www.innercitypress.com/un2may9srilanka051409.html
UNITED NATIONS, May 14 -- As the deaths of civilians continued in Sri Lanka, and UN Security General Ban Ki-moon ducked his invitation to the country by sending again his India chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, one of the last pieces of leverage against continued bombing was was raised in the UN. Sweden's Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson told Inner City Press that the European Union, of which Sweden will next assume the presidency, should and will link human rights to the renewal of agreements like the EU's tax-free treatment of textiles from Sri Lanka.
"The EU has a lot of instruments at hand," Minister Carlsson said. "We also have to see when we renew agreements and things like that, that we as a global player need to see the human rights perspectives. So we need to link it, and often what we do, different ways now, because people would like to have trade agreements with us."
At the UN's noon briefing on May 14, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe why he is sending Vijay Nambiar, for the second time, rather than going himself.
From the UN's transcript:
Deputy Spokesperson Okabe: ...the very fact that he’s sending his Chef de Cabinet again to underscore his message I think speaks loudly on what the Secretary-General in his personal capacity is trying to do to bring an end to the situation on the ground.
Inner City Press: A follow-up on the Chef de Cabinet. There has been substantial criticism, not just that because Mr. Nambiar comes from India, but because his brother, an Indian General [Satish] Nambiar recently wrote an op-ed praising the offensive of the Sri Lankan Army in the north and General [Sarath] Fonseca who’s led it. Is the Secretariat aware of this criticism and how does it address it? Also, that Mr. Nambiar went before he got a commitment to visit an open conflict zone and it never took place. What’s the, I guess, the response and why isn’t Ban Ki-moon himself going if he’s invited and the French and others have said he should go ASAP?
Deputy Spokesperson Okabe: Matthew, as you know the Secretary-General’s position on going to Sri Lanka has been reiterated from this podium many times this week. And the fact that Mr. Nambiar happens to be of a nationality does not in any way get in the way of his work as a UN official. As you know, everybody from the UN does come from one country or another; but once they sign on to work at the UN they go as UN officials.
Inner City Press: Isn’t there generally a sort of an unwritten rule of not, for example, I mean, when Mr. Gambari was going to do Nigeria, are you unaware that they see that... within diplomats in the UN often say that a person from a country too close to a conflict is not the right person to be sent.
Deputy Spokesperson Okabe: Mr. Nambiar is not from Sri Lanka.
