This week we welcomed the decision of UK Home Secretary Jack Straw to let the extradition of Gen. Augusto Pinochet proceed. Pinochet's case is setting a powerful precedent and strengthening international human rights law. In addition, should Pinochet come to trial, many facts will almost certainly emerge about other players in the Chilean coup and their responsibility for the massive rights violations that occurred.
The cheer brought by justice for Pinochet was offset by the gloom of news from Yugoslavia, Kosovo, and vicinity where NATO continues its intensive air war campaign. Many civilian casualties of the bombing have now come to light and news has spread in the humanitarian community that NATO has blocked direct access to refugee populations. A couple of our postings this week attempt a bitter satire of the tragedy. We also continue to post serious analysis on the situation. A particularly useful resource is the link to the "Kosovo Forum" of Mother Jones magazine, which presents the views of a number of experts.
William D. Hartung's "A Degrading Policy" is an insightful proposal on how we might avoid future repetitions of the disaster in Kosovo. He points out that the US is largely to blame for the UN financial crisis, which dangerously reduces both the UN's peacekeeping capabilities and its capacity to prevent future conflicts. Hartung's thinking is part of a growing awareness that a crisis of this kind must be referred to the United Nations and solved through its machinery. NATO bombing is just simply not the answer and that should have been clear from the beginning.
After last week's "Letter of NGO Leaders Protests New UN Security Rules" a group of NGOs again met with Assistant Secretary General Gillian Sorensen, Security Chief Mike McCann, and other Secretariat staff on April 14th. The NGOs were astonished at the harsh reception they got. Neither Sorensen nor McCann saw fit to offer a serious reply, though they were asked repeatedly why the new restrictions were put in place. It was clear that they had chosen to ignore the NGO letter and to go ahead with a promulgation of the new restrictions. Towards the end of the discussion, one of the NGO representatives said sadly that the process was one of the worst he had ever seen. A vigorous discussion is now under way to plan an effective and vigorous NGO response.
On a more positive note, NGOs have continued to have excellent access to the early preparations for the Financing for Development Conference. GPF helped organize some of the NGO input and we have this week posted the text of statements by Clarence Dias and Claudia Saladin at the April 1 panel discussion. We have also posted a related text -- a speech given by GPF Executive Director Jim Paul on "The UN and the Bretton Woods Institutions" delivered at a conference at American University in Washington DC in late February. His speech is especially relevent as rumors circulated that World Bank public relations chief Mark Malloch Brown is a leading contender to fill the top post at the United Nations Development Program.
Finally, we are pleased to announce our team of summer interns: Benjamin Holt of Brown University, Christian Kolfholz of Columbia University, Jessica Moffett of Princeton University and Victoria Clarke, of the School of International Training. Victoria was a member of the spring team, and she will be continuing on through the summer. The new interns were chosen from a competitive pool of 56 highly qualified applicants. We look forward to working with this very talented group beginning in late May.
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