By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Video
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - CJR - PFT
UN GATE, Sept 19 – The increasing corruption of the United Nations under Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and of the UN Correspondents Association he works with to intimidate and then rough up and ban the investigative Press, has been made clear today in a statement by former Ambassador of Sri Lanka Palitha Kohona, who has been accused of war crimes in the White Flags Killings, see below.
Now on September 19, 2021, on the eve of the no-vax "honor system" UN General Assembly week of Guterres, who along with Jean-Pierre Lacroix continues to use Lankan troops accused of human rights violations against Tamils, this wan readout:
"The Secretary-General met with H.E. Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The Secretary-General expressed solidarity with Sri Lanka for ongoing challenges related to COVID-19. The President briefed the Secretary-General on domestic issues including the reconciliation process. The Secretary-General offered the UN’s support in this regard and reiterated the UN’s view on the importance of ensuring protection of minority rights and civic engagement." While using blood spattered troops.
From Sept. 15: Sri Lanka’s Prison Management State Minister Lohan Ratwatte, who threatening to kill prisoners, has tendered his resignation from one portfolio, while seeming to keep another. Lohan Ratwatte had “gone to the Anuradhapura prisons, summoned the Tamil political prisoners and had got two of them to kneel in front of him. The State Minister had then pointed his personal firearm at them and had threatened to kill them on the spot." In a letter addressed to Gotabaya
"Shark Man" Rajapaksa on Sept 15 Ratwatte has – short of accepting responsibility or in any way apologizing – requested the acceptance of his resignation as State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation. Ratwatte is also State Minister of Gem & Jewellery Related Industries. There is no indication so far that he has resigned from this portfolio too. Mahinda Rajapaksa had telephoned Ratwatte from a junket with Peiris in Italy and asked him to step down, followed by a call to Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Both Rajapaksa are responsible for killing Tamils...
And from the UN? Nothing - as Antonio Guterres and Melissa Fleming ban press, refuse to even answer polite law firm letter, Q&A here.
In July, officers with the Batticaloa district’s Terrorism Investigation Division, a branch of the Sri Lankan police, interrogated Selvakumar Nilanthan, a freelance Tamil journalist and the secretary of the Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Association, a local press freedom group, for about three hours, according to the Tamil Guardian, a copy of authorities’ July 10 summons to the journalist, and a tweet by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, a local human rights group. Officers questioned Nilanthan about his income sources, and demanded the login details of his Facebook, WhatsApp, email, and bank accounts, according to the Tamil Guardian. They also asked him if he supported the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a banned group that the government considers a terrorist organization, according to that report and the human rights group. Authorities told Nilanthan that he may be summoned for another interrogation, the Tamil Guardian reported.
Back on Feb 2, this call: "The United Nations Peacekeeping department should suspend all deployments from Sri Lanka following the latest report of the UN human rights body which warns that the independence and credibility of the body tasked with vetting the troops had been fundamentally eroded1 . “The UN Department of Peace Operations has a legal duty to ensure due diligence before deploying troops,” said the Executive Director of the International Truth and Justice Project, Yasmin Sooka. “The report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights confirms that New York is not in a position now to certify that the Sri Lankan troops have been properly vetted and screened and must urgently take steps to move the screening process back to Geneva.” Under the current arrangement the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka carries out the vetting of troops in Colombo. The appointment of Shavendra Silva to Army Commander in 2019 triggered the UN’s announcement that it was suspending deployment of all Sri Lankan peacekeepers, except where operations could be endangered... The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations said it would suspend future Sri Lankan army deployments, “except where suspension would expose UN operations to serious operational risk”. a quarter of Sri Lankan peacekeepers - namely those deployed in Lebanon who would be replaced by troops from other countries . In addition, departing Sri Lankan contingents were photographed repeatedly saluting an alleged war criminal, Shavendra Silva, at farewell parades . This is in spite of the widespread international criticism of the appointment of Shavendra Silva to Army Commander in 2019. Later in February 2020, the US Government made public its designation of Shavendra Silva and his family for alleged gross violations of human rights10. Shavendra Silva was subsequently given the additional responsibility of acting Chief of Defence Staff – the top most military position - and was recently promoted to the rank of four star General." The UN has failed on this, and Guterres keeps censoring.
What will CPJ, RSF et al do? Watch this site.
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