By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 17 -- After standing by as 40,000 civilians were killed in Sri Lanka in May 2009, what has the UN done?
On May 9, 2013, Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliassontold Inner City Press that a review of "lessons learnt" that he has been heading would conclude by mid June. (We've heard nothing of it yet). He said he'd spoken the very day with UN past experts like Jan Egeland - who's since moved from Human Rights Watch, wary under Ken Roth to criticize Ban Ki-moon's UN, to the NRC. But where is the UN report?
And where is Ban Ki-moon's follow through on the commitments he says he got from Mahinda Rajapaksa, about accountability -- none -- and reconciliation?
Ban's UN Secretariat told Inner City Press that the screening or non-screening in UN premises of films documenting or denying war crimes is entirely up to member states, as was the assignment as a UN adviser of Shavendra Silva, depicted in Ban's own report engaged in war crimes.
When Inner City Press tried to cover the UN Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping meeting which included Shavendra Silva, the response of Ban's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit was to try to block coverage, to say it was only possible with an escort (or "minder") they declined to provide, or with approval of parties they wouldn't name. Their partner meanwhile screened Rajapaksa government propaganda in space that the UN gave them, free, then after Inner City Press reported on the screening and its background,moved through the Voice of America (which said it had thesupport of Reuters and AFP) tried to throw Inner City Press out of the UN.
Jump-cut to June 14, 2013 in the UN General Assembly, where speaking for the Asia Pacific Group in praise of the next President of the General Assembly John Ashe was none other than Shavendra Silva. This is the UN.
Another former ambassador to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri of India, is now rumored to be a candidate to become his country's envoy on devolution in Sri Lanka. He wrote an op-ed about accountability. But Indian diplomats in New York, when directly asked by Inner City Press, have flinched at the suggestion of his possible new role. But we'll see. Watch this site.
