretary-general said. \u201cScrutiny is a natural and necessary part of the work of the United Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ban called the decision \u201cone of the most painful and difficult decisions I have had to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saudi Ambassador to the U.N. Abdallah al-Mouallimi, who held his own press conference afterward, offered his own back-handed confirmation of what happened. \u201cWe didn\u2019t use threats,\u201d he said, \u201cbut such listing will obviously have an impact on our relations with the U.N.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not in our style, it is not in our genes, it is not in our culture to use threats and intimidation,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Ban has invited a team from the Saudi-led coalition to New York to conduct a \u201cjoint review\u201d ahead of scheduled U.N. discussions on the report, scheduled for August.<\/p>\n

On Monday, however, after the changes were announced, the Saudi ambassador to the U.N. declared that the changes were \u201cfinal and unconditional\u201d and that Saudi Arabia had been \u201cvindicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

__________________________________________<\/p>\n

Alex Emmons<\/a> – \u2709alex.emmons@theintercept.com<\/a> – @AlexanderEmmons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Zaid Jilani<\/a> – \u2709zaid.jilani@theintercept.com<\/a> – @ZaidJilani<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Related:<\/em><\/p>\n