UNdisclosed
Location,
March 21
-- A weakened
UN
Human Rights
Council
resolution on
Sri Lanka was
nevertheless
opposed on
Thursday by,
for example,
Qatar and the
UAE. Japan,
which seeks a
permanent seat
on the UN
Security
Council,
abstained.
The
resolution
passed with 25
in favor, 13
against and
eight abstaining.
Compared to
2012 there was
one more “yes”
vote, and two
fewer No's.
Most
of these who
spoke before
voting “Yes”
went out of
their way to
praise the
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
government on
matters
ranging from
re-settlement
to
“infrastructure.”
But
what about
accountability,
including by
the Rajapaksa
family itself,
for the 40,000
civilians
killed?
Their
representative
Mahinda
Samarasinghe
said there
have been
other human
rights abuses
since the 2009
Bloodbath on
the Beach. The
“no” votes of
the UAE and
Qatar, given
their
positions on
Syria, were
particularly
noteworthy. How will
Qatar's Al
Jazeera cover
this?
When
India began to
speak, the
audio system
squealed with
feedback. But
ultimately
India voted
yes.
When
US Ambassador
Donahoe spoke
of working
constructively
with Sri
Lanka, and
Ireland for
the EU praised
the US for
“reaching out”
to Sri Lanka,
it was
difficult not
to flashback
to US Supreme
Court Justice
Antonin Scalia
pressing the
flesh with
Shavendra
Silva,
sometimes
called Mr
Bloodbath on
the Beach. Click here
for Inner City
Press coverage
of that
surreal
reaching out.
Sierra
Leone, where
limbs were cut
off for at
least ten
years of civil
war,
acknowledged
that Sri
Lanka's
conflict was
more violent.
But again, it
was difficult
not to
compare, that
Sierra Leone
was and is on
the agenda of
the UN
Security
Council, but
Sri Lanka
never was.
The
role of UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
dubious. His
administration
never called
for a
ceasefire.
Most recently
he accepted
and then praised
without
releasing
a whitewash
report from
Japan, after
having
accepted
Shavendra
Silva as an
adviser on UN
Peacekeeping,
headed by the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row, Herve
Ladsous.
At the
UN in New
York, Ban's UN
Censorship
Alliance,
which still
tries to call
itself the UN
Correspondents
Association, held
a screening of
the
government's
war crimes
denial film
“Lies Agreed
To”
complete with
commentary
from Sri
Lanka's Deputy
Perment
Representative
Shavendra
Silva and its
Permanent
Representative
Palitha
Kohona.
After
Inner City
Press covered
this, and
Ladsous,
the UNCA
“leaders”
started a
proceeding to
get Inner City
Press thrown
out, which
resulted in it
receive death
threats from
extremist
Rajapaksa
supporters. UNCA's
Executive
Committee
members'
response
was, we don't
care, it's not
our fault, “don't conflate.”
Earlier
this
week Inner
City Press'
office was
raided by the
UN, without
notice or
consent, and
papers
searched. UNCA
president
Pamela Falk of
CBS took
photographs,
which has
still not been
explained.
The UN
demanded that
Inner City
Press remove
from YouTube a
video it
openly filmed
-- in its own
office --
after the raid.
Is it any
surprise how
little this UN
has done on
Sri Lanka,
including on
attacks and
disappearances
of
journalists?
Watch this
site.
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