Visa Refusal Controversy
In April 2007 the U.S. government refused to give an entry visa to the foreign minister of the de facto independent Republic of Abkhazia (de jure part of Georgia) Sergei Shamba who was due to speak at the UN headquarters in New York. The incident caused an international dispute as Russian Permanent Representative Vitaly Churkin accused the USA of not letting one side of the conflict speak before UN. Security Council president, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, backed the Russian demand for Shamba's visa. But the U.S. Ambassador, Alejandro Wolff, accused the Russian side of “a mischievous effort” to raise “false analogies” between Abkhazia and Kosovo, thus “complicating the discussion.” The USA stated that such airport to UNHQ visa access was not guaranteed to countries seeking international recognition; Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu had been given a visa. Sergei Shamba himself described the situation as "dual standards".
Read more about this topic: United States And The United Nations
Famous quotes containing the words refusal and/or controversy:
“In the relations of a weak Government and a rebellious people there comes a time when every act of the authorities exasperates the masses, and every refusal to act excites their contempt.”
—John Reed (1887–1920)
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)