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On
Sri Lanka, UN Says
Responsibility to Protect is a "Concept" Only, Video Not Seen
Byline: Matthew
Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, May 6 --
The responsibility to protect is just "a
concept" that does not yet have "an effective mechanism," UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson told the Press on Wednesday when
asked about
Sri Lanka. Inner City Press queried whether Mr. Ban has yet named a
team to
conduct the humanitarian assessment mission to the conflict zone he
said his
chief of staff Vijay Nambiar had won two weeks ago. I can get that
information
for you, the spokesperson said. Video here,
from Minute 32:16.
The UN Secretariat is showing little urgency, senior
NGO officials told
Inner City Press on Wednesday. They pointed at UN humanitarian chief
John
Holmes' failure to appoint an assessment team, as he set off on trips
elsewhere
in the world. Ban Ki-moon has been invited to the country, how ever
begrudgingly, but Wednesday his spokesperson said he hasn't decided
whether or
not to go.
Interviews Inner City Press conducted in the
conflict zone Wednesday
morning by satellite phone found a situation in which food had not been
delivered for a week, and bombs were raining down. Wednesday
at noon, Ban's spokesperson said
finally some food is being loaded into the ICRC ship. But a week
without food,
without the naming of a humanitarian team, strike many as a low point
for the
UN.
Ban Ki-moon's R2P expert Ed Luck at UN, Sri Lanka
not shown
Inner City
Press asked Ban's spokesperson about a widely seen piece on Britain's
Channel
4, filmed in an IDP camp with allegations, on camera, of the
disappearance and
rape of young women. Video here,
from Minute 17:42. "You know I do not comment on press reports,"
the spokesperson said. "I haven't seen it, and I don't think the S-G
has
seen it either." Well maybe he should:
Channel
4 in the UK with allegations of rape and
disappearance
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
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's
mobile (and
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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