UN Library’s most popular book worries Twitter
Announcement of book on immunity of leaders for international crimes causes mixed reactions of horror and humor
Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.
The first weeks of 2016 is a perfect time to look back at in 2015. So naturally, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the United Nations headquarters in New York wanted to see which book was most checked out last year.
The result is not very encouraging.
The most popular book lent out by the library in 2015 was one titled, “Immunity of Heads of State and State Officials for International Crimes.”
When the UN library announced this finding on Twitter, it was seemingly without any trace of irony, let alone concern. “What was our most popular book of 2015? Find it in our library catalogue!” it posted next to a photo of the tome’s cover.
Items available to the UN delegates and Secretariat at the library can be borrowed for a period of two weeks by permanent missions and members of delegations with a valid grounds pass to UNHQ.
The much-in-demand work is a doctoral thesis by from the University of Lucerne by Ramona Pedretti. She explores whether heads of state and other government officials can be charged in foreign courts and compares and contrasts the legal concepts of immunity ratione personae and immunity ratione materiae. (The former is absolute, thus preventing a sitting leader in one country from being indicted by the domestic courts of another country. The latter can be invalidated in the case of defendants who have left office.)
In its coverage of the most popular UN library book, Vox: Policy and Politics website found it “disturbing.”
https://twitter.com/UNLibrary/status/682550730717290496
“To be clear: The UN is full of delegates representing awful dictatorships, and the book that got checked out the most from the UN library was about… how to be immune from war crimes prosecution. That does not seem like a good thing!” noted Vox.
Back in the Twittersphere, comments on the UN’s posting ranged from humor to horror.
“Clients from Zimbabwe, S. Sudan, Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi n Uganda,” wrote one, and “I’m choosing to believe this is a wonderfully subversive tweet by a brilliant librarian and not actually a boast! *facepalm.”
https://twitter.com/Kenjamin12/status/684836021155016704
And of course Israel was dragged into the conversation: “there should not be a book on this issue. Are assad and Netanyahu among its readers?” from an account called ThisIsGaZa.
But the comment that “won” the UN Library feed was indubitably this by Hunor10.
https://twitter.com/Hunor10/status/686137259612069889
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