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In Sri Lanka, UN Staff Detained in IDP Camps,
Names Provided to UNICEF and OCHA, Double Standard Alleged
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City
Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, April 13
-- As the Sri Lankan
government's detention camps for those leaving the northern conflict
zone have
become the subject of international controversy, quietly staff members
of the
United Nations and their families have themselves been interred in the
camps,
with the UN saying nothing until asked, it emerged on Monday. Inner
City Press
at the April 13 UN noon briefing asked spokesman Farhan Haq, video here
from Minute 13:36 --
Inner
City Press: This is
on Sri Lanka. There have been some
reports that in the camps that have been set up outside the conflict
zone from
which people can’t leave and can’t receive visitors, that there are
some UN
staff in these camps -- from OCHA [the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs] and some of the specialized funds programs and
agencies. Is the UN aware of any of its
staff members that are either held incommunicado or are in camps that
they
can’t leave from? And if they’re aware,
what’s the UN doing about securing their freedom of movement and
release from
these camps?
Associate Spokesperson
Haq: I am not aware of that one, but
we’ll check with OCHA and see what they have to say on that.
Inner
City Press then e-mailed the spokespeople for OCHA and UNICEF,
repeating the
question. OCHA spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker replied first:
Subj: Re: Q if there
are UN system staff / family in Sri Lankan government's "IDP" camps,
and if so...
From: [OCHA at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 4/13/2009 3:17:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Among those tens of thousands of people who have managed to flee the No
Fire
Zone in northern Sri Lanka, we are aware that some UN and NGO staff and
their
dependents have managed to flee as well.
As far as we know, they are still in the camps for
displaced people set
up in the area, and we have repeatedly asked the Government of Sri
Lanka to
allow them freedom of movement so that they can eventually resume their
role as
aid workers. While the Government has
repeatedly assured us that this request would be met, the staff still
remain in
the camps. [Inserted into UN transcript here.]
Inner
City Press' sources in Sri Lanka say that OCHA chief John Holmes was
informed
of these people while he was in Sri Lanka, that local staff
dissatisfaction
with his public silence about it has been growing.
UN OCHA's Holmes in IDP camp, still-detailed
UN and OCHA staff not shown
Some there ask, if the
government of Sudan for example interred UN staff members, OCHA and Ban
Ki-moon, to say nothing of the U.S., France and UK on the Security
Council,
would surely loudly scream. Why not in Sri Lanka?
Inner
City Press has been provided by local sources with names of staff on
information and belief detained in the Sri Lankan government camps
including in
Vavuniya, even an assistant field coordinator. Inner City Press has put
these
names to OCHA's Ms. Bunker and to UNICEF's spokesman, who replied
"I am not aware of
any UNICEF staff in this situation, but I have been away from the
office for a
few days. I have asked my colleagues in Sri Lanka and will respond when
I get a
response from them, hopefully tomorrow."
He
has
been supplied for four UNICEF staff names. Watch this site.
Click here
for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
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