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In Sri Lanka, UN Staff Denied "Freedom of
Movement" But UN Won't Name Them
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City
Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, April 14 -- The UN on Tuesday
refused to confirm the names of UN staff members held "without freedom
of
movement" in Sri Lankan government camps, and refused to explain why
the
UN said nothing about their detention until asked about it by Inner
City Press
on April 13. UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq said that "while the
government repeatedly assured" that freedom of movement would be
restored,
the UN "staff remain in the camps."
Inner
City
Press asked if this does not violate international law, in that UN
staff have
functional immunity. Haq did not answer this question, nor explain why
the UN
had said nothing. He began his reading of his response to Inner City
Press'
question by saying, "the UN does not disclose the name or location of
its
staff of their dependents."
But
in
other cases where UN staff have been detained -- while high profile,
consider
the UNHCR official taken in Pakistan -- the UN loudly demands their
freedom of
movement be restored, and in doing so provides their names if not
locations.
One reporter listening to Haq on Tuesday wondered if he was in fact
saying that
the UN fears that the Sri Lankan government would affirmative target it
UN
staff members it holds, if it were sure who they were.
UN's Ban, Ann Veneman, Coomaraswamy and
Heller: who knew what when?
Since
Haq
on Tuesday acknowledged that assurances the UN has "repeatedly"
gotten from the Sri Lankan government have been false, one wonders how
Ban Ki-moon
and other UN officials have continued to recite the assurances they
have gotten
that the government is not or will not use heavy weapons in the
so-called No
Fire Zone.
The
spokesman for UNICEF director Ann Veneman sent Inner City Press a
written
response on Tuesday, that
Subj: Re: Q re if there
are staff in "IDP" camps in Sri Lanka
From: [Spokesman at] unicef.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 4/14/2009 5:09:12 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Re. your questions yesterday I can confirm that there are UNICEF staff
in the
camps. UNICEF has access to the camps so we are able to contact them.
UNICEF
and UN system colleagues are currently in discussions with authorities
about
their situation. We will not confirm the names of those staff affected.
Inner
City
Press has been provided with some names, along with requests that they
be
published, but holds off for now. Watch this space.
OCHA spokeswoman
Stephanie Bunker yesterday replied:
Subj: Re: Q if there
are UN system staff / family in Sri Lankan government's "IDP" camps,
and if so...
From: [OCHA at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 4/13/2009 3:17:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Among those tens of thousands of people who have managed to flee the No
Fire
Zone in northern Sri Lanka, we are aware that some UN and NGO staff and
their
dependents have managed to flee as well.
As far as we know, they are still in the camps for
displaced people set
up in the area, and we have repeatedly asked the Government of Sri
Lanka to
allow them freedom of movement so that they can eventually resume their
role as
aid workers. While the Government has
repeatedly assured us that this request would be met, the staff still
remain in
the camps. [Inserted into UN transcript here.]
Inner
City Press' sources in Sri Lanka say that OCHA chief John Holmes was
informed
of these people while he was in Sri Lanka, that local staff
dissatisfaction
with his public silence about it has been growing. Watch this site.
Click here
for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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Other,
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