On
Sri Lanka,
Heyns on
40,000 Dead
and Video
Half-Shown in
UN, UPR
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 25 --
The UN
system's
Special
Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial,
Summary and
Arbitrary
Executions has
inevitably
dealt
with Sri Lanka
for some
years, given
the mandate.
Inner
City Press on
October 25
asked Christof
Heyns what he
has done, to
follow up on
his
predecessor
Philip
Alston's work
on video
footage of
executions,
and otherwise.
Video
here, from
Minute 32:25.
Alston
deemed
the executions
video
authentic, in
a session in
the UN's Dag
Hammarskjold
Auditorium.
Heyns on
Thursday told
Inner City
Press that
he followed up
on new video
which came out
after he took
up the
mandate in
2010, and
subsequently
appeared "in
the Channel 4
documentary."
That was never
shown in the
UN's Dag
Hammarskjold
Auditorium,
while the
government's
purported
rebuttal to it
was.
Heyns
said, "in the
meantime as
you know the
Secretary
General's
panel reported
that up to
40,000 people
were killed in
the last days
of
the war." This
is a figure
that whenever
used,
push-back and
vitriol
results. But
that's what
Heyns said. Video
here, from
Minute
37:45.
While
there is a
so-called
Universal
Periodic
Review coming
up at the
Human
Rights Council
in Geneva with
a mere 72
seconds per
speaker, Heyns
looked forward
to "next
March, 2013"
when the "High
Commissioner
needs to
report back.
The issue is
again on the
table."
Heyns
said that this
year's HRC
resolution
"requests Sri
Lanka to
engage with
special
procedures on
a road map
dealing with
reconciliation
and dealing
with the
past."
Earlier
on
October 25
Inner City
Press asked
the Special
Rapporteur on
Freedom of
Religion or
Belief Heiner
Bielefeldt
about Sri
Lanka. He
said there are
"religious
elements" to
conflicts and
spoke
of "national
mythologies,"
seeing "the
Other as
acting
in the
interest of a
colonial
power." He
said the UN
should
"have
witnesses
planted in
those areas."
He mentioned
the
UPR, without
mentioning
it's only 72
seconds per
speaker. Video
here,
from Minute
32:54.
While
it may be
unlikely that
Bielefeldt
will visit Sri
Lanka, Heyns
said
"I am willing
to go, the
same applies
to other
mandates as
well." He said
"the
reconsideration
next March is
important." He
called Sri
Lanka's "one
of the largest
reported
killings in
the world in
recent times"
that has yet
to
be
"sufficiently
dealt with."
But
with Ban
Ki-moon's view
of
accountability,
as not
requiring
punishment of
anyone, what
will the UN
do? For now,
it looks like
the
report
prepared by
Charles Petrie
as he set sail
to Myanmar
will be
buried. Watch
this site.
, 
