At UN,
Accountability
Without
Punishment,
Sri Lanka
Silva May Be
Omitted
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 17 --
Accountability
is often cited
by UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, most
recently on
Wednesday when
his spokeman
Martin Nesirky
answered a
question about
Libya from
Inner City
Press.
But what does
Ban mean by
accountability?
On
October 16,
Ban met with
Sri Lankan
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa's
special envoy
on human
rights Mahinda
Samarasinghe,
and afterward
issued a
read-out that
he "noted the
Government's
latest efforts
on
accountability."
Inner
City Press covered
the photo-op
of the meeting
and asked
Nesirky
about it
afterward,
and again on
Wednesday:
what did Ban
mean by
accountability?
Does he
believe that
anyone has
been held
accountable
for the
killing of
thousands of
civilians in
2009? Video
here, from
Minute 11:50.
Nesirky
answered,
"within the
recommendations
of the Lessons
Learnt and
Reconciliation
Commission,
steps have
been taken by
the Sri Lankan
authorities."
What
steps? Inner
City Press
asked, "Does
accountability
mean
incarceration,
punishment,
the loss of a
job?" What
does Ban
Ki-moon mean
when he
speaks, of Sri
Lanka or
elsewhere, of
accountability?
Nesirky
replied,
"it has a
broad meaning,
depending on
the national
justice system
in place, or
where a
referral has
been made to
the
International
Criminal
Court." This
was never done
on Sri Lanka.
Finally,
Nesirky
offered this
UN definition
of
accountability:
it means "not
letting deeds
go unmarked,
unnoticed, sot
there is no
impunity, so
you can move
on to
reconciliation."
It means
"different
things in
different
contexts."
Some
call this
"different
things in
different
contexts" a
DOUBLE
STANDARD. Some
continue to
wonder, for
example, what
accountability
"steps...
taken by the
Sri Lankan
authorities"
Ban is
referring to
-- and whether
he will make
public the Charles
Petrie
report on the
UN's own acts
and omissions
during the
final stages
of
the conflict
in Sri Lanka.
We
can, however,
now
exclusively
report one
minor
punishment or
step for
some
accountability,
with regard to
General
Shavendra
Silva, whose
division
appears in
Ban's own
report on
presumptive
war crimes in
the
final stages
of the
conflict but
who Ban
accepted as a
member of his
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
On
October 16 a
Permanent
Representative
who is an
active member
of the Senior
Advisory Group
came and told
Inner City
Press with a
smile,
referring to
Silva, "your
friend's name
will probably
not appear
on the SAG's
report."
Perhaps this
is the only
accountability
that Ban's UN
offers. And
perhaps not
even that.
Watch this
site.
, 
