By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 7 --
It was a snowy
Wednesday
evening when
the UN held a
screening and
panel
discussion
entitled "The
Holocaust by
Bullets:
Uncovering the
Reality of
Genocide."
The event was
sponsored by
the French
Mission to the
UN; the short
but moving
films were
on Holocaust
killings of
Jews in
Ukraine and of
Roma.
After
the first
film, UN
official
Gillian Kitley
told the
snow-limited
audience that
the UN's now
combined
Office on
Genocide
Prevention and
the
Responsibility
to Protect
advises
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon of
development in
which mass
killing may
become
possible.
Inner
City Press
asked Ms.
Kitley, what
happened with
Sri Lanka in
2008 and 2009,
when the UN
pulled its
workers out of
northern Sri
Lanka, then
concealed and
denied
casualty
figures --
Inner City
Press got and
published a
leaked OCHA
count of over
2000 civilians
killed in a
short period
-- and then
didn't even
call for a
ceasefire.
Ms.
Kitley
replied, "I
understand
there's been a
very thorough
investigation"
into the UN's
actions and
inaction in
Sri Lanka
during that
period, and
that she'd be
very
interested to
see it. But
what about the
public, to try
to ensure that
the UN does a
better job in
future cases?
Inner
City Press
asked Ms.
Kitley to have
her Office and
Adama Dieng,
the Under
Secretary
General for
Genocide
Prevention
(USG for R2P
Ed Luck
appears to
have rather
quietly left
for an
academic job
in San Diego)
inquire and urge Ban
Ki-moon to
make the
so-called Petrie
report on the
UN in Sri
Lanka
public.
Ms.
Kitley did not
answer the
plea, and the
event moved
on. Video
here, from
Minute 1:03:11.
Alongside
the
Holocaust,
Rwanda in 1994
was repeatedly
mentioned
(though
France's role
in supporting
the genocidal
government,
including in
the Security
Council where
current UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
was then
France's
Deputy
Permanant
Representative)
-- and Syria
was mentioned,
by Ms. Kitley.
Earlier
on
Wednesday
Inner City
Press was told
by a Sri
Lankan
diplomat that
its close
coverage, for
example of its
recent Universal
Periodic
Review
(#UPRLKA)
is not fair,
in that it
took the
richer UK 30
years to deal
with its
"Irish
troubles." We
report this in
fairness; duly
noted. But it
is also worth
comparing
responses to
events in
Syria and Sri
Lanka. We'll
have more on
this.
