|
UN
Speaks on Pakistan IDPs Return, Silent on Sri Lanka Internment and ACF
Whitewash
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 15 -- The UN's
delivery in Pakistan has been
"uncoordinated," local officials say, while maintaining
they will resettle
two million internally displaced people by the end
of August. Top UN humanitarian John Holmes was asked on Wednesday
by Inner City Press about the local critique, and to compare the pace
of IDP's ability to
return home in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He affably ducked both
questions. Video here,
from Minute 49:31.
On
Pakistan, he
said that while he'd seen the comments, the official didn't say it to
his face while he was there. Does that mean that all's well? On Sri
Lanka, Holmes argued that the pace of resettlement is slower because
the government is doing de-mining. He did not mention that the
administration of Mahinda Rajapaksa is conducting political
interrogations in the UN-funded camps, searching supporters of Tamil
autonomy. Video here,
from Minute 1:00:56.
Pakistan
has just
as much reason to grill "its" IDPs if they support the Taliban. But
instead, the IDPs are returning home. Why does the UN let Sri Lanka
use its money to conduct interrogations? One cannot get a straight
answer.
Inner
City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Michele
Montas if
it is the UN's position that its national staff in Sri
Lanka have immunity and should not be arrested. Montas would not say
if that was Ban's position, and if he raised it to Rajapaksa when
the
two met at the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Egypt. Video here,
from Minute 20:54.
UN's Ban and Holmes at "Refugee Run" in Davos,
interned Sri Lankans not shown
When
Holmes
finished his briefing, Inner City Press approached and asked for his
comment on the formal end of Sri Lanka's inquiry into the killing of
17 Action Contre la Faim aid workers. Weeks ago, after the
government's commission was disbanded, Holmes told Inner City Press
that the disbanding hadn't yet been confirmed and did not comment.
Now
that the
government
has released the final report, exonerating itself and
blaming instead the Tamil Tigers, Holmes still says it has not bee
finalized and will not comment. Why does the UN run so scared about
Sri Lanka? Why does it not follow up on its commitments to monitor
even those things in the Joint Statement of Ban and Rajapaksa? We will
continue to pursue this.
* * *
UN's
Staff Union Slams Sri Lanka Detentions, Cites Immunity as UN Claims
in Sudan
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 14 -- With even the funders of Sri Lanka's camps for
Tamils now calling them prison-like places of internment, UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been quoted about Sri Lanka that "I
should not be responsible for that." But what about the
continued detention of the UN's own staff? Two UN system employees
have grabbed up by plain clothes police in unmarked vehicles and have
yet to be released: Kandasamy "Saundi" Saundrarajan and N.
Charles Raveendran.
On
July 10 the UN
Staff Union called on Ban "to demand the Sri Lankan Government
to release all UN staff members held without charge [and] not to
restrict the movement of UN personnel."
The
Staff Union
alleges a pattern: "The recent action of Sri Lanka to detain two
national staff appears to be a campaign against UN personnel, which
is illegal under international law. Authorities have been arresting,
without explanation, UN staff members, initially refusing to provide
access to them by UN officials." Click here to
view the Staff
Union statement.
Before
issuing
their statement, UN Staff Union officials expressed outrage at quotes
by the UN's Country
Representative in Sri Lanka, UNHCR's Amim Awad, that "the
UN
acknowledges without reservation the right of the security services
of Sri Lanka to investigate any allegations of criminal wrongdoing,
including by UN staff members, and will cooperate fully to support
due process."
Whatever
happened to the UN's claims, for example
in Sudan, that its staff members are immune, at least in the scope of
their work?
UN's Ban in Sri Lanka, with (some) staff, Union and
detained not shown
In
fact, the UN
on Sudan was taking a contrary position, that immunity
extends to national staff:
"In
New York, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said U.N. officials in
Khartoum had contacted authorities about Hussein to ensure a
U.N.-Sudan agreement on the status of the mission was respected 'and
that basic human rights are upheld in the context of national laws
governing such issues.' U.N. officials said the United Nations
interpreted the agreement to mean that members of the mission were
immune from judicial proceedings."
Why
are the UN's positions in Sri Lanka and Sudan so different? Watch this
site.
* * *
As
Sri Lanka Taxes and Cuts NGOs, Parades the Detained Doctors,
UN Has Nothing to Say
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, July 9, updated --
As the Rajapaksa administration orders the Red
Cross and other international non-governmental organizations to close
offices and scale down their operations in eastern and northern Sri
Lanka, the UN and its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs so far have said nothing.
Inner City Press asked Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Michele Montas on July 9 about the
Red Cross, for example, being forced to close its operations in
Trincomalee and Batticaloa where it has 150 staff members. When Sudan
threw out some 200 staff from Darfur, the UN criticized it
immediately and loudly. Here, the UN said nothing and, when asked,
Ms. Montas said "we are trying to get more information."
Video here,
from Minute 15:18.
On
July 8, the Sri
Lankan Army put on display the doctors, imprisoned for seven weeks,
who had remained in the northern conflict zone offering treatment and
casualty figures. Again, the UN had nothing to say. Ban Ki-moon and
his top humanitarian aide John Holmes had both in the past spoken
about the doctors and their treatment. But confronted with the
grotesque display of imprisoned and presumptively threatened
humanitarians being forced to make pro-government statement the UN --
a club of governments -- had nothing to say.
Inner
City Press on
July 9 asked Ban's spokesperson about the doctors. She said, there
were their statements earlier and then their statements when they got
"out of jail... I can't say what is true." Amnesty
International and others have said that statements after detention
like this are not credible. But the UN apparently no longer cares
what the
doctors say.
Inner
City Press asked if Ban is requesting that they
not be put on trial. Ms. Montas said "he didn't mention trial
because there was no question of trial...As far as I know they've
been released."
Update: sources in Sri Lanka
confirm that the doctors have not been released, only paraded in front
of the media. Others fear for their safety both in or out of custody.
What will the UN do?
The
UN is trying
and largely succeeding, for now, in putting into the past its
shameful inaction during the carnage in Sri Lanka.
UN's Ban in Sri Lanka, doctors and Red Cross not shown
In recent days the
UN has promised but not delivered answers on a series of troubling
developments in Sri Lanka.
Inner
City Press asked about reports of
government soldiers firing their weapons in the UN-funded internment
camps in Vavuniya. We don't know about that, Ban's spokesperson
Michele Montas said, we just don't have access. Inner City Press
asked why the UN provides funds if it cannot verify and answer for
its use. Ms. Montas said she would look into how it works. But after
that, no information or answers were provided.
Nor
did the UN's
Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have anything to
say when asked about the Sri Lankan government taxing NGOs, which is
otherwise only done in Burma. Now, no comment on the government's
order to the Red Cross and others to scale back their operations.
Even in following up on the Joint Statement Ban issued with Mahinda
Rajapaksa, the UN has no follow through. Watch this site.
* * *
In
Sri Lanka, UN Hires Lawyer for Arrested Staff, But Will It Protect
Anyone?
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, July 1 -- After more than a week of silence by the UN about two
of its staff members grabbed up by Sri Lanka's government, on
July 1 Inner City Press again asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson Michele Montas about their fate. This time, Ms. Montas
had an answer. The UN has "hired a lawyer who has visited"
the UN staff, who are "still detained in Colombo." Video
here, from Minute 21:15.
The
head
of the UN
Refugee Agency in Sri Lanka Amin Awad issued a strange
statement saying in essence that the government is free to detain
staff as long as
procedures are followed. But despite top UN humanitarian John Holmes'
statement that unlike international staff, national staff members of
the UN are not immune, the Staff Union disagrees. They criticize
Awad's statement, and counter that national staff have immunity
within the scope of their work.
Troublingly,
sources in Sri Lanka describe to Inner City Press even the torture of
UN staff, and of doctors disappeared by the government after
remaining in the conflict zone offering treatment and casualty
figures. A Red Cross worker who had been in the conflict zone has
been killed in Jaffna, where now newspaper editors face death
threats.
Is all
of this consistent with Ban Ki-moon and Majinda
Rajapaksa's Joint Statement? At the UN, answers like the hiring of a
lawyer to work on the case of grabbed-up staff are only given if the
questions keep being asked. Apparently, the UN would rather the
questions stopped.
UN's Amin Awad, grabbed-up UN staff not shown
In
fact, lawyers
in Sri Lanka who represent those accused of Tamil Tiger sympathies
have themselves been labeled as traitors by the country's military.
The UN has already shown it cannot protect its own staff in Sri
Lanka. Can it even protect the lawyers it hires for its staff? Watch
this site.
Footnote:
Inner City Press asked outgoing Turkish Ambassador and Security
Council president Baki Ilkin if he thought the Council's sessions on
Sri Lanka, held in the UN's basement, had helped in any way to
protect civilians in Vanni. "There is no gauge," he said,
but :"everything the Security Council does or says -- or doesn't
do or say -- has an impact." Video here,
from Minute 2:33.
In
one view, the
Council's refusal to put Sri Lanka on its agenda, and relegation of
the issue to ill-attended basement session has the impact of
emboldening the Rajapaksa government to make its final assault in the
Vanni, and to now use UN funds to detain Tamils in camps and grab up
UN staff. Everything not done or not said has an effect. Watch this
site.
Inner
City Press' June 18 debate on Sri Lanka, click here
Channel
4 in the UK with allegations of rape and
disappearance
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
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
|
, 
