Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

At UN on Sri Lanka Report, Coomaraswamy Would Recuse, Team Ban Says Watch This Space on Asking for Action

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 -- With Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa government insisting it will not respond to the UN Panel of Experts' war crimes report, but only send a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about “humanitarian” work in the northern part of the country, Inner City Press on Wednesday asked Ban's acting deputy spokesman Farhan Haq if such a letter would be considered a response.

Ban has said he would distribute any response by Sri Lanka, and that he cannot (or will not) initiate any investigative mechanism unless mandated by an intergovernmental body.

Inner City Press asked again if Ban will be asked any intergovernmental body -- the Security Council, General Assembly or Human Rights Council -- to take up the report and vote on whether or not to mandate an investigative mechanism.

Haq said that Ban is “still considering” what steps to take on the report. A senior Ban adviser earlier on Wednesday, when Inner City Press asked if Ban will make a recommendation to any intergovernmental body, replied “watch this space.” We will.

Inner City Press asked Ban's adviser on children and armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, about the Panel of Experts report and what she thought should be done about it. She replied that “member states can bring it up to some extent and if they do, the Secretary General will respond.”

Ms. Coomaraswamy added that since she is Sri Lankan, she would recuse herself from any review mandated by an intergovernmental body.

As a follow up to Inner City Press previously reporting on Protection of Civilians and the Security Council, Swiss correspondents have pointed to their representative's speech at Tuesday's Council meeting on civilians, which raised not only Syria but also Sri Lanka. But what will Ban do? Watch this site.

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As EU Notes UN Report, Sri Lanka Scoffs At Do Gooders, Navy's Idle Hands

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 10 -- As Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN Palitha Kohona walked out of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Inner City Press asked him about the European Union's statement on the UN Panel of Experts war crimes report, and about reported “militarization” of Colombo.

The EU statement is that "The Panel has concluded that there are credible allegations that major violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed on all sides in the conflict.

The EU reiterates its view that an independent process to address these extremely serious allegations should contribute to strengthening the process of reconciliation and ensuring lasting peace and security in Sri Lanka."

Kohona scoffed that it is the statement of “international do-gooders” trying to clean “their conscience.”

About the Sri Lanka Navy taking over management even of public parks in Colombo, Kohona argued that “there are 200,000 of them with nothing to do,” that the military assembled for the conflict must now be re-trained in civilian work. Parks: the new growth economy.

Ban previously taking hand off from Kohona, response still not shown

Kohona was one of more than 50 speakers on “Protection of Civilians” in the Security Council on Tuesday. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's November 2010 report on the topic stated, at Paragraph 91

“In the case of Sri Lanka, instead of establishing a fact-finding or accountability mechanism, I appointed in June 2010, as follow-up to my May 2009 joint statement with President Rajapaksa, a panel of experts to advise me on Sri Lanka’s efforts to address violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that may have occurred during the conflict.”

So Ban Ki-moon decided against “establishing a fact-finding or accountability mechanism.” No “international do-gooder,” he...

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On Sri Lanka, Ban Claims UN Couldn't Assess Casualties, Leak Shows UN Did

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 -- On Sri Lanka, UN “staff were not in the position to assess” the number of casualties in 2009, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky told the Press on April 27, as they had to withdraw because the Government said security could not be guaranteed.

But as Inner City Press reported and published on March 27, 2009, a detailed UN document it obtained reported that the "minimum number of documented civilian casualties since 20 January 2009, as of 7 March 2009 in the conflict area of Mullaitivu Region [is] 9,924 casualties including 2,683 deaths and 7,241 injuries.”

Click here for the leaked document, and here for Inner City Press' report which exclusively published it.

Ban's UN refused to confirm its own Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs casualty figures. It now appears, including based on statements by staff who have since left the UN, that Ban's UN consciously decided to withhold and once leaked deny the casualty information it WAS in the position to compile.

Nesirky on April 27, when Inner City Press followed up on questions it put to Ban the previous day, said that this topic and others will now be reviewed by the UN, by Ban and his senior advisers.

Inner City Press asked Nesirky if Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, who was involved in the White Flag killings which appear in the UN report at Paragraph 171, will be one of the senior advisers involved in the review.

“There are many senior advisers,” Nesirky said, adding that the review “will look at the full range of topics contained” in the report.

The question remains: should a senior adviser like Nambiar be allowed to play any role in the review of an incident he was involved in? The answer should have been, and should be, no -- but hasn't been.

Inner City Press asked if this review will be made public. Nesirky would not say, but acknowledged that there is a public interest in it. With 40,000 civilians reportedly killed, yes there is a public interest.

Amazingly, after Ban said he “is advised” that the report's recommendations can only be investigated if the Rajapaksa government consents or members states vote for it in an intergovernmental forum, Ban when he reported on Sri Lanka to the UN Security Council on April 26 did not even ask them to schedule a vote on the recommendation for an investigation of war crimes. We'll have more on this.

From the Panel of Experts report:

The "White Flag" incident

170. Various reports have alleged that the political leadership of the LTTE and their dependents were executed when they surrendered to the SLA. In the very final days of the war, the head of the LTTE political wing, Nadesan, and the head of the Tiger Peace Secretariat Pulidevan, were in regular communication with various interlocutors to negotiate surrender. They were reportedly with a group of around 300 civilians. The LTTE political leadership was initially reluctant to agree to an unconditional surrender, but as the SLA closed in on the group in their final hideout, Nadesan and Pulidevan, and possibly Colonel Ramesh, were prepared to surrender unconditionally. This intention was communicated to officials of the United Nations and of the Governments of Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as to representatives of the ICRC and others. It was also conveyed through intermediaries to Mahinda, Gotabaya and Basil Rajapaksa, former Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona and senior officers in the SLA.

171. Both President Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Basil Rajapaksa [sic?] provided assurances that their surrender would be accepted. These were conveyed by intermediaries to the LTTE leaders, who were advised to raise a white flag and walk slowly towards the army, following a particular route indicated by Basil Rajapaksa.[sic?] Requests by the LTTE for a third party to be present at the point of surrender were not granted. Around 6.30 a.m. on 18 May 2009. Nadesan and Pulidevan left their hide-out to walk towards the area held by the 58th Division, accompanied by a large group, including their families. Colonel Ramesh followed behind them, with another group. Shortly afterwards, the BBC and other television stations reported that Nadesan and Pulidevan had been shot dead. Subsequently, the Government gave several different accounts of the incident. While there is little information on the circumstances of their death, the Panel believes that the LTTE leadership intended to surrender.

On the morning of April 21, Inner City Press asked Ban's top two spokesmen to "please state the role of Mr. Nambiar in reviewing the report." No response has yet been received, more than 60 hours later. We will have more on this. Watch this site.

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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