29 Oct 2019; MEMO: The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, said she was disappointed that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the international community had not taken advantage from her report on the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to launch an international investigation.
Callamard accused UN Secretary-General and the international community of not benefiting from her report on the assassination of Khashoggi, adding that her statement to the UN Human Rights Council submitted on 26 June constitutes “an important ground for an international investigation.”
She added: “I understand that the Secretary-General is working in a complicated environment and that the legal framework is complex and does not permit him to act as he wishes. However, I think the UN Secretary-General is obliged to show a certain position in this regard because I conducted an investigation and provided him with a ground for requesting the launching of a criminal investigation. He let me down for not seizing the opportunity to take another step towards holding the killers accountable.”
Callamard explained in statements to the Anadolu Agency, published on Monday that she does not believe that the Secretary-General of the UN needs a resolution from the UN Security Council or legal authority to initiate an international investigation into the assassination of Khashoggi.
She stressed that “the Secretary-General of the UN would not be demanding the establishment of an international tribunal that requires a resolution of the UN Security Council. He can launch an investigation to uncover the circumstances of Khashoggi’s murder, and this does not require the issuance of a UN Security Council resolution.”
Callamard continued: “In fact, until last June, the Secretary-General of the UN did not feel the need for a specific UN Security Council resolution to conduct an international investigation aiming at uncovering the circumstances of Khashoggi’s murder. Such an investigation could have been conducted once a country such as Turkey or another country files an official request on the matter. However, Guterres has recently changed his tone and demanded a UN Security Council resolution allowing an international investigation into Khashoggi’s death.”
