www.innercitypress.com/ocha6srilanka041409.html
UNITED NATIONS, April 14 -- The UN on Tuesday refused to confirm the names of UN staff members held "without freedom of movement" in Sri Lankan government camps, and refused to explain why the UN said nothing about their detention until asked about it by Inner City Press on April 13. UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq said that "while the government repeatedly assured" that freedom of movement would be restored, the UN "staff remain in the camps."
Inner City Press asked if this does not violate international law, in that UN staff have functional immunity. Haq did not answer this question, nor explain why the UN had said nothing. He began his reading of his response to Inner City Press' question by saying, "the UN does not disclose the name or location of its staff of their dependents."
But in other cases where UN staff have been detained -- while high profile, consider the UNHCR official taken in Pakistan -- the UN loudly demands their freedom of movement be restored, and in doing so provides their names if not locations. One reporter listening to Haq on Tuesday wondered if he was in fact saying that the UN fears that the Sri Lankan government would affirmative target it UN staff members it holds, if it were sure who they were.
Since Haq on Tuesday acknowledged that assurances the UN has "repeatedly" gotten from the Sri Lankan government have been false, one wonders how Ban Ki-moon and other UN officials have continued to recite the assurances they have gotten that the government is not or will not use heavy weapons in the so-called No Fire Zone.
The spokesman for UNICEF director Ann Veneman sent Inner City Press a written response on Tuesday, that
Subj: Re: Q re if there are staff in "IDP" camps in Sri Lanka
From: [Spokesman at] unicef.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 4/14/2009 5:09:12 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Re. your questions yesterday I can confirm that there are UNICEF staff in the camps. UNICEF has access to the camps so we are able to contact them. UNICEF and UN system colleagues are currently in discussions with authorities about their situation. We will not confirm the names of those staff affected.
Inner City Press has been provided with some names, along with requests that they be published, but holds off for now. Watch this space.
OCHA spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker yesterday replied:
Subj: Re: Q if there are UN system staff / family in Sri Lankan government's "IDP" camps, and if so...
From: [OCHA at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 4/13/2009 3:17:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Among those tens of thousands of people who have managed to flee the No Fire Zone in northern Sri Lanka, we are aware that some UN and NGO staff and their dependents have managed to flee as well. As far as we know, they are still in the camps for displaced people set up in the area, and we have repeatedly asked the Government of Sri Lanka to allow them freedom of movement so that they can eventually resume their role as aid workers. While the Government has repeatedly assured us that this request would be met, the staff still remain in the camps. [Inserted into UN transcript here.]
And see, www.innercitypress.com/ocha6srilanka041409.html
