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On
Sri Lanka, UN Responsibility to
Protect Cited, Abuse of IDPs Surfaces
Byline: Matthew
Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, May 5 --
When former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans came
to the UN Security Council stakeout about the nuclear Non Proliferation
Treaty on
May 5, he looked surprised to be asked a question about Sri Lanka. But
Evans
wrote a book about the Responsibility to Protect, a UN doctrine
enshrined in a
consensus General Assembly resolution. Inner City Press asked Evans if
R2P, as
it is known, applies to the situation of civilians in Northern Sri
Lanka. Video
here,
from Minute 7:57.
Evans asked that all nuclear questions be asked and
answered first. This
happened, touching as the U.S. statement on NPT did not, on Iran, as
well as
North Korea, Israel, China, Pakistan and India. Then Evan asked that
the
question be posed again. Inner City Press referred him to the bombing
from the
air, civilians trapped, as they are in internment camps even outside
the
conflict zone.
"I've got no doubt this is an R2P case," Evans
answered,
calling it the "most alarming... atrocity crime we've seen in years."
UN's Ban and Gareth Evans, who says R2P Sri
Lanka, action not yet shown
He went on to say
that the UN Security Council must get more involved, and
chided those blocking the Council's consideration for going against the
R2P
resolution they agreed to in the General Assembly. But he does not
favor
"sending the Marines in," but rather diplomacy to find a way to
surrender. Video here,
from Minute 14:55.
Some point to the situation in camps of those who've
left the conflict
zone, exposed most recently by Channel
4 in the UK with allegations of rape and
disappearance, as another atrocity, and one that makes resolution
less and less
possible. There are increasing reports of young men chained naked for
interrogation, and young women disappeared. The UN is saying little
about this,
and even so the government now threatens to expel
the strikingly pro-government
UN Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne.
John Holmes, when asked about the interrogations in
Kilinochchi, quickly
said that interrogations are fine. Article here,
exclusive video here at
Minute 5:36. Can this be the UN position? Watch this
site.
Footnote:
We continue to wait for the
UK's formal answer to the first of the two
questions which Inner
City
Press asked the UK Mission to
the UN two questions on Sri Lanka early on April 15:
Does the UK
believe that international law and the
rights of UN humanitarian staff are being violated by the
now-acknowledged
detention of UN staff in the Sri Lankan government's “IDP” camps?
It has been reported
this morning that Sri Lanka's “minister also told the
British
Foreign Secretary that there was concern that the LTTE would
continue to
consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone.” Please confirm the
accuracy
of that, and of this
and if so, does the UK interpret it as saying that
an offensive on the No-Fire Zone and the civilians in it will begin?
What did
the UK Foreign Secretary say?
As
of
this press time weeks later, the formal answer has been
referral to Minister
Miliband's April 12
statement, and this.
On April 21, Inner City Press put the question to U.S. Ambassador Susan
Rice, whose spokesman the following day cleared this response:
"UN personnel should have freedom of movement and be treated with
respect." But they are still detained as of this writing. As more
answers arrive or are released we will report them on this site.
Click here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel 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
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
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weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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