On
Sri
Lanka, Ban Has
No Comment on
LLRC Report,
"It's Up to
Member
States"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 16 --
Now that the
Sri Lankan
government's
Lessons
Learnt &
Reconciliation
Commission
report is
public, with
its
claim that
civilians were
not targeted,
Inner City
Press on
Friday
asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
associate
spokesman
Farhan
Haq for the
UN's response
to the report,
and any moves
for
accountability.
Video
here, from
Minute 8:29.
Haq
said "we'll
need to study"
the LLRC
report and
that Ban's UN
"may
respond in due
course." He
said, "We are
continuing
with
our efforts at
accountability...
We hope and
trust that
member states
will look to
the contents
of th[e]
report.. led
by Marsuki
Darusman."
Inner
City Press
asked about
what a member
state on the
UN Human
Rights Council
told
it, that Ban
sent the Panel
of Experts
report to
Geneva without
even
a UN stamp on
it -- "is it
just a piece
of paper?"
Haq
replied, "it's
a UN report,
you can find
it on a UN
website." That
doesn't
make up for
the lack of a
UN stamp on
the filing
with the HRC.
The
UN's Office
for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs for
example
runs a website
which put
online, on a
"UN website,"
reports
issued by
governments,
like Sri
Lanka. Does that
make it a UN
report?
Haq
said it was
"presented
here at UN."
But unlike
Ban's report
on the
murder of
Benezir Bhutto
in Pakistan,
for example,
or on the
introduction
of cholera
into Haiti, no
UN press
conference
ever
"presented"
the Sri Lanka
report. After
the Sri Lankan
government
leaked it in
Colombo, Ban's
spokesperson's
office made it
available, in
a stack,
without
holding any
press
conference or
Q&A.
Inner
City Press
asked if Ban
believes the
report should
be taken up by
the Human
Rights Council
before Sri
Lanka's
Universal
Periodic
Review, some
time off.
Haq
said, "it's
up to member
of the Human
Rights Council
what they take
up."
That may be
true, but Ban
has for
example
publicly
expressed
regret
about the UN
Security
Council votes
on Syria - an
issue on which
he
may have more
support, or be
more pushed,
by influential
member
states.
(c) UN Photo
Ban &
Rajapaksa, UN
stamp on
report,
comment on
LLRC not seen
Contrary
to what
Ban said on
Syria, on Sri
Lanka Haq
concluded, "as
you know,
these are
bodies of
member states
and we'll
await what
kind of
decisions they
take." Ah,
quiet
diplomacy...
, 
