In
Geneva, Sri
Lanka Spins
LLRC But Sent
Silva to UN,
Burying Petrie
Report
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 1 --
When Sri Lanka
appeared
Thursday for
its
Universal
Periodic
Review in
Geneva,
countries that
asked to speak
were given 72
seconds each.
Defenders of
Sri Lanka
included
Belarus,
North Korea,
Iran and
Turkey -- this
last on the
theory that it
takes
toughness to
fight
terrorism.
But
killing 40,000
civilians?
That's the
figure cited
by the UN,
most
recently by
the Special
Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial,
Summary and
Arbitrary
Executions
Christof Heyns
when Inner
City Press asked him
last week
about his
action on
videos
depicting
executions of
prisoners by
the Sri Lankan
military.
During
the
speed-speeches
there are
contradictions
and ironies
everywhere.
Qatar, which
so loudly
calls for
accountability
in Syria,
didn't
bring it up on
Sri Lanka.
Sudan
said it
sympathizes
with Sri Lanka
on armed
conflict. But
Sudanese
president Omar
al Bashir was
indicted by
the
International
Criminal
Court for
Darfur. The
Security
Council never
official met
on, much
less about an
ICC referral,
about Sri
Lanka.
The
most vehement
defense of Sri
Lanka came
from Belarus,
which called
High
Commissioner
Navi Pillay's
work
"unbalanced."
Sri
Lanka
intervened to
say it has
invited Pillay
to visit. Why
has she
not yet gone?
The
United States,
which is known
to have pushed
to limit
Pillay to one
term, then got
Ban Ki-moon to
cut her second
term in half,
had its
Geneva
Ambassador
Eileen Donahoe
cite the need
for freedom of
expression and
judicial
independence,
citing the
day's move to
impeach the
country's
chief judge.
But
Donahoe seemed
to rely to the
Rajapaksa's
Lessons Learnt
and
Reconciliation
Commission,
under which
not a single
military
official
has been
indicted, much
less
imprisoned.
Instead
in
a move that
literally says
it all,
military
official
Shavendra
Silva, whose
division is
depicted in
the UN's own
report as
engaged
in war crimes,
was sent to
the UN in New
York as Sri
Lanka's Deputy
Permanent
Representative.
The US issued
a letter that
Silva is
covered by
immunity.
Then,
emboldened,
Sri Lanka got
Shavendra
Silva placed
on Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
Despite some
grumbling, he
has not been
removed from
the SAG, and
Ban's
spokespeople
have refused
to confirm to
Inner City
Press that
Silva's name
will not be on
the SAG
report.
The
Sri Lanka
delegation
claimed to be
protecting the
rights of
internally
displaced
people. But
when Inner
City Press
last week
asked the UN system's
Special
Rapporteur on
IDPs, he said
he had
concerns and
analogized Sri
Lanka to Cote
d'Ivoire,
where IDPs
have
been killed.
Near
the end of the
speeches --
the report
will be
prepared by
India,
Spain and
Benin by
November 5 --
Switzerland
called on Sri
Lanka to
follow up on
the UN Panel
of Experts
recommendations.
But some say
Ban Ki-moon himself
has not
followed up. Click here
for Inner City
Press' October
16 coverage of
Ban's meeting
with Sri
Lankan
Minister
Samarasinghe.
Where, for
example, is
the
report into
the UN's own
actions and
inactions
during the
final
stages of the
conflict,
which was
assigned to
Thoraya Obaid
and then
quietly not
done, then
re-assigned to
Charles Petrie
who now works
in
Myanmar?
Inner City
Press has
asked,
repeatedly,
about the
report.
The UN won't
even say it
will be
public. Watch
this site.
, 
