On Sri Lanka at Human Rights Council, Sudan's Math, Philippines' Review, UN Theater

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 15 -- At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday, in speeches that flew by at cross purposes without response, the death of 40,000 civilians in 2009 and “Sinhalese Buddhist triumphalism” since, including attacks on mosques and on human rights defenders, were detailed.

  Sri Lankan minister Mahinda Samarsinghe bragged that his country has accepted 110, then 113, of the 210 recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review process. 

  But what accountability has there been? Military figures responsible for many of the death have been sent to the UNas diplomats.

   Sudan claimed Sri Lanka accepted 210 recommendations. Call it Khartoum math. The Philippines called the Rajapaksas' response “heart-warming.”

   Recently families of the disappeared were blocked from traveling from Vavuniya to the UN in Colombo. In New York, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman how this is acceptable and was told there are other ways to get information to the UN.

  Ban Ki-moon recently accepted a whitewash report about Sri Lanka from Japan's Ambassador; repeated requests after that for a copy of the report were denied. Ban went on to praise the whitewash report when he was asked about Sri Lanka.

   NGOs got to speak. One of them, Human Rights Watch, has refused to disclose even what topics it raised to Ban Ki-moon during director Ken Roth's March 4 meeting with him. For more on Sri Lanka in the UN theater -- literally -- and continuation, click here. Watch this site.

On Sri Lanka, Ban Ki-moon Panel 5 Months Late, Threat to Inner City Press Copied to UN's Okabe Ignored?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 11 -- The UN under Ban Ki-moon does not follow through on Sri Lanka accountability, nor on Sri Lankan threatens against journalists which emanate from inside and are even copied to the UN.

  On June 11 Inner City Press asked Ban's lead spokesman Martin Nesirky two questions about Sri Lanka. First, what ever happened to the four-month panel named in September 2011, headed by Thoraya Obaid, to review the UN's own performance in the bloody final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka?

  And, Inner City Press asked, what is the UN's response to a sample threat sent to Inner City Press on June 9, copied to the UN's official in Washington Marie Okabe and two others in the UN, that this reporter should "swim like a brick" -- does the UN acknowledge any role in the creation of this climate, given that Ban advisers are known to have spread rumors Inner City Press is funded by the LTTE, just because Inner City Press questions make Ban look bad?

  Nesirky said he was not aware of the threat copied to Okabe, that it wasn't sent to him. On the panel, he said its work continues. But it has already been nine months and not the stated four, Inner City Press followed up. 

 

  Nesirky said that Charles Petrie, an official Inner City Press has written about in Myanmar and Burundi, is leading up the panel.

  When did Petrie replace Obaid? Inner City Press asked. One wondered: why didn't the UN every announce the change?

  Nesirky said that Obaid never took up the post. One wonders: why didn't the UN every announce that? And what WILL they do about the threats, and their role? 

 The UN Correspondents Association, whose President Giampaolo Pioli's insistence on trying to remove from the Internet Inner City Press' accurate reporting that he took rent money from Sri Lankan Ambasador Palitha Kohona, when Kohona was an official of the UN which Pioli purportedly covers triggered this round of threats, has seen them and done nothing. 

 In fact, UNCA Executive Committee members have fanned the flames, until their editors were contacted. And even then?

From the UN's June 11, 2012 noon briefing transcript:

Inner City Press: in September it was said that, that, that this panel will be reviewing the UN’s own performance in the final stage of the conflict, when up to 40,000 people were killed. Ms. [Thoraya] Obaid was named the head of the panel to look at three issues, it was said that it would be completed in four months and it’s now, I am counting, it seems like it’s nine, maybe it is eight; anyway I am wondering, what’s the status of that review? And also, I am compelled to ask you this: I’ve received a copy, I have received some of these, but this is a threat that I’ve received from it seems to be a Sinhalese or Sri Lankan extremist, saying I should "swim like a brick," and the reason I am asking you about it is because it was cc'd to Marie Okabe and two other UN personnel. And I am wondering, what is the UN’s response when you receive this type of a threat? What do they do with it, what happens, and I want to know what they are actually going to do in this case?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Well, I am not aware of that last one, Matthew. I don’t think I was copied on that one. On the first point, the review as recommended by the panel of experts is under way, and once -

Inner City Press: Is there some explanation for the four-month period being more than doubled now?

Spokesperson Nesirky: This is something that is quite complex and quite important. And the review is under way, as I say. It is being headed by Charles Petrie, and it is in full swing, and when we have something to say further, I will let you know; but we don’t at the moment.

Inner City Press: And on this, when did Ms. Obaid leave, leave the post?

Spokesperson: She did not take the post; there are a number of difficulties of a personal nature for her taking it and someone else has taken the post, Mr. Petrie, who is extremely well-qualified and is heading that review right now.

Sri Lanka Denies IDP Reduction Reported by Inner City Press, Raises to UN, Crackdown Explained?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/untrip3may7srilanka060509.html

UNITED NATIONS, June 5 -- The Sri Lankan government has denounced a story about "missing" internally displaced people which Inner City Press, based on discrepancies in UN documents and statements from UN sources, published this week.

Beyond denying that any IDPs have been removed from the UN-funded camps in Vavuniya, which Inner City Press visited on May 23, the government has said that it is raising the matter with the UN. "Minister of Human Rights and Disaster Management, Mahinda Samarasinghe is expected to take up the issue with United Nations," according to a pro-government web site.

On June 2, Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson publicly denounced Inner City Press for its reporting, but denied she had discussed "complaining to Google News" about it, presumably to stop its distribution or censor it. The next day she recanted, click here. Click here for Inner City Press (on NYTimes.com) on tensions in Sri Lanka.

Inner City Press' story noted that even the UN, in a May 30 report, acknowledged that its number of IDPs in the camps decreased by over 13,000.

While the public report by UN OCHA ascribed this sudden drop -- from May 27 -- to "double counting," local UN sources, on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation not only by the Sri Lankan government but also by the UN, told Inner City Press that as with the satellite photos of the conflict zone and casualty figures, some in the UN were seeking to downplay this potentially troubling information.

OCHA's May 30 report states that "276,785 persons crossed to the Government controlled areas from the conflict zone. This represents a decrease of 13,130 IDPs since the last report (Sitrep No.18) on 27 May 2009. The decrease is associated with double counting. Additional verification is required."

But earlier, OCHA had praised the "improved, systematic registration being undertaken in the camps."

The article continued that UN sources in Colombo tell Inner City Press that senior UN officials above them, Sri Lankan nationals who are Sinhalese, are downplaying the 13,000 "missing" IDPs, which would otherwise be of much concern given the reports of disappearances from the camps, the seizing of teenage males for detention and females for other purposes, as UK Channel 4 asserted with on camera interviews

Shouldn't the UN look into this more closely, given multiple and credible reports of people being "disappeared" from the UN-funded IDP camps? The UN so far has done nothing in this regard.

To expedite matters, one hopes, Inner City Press now publishes a list of some of the places where the UN -- or perhaps a less compromised body -- should look for missing people:

Pallekelle near Kandy; Ambepussa, Boosa and, it is said, the Army training camp at Diya-talawwa.

On June 2, Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson while again publicly denouncing Inner City Press for its reporting, denied she had discussed "complaining to Google News" about it, presumably to stop its distribution or censor it.

The next day, Ms. Montas confirmed that both legal action and "complaining to Google News" were discussed at a meeting she had with four top UN officials, including Mr Ban's speech writer, who also traveled to Sri Lanka on May 23, the UN's top lawyer Patricia O'Brien, Angela Kane and the head of UN "Public Information," Kiyotaka Akasaka, previously of the Japanese foreign ministry.

Following a failure by these officials to respond to requests that they explain how the strategy they discussed comports with the free press Article 19 of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Inner City Press has asked for action from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, click here.

Footnotes: During this week's back and forth about the UN threatening legal action against the Press, and to complain to Google News about Inner City Press' coverage, a high UN official, again anonymous due to fear of retaliation even at his level, approached Inner City Press to say that the attempt at censorship or expulsion was being pushed by what he diplomatically called "a member state." Asked if this meant Sri Lanka, he nodded.

Meanwhile, in a show of retaliation, the UN has taken the step of seizing and checking the UN e-mail of staff members who they believe have been sources for Inner City Press. Some say that when the UN went to Sri Lanka, rather than seek to hold the government to a high standard of human rights, the effect was to make the UN (even) more like the administration of the Rajapaksas...

Guard in Manik Farm camp, (c) M. Lee May 23, 2009

The article below quoting that "Minister of Human Rights and Disaster Management, Mahinda Samarasinghe is expected to take up the issue with United Nations" takes issue with Inner City Press quoting that

"UN sources in Colombo tell Inner City Press that senior UN officials above them, Sri Lankan nationals who are Sinhalese, are downplaying the 13,000 "missing" IDPs, which would otherwise be of much concern given the reports of disappearances from the camps, the seizing of teenage males for detention and females for other purposes, [as] UK Channel 4 asserted with on camera interviews."

Contrary to the (intentional?) misinterpretation below, Inner City Press was not saying that all Sri Lankan nationals are Sinhalese -- rather, that within the UN's staff in Sri Lanka, those who are of the majority Sinhalese group are seen by their Tamil colleagues as in some cases using their positions in the UN to advance, as some phrase it, "the Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist cause." Inner City Press did not invent these divisions, and the article's and minister's statement that all is now well in Sri Lanka is, at best, wishful thinking. Within the UN, some recall the way in Rwanda a Hutu staff member named Callixte Mbarushimana was allowed to use his UN position and materiel to further the Hutu extremist cause which has since been acknowledged as genocide. The UN continued employing and paying Callixte Mbarushimana for many years. Some wonder, will that happen with the UN in Sri Lanka?

On June 5 outside the UN Security Council, Inner City Press asked the Special Adviser of the Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide, Francis Deng, if his Office will do any work on Sri Lanka. "We try to follow what is going on, the post-conflict developments," he said. "It's been going on for twenty five years, you don't just...." His voice trailed off. "One phase ended, presumably, but....". And his voice trailed off again. Of course, it's been "going on" for far longer than 25 years.

At the UN noon briefing on June 5, Inner City Press asked Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the UN has received any communications from the Sri Lankan government about report based on OCHA's May 30 and May 27 figures. Haq said to ask Sri Lanka's mission to the UN. Inner City Press asked if Ban Ki-moon would speak about Sri Lanka with the Press after his closed door informal (or "unofficial") briefing to the Security Council slated for June 5 and 3:15 p.m.. Haq did not say yes. Watch this site.sir lank

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip3may7srilanka060509.html

Back from Sri Lanka, UN's Holmes Admits NGO Killings and Restrictions Not Raised

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may7srilanka052609.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 26 -- Just back to the United Nations from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's surreal tour of Sri Lanka, Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador John Sawers if the UN paying for interment camps for Tamils rounded up from throughout northern Sri Lanka compiles with international humanitarian law.

Ambassador Sawers, rather than answer, said that there has been a "high level of attention" to the issue by the UN, by envoy Vijay Nambiar, humanitarian chief John Holmes and the visit of the Secretary General over the weekend. There's been not report to the Security Council yet, Sawers said, we look forward to that and "we'll have to consider steps after that." Video here, from Minute 6:15.

Ban Ki-moon is still out of New York. John Holmes took questions by phone, since he was outside of the UN (some said in Upstate New York). Inner City Press asked Holmes about the people looked up in the camps who were not in the final conflict zone. "I was not aware of that," Holmes said, arguing that "the whole Vanni" or jungle area was under Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam control "so in a sense was the conflict zone." Video here, from Minute 21:15.

Interviews in the camps, even under the watchful eyes of Sri Lankan soldiers and seemingly pro-government UN personnel nevertheless revealed that people were swept into the camps. The goal, if not to move members of the Sinhala majority into the now-vacated areas, is to screen anyone who lived under the LTTE for whether they support Tamil separatism or autonomy. Should the UN be assisting in such ideological if not ethnic cleansing?

Holmes insisted that "there is no question of the UN funding the sweeping up," the UN is "only providing emergency relief in the camps." But if the camps are being used, not as a temporary fix to a natural disaster but to ethnic and ideological screening, providing food and money -- and in the case of UNOPS, planning the camps and helping build them -- makes the UN's role more direct, and problematic.

Inner City Press asked Holmes if Ban Ki-moon, in his meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaka, has raised the issue of press freedom, including of the editor will last year, and other reports who have been harassed, arrested and disappeared, and of the aid workers, including from Action Contre la Faim, who have been killed, allegedly by pro-government militias. No, Holmes said, neither issue was raised by Ban in his meetings. He did not say, why not?

The government's proposed Memorandum of Understanding it wants NGOs to sign would require them to provide information on all their clients, which these NGOs don't do anywhere in the world. Since NGOs have told Inner City Press that they are not in the best position to fight the proposed MOU, as they are working in Sri Lanka; they would to see John Holmes and OCHA take the lead in fighting back the intrusive NGO. Holmes admitted that the "MOU was not raise by the Secretary-General," and said that the issue had been set on the side. He did not say, by whom?

Since some NGOs have expressed concern about the publication statements about what they expect from Holmes' OCHA -- to fight back against the MOU, for example -- and in light of major NGOs' summary from last week that John Holmes "had objected to the trip, as many of you know," Inner City Press asked Holmes about this position, and to explain it. Holmes replied that "I did not say to the NGOs that I was against the visit, I simply said that there were some tricky presentational aspect about which we were very well aware and that we would be dealing with while there, and which I think we did successfully."

Apparently, Holmes was comfortable with the "presentational aspects" of children in the camps being forced to sing "Ban Ki-moon" to the Secretary General, and of Ban acceding to Rajapaksa's demand that they meet not in the capital but in the Buddhist shrine town of Kandy, which many say was a message to Tamils, we win, you lose. In fact, there are reports of Tamil shopkeepers in Colombo being besieged by Sinhala mobs and told to pay money, since "you lost." The UN should be countering such trends, not covering them up or, worse, stoking them.

Lynn Pascoe was also at the briefing, but said less. When Inner City Press asked about reports that Tamil MPs were barred by the government from entering the Colombo airport's VIP lounge for the meeting they had been promised with Bank Ki-moon, Pascoe said he is investigating those reports and will "pass on to Maria" [Okabe, the Deputy Spokesperson] what he learns. Inner City Press asked about the symbolism of the visit to Kandy. Pascoe said it was a misperception and that "when a government says where, it's their decision."

Inner City Press asked both Pascoe and Holmes if they thought the forcing children in the camps to sing to Ban Ki-moon was appropriate. Pascoe said that he's seen children waiting in the sun for longer than he could put up with, and not only in camps. Video here, from Minute 34:34. Holmes did not answer about the appropriateness of the forced signing and flag waving in the UN-funded camps. Watch this site.

Footnote: as the Human Rights Council in Geneva takes up the question of Sri Lanka, not only is there a pro-Rajapaksa resolution, now there is a Swiss proposed compromise, which would ask the Rajapaksa administration to investigate itself...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may7srilanka052609.html