By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 16,
updated -- Sri
Lanka defense
minister
Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa
appears this
morning on the
schedule of UN
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson.
Given his role
in the
killings in
2009, Inner
City Press
once it
spotted the
appointment on
DSG
Eliasson's
schedule
has this morning
asked "Why?"
and for a
read-out.
Below is the
refusal.
Only a week
ago, when the
UN sponsored
an event about
the Genocide
Convention on
Monday, amid
talk of the
Holocaust,
Rwanda and
Srebrenica
there was an
obvious
question: what
about Sri
Lanka, where
the UN stayed
silent as
40,000
civilians were
slaughtered in
2009?
Inner
City Press
from in front
of the UN
Security
Council raised
the question;
inside the
event the
Security
Council was
blamed. But in
2009, unlike
say on Syria,
the Western
Permanent
Three barely
tried to raise
Sri Lanka.
These moves
were by
Elected Ten
members Mexico
and Costa
Rica. The P3
never put
forward a
resolution, as
they did three
times on
Syria.
Now,
Inner City
Press can
exclusively
report,
supporters of
Sri Lanka's
Rajapaksa
government are
concerned
about Jordan
as last minute
replacement
for Saudi
Arabia on the
Security
Council.
As Inner City
Press also
exclusively reported,
Jordanian
Permanent
Representative
Prince Zaid as
a member of
the Asia
Pacific Group
took a
principled
stand against
Sri Lankan
military
figure
Shavendra
Silva serving
with him on
the UN Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
something that
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve Ladsous never spoke
against. We'll
have more on this.
In
last Monday's
session,
Deputy
Secretary
General
Eliasson made
reference to
the UN's new
"Rights Up
Front" plan,
which Inner
City Press
obtained and
exclusively
published (and
was then told
that the
document "may
or not not
exist").
Inner
City Press
asked about it
again at last
Monday's UN
noon briefing,
and was later
directed this
UN web page
with Ban's
November 22
speech to
staff,
saying that
after the
"failure" in
Sri Lanka,
We
will be
vigilant in
identifying
emerging risks
and will
ensure that
our actions
are guided by
more effective
use of the
information
that is
available to
us from UN
human rights
and
humanitarian
mechanisms and
other
entities.
We
will inform
national
authorities of
violations and
support them
in taking
essential
early action.
We
will bring
violations to
the attention
of the
appropriate
United Nations
organs and
regional
organizations
when national
authorities
are unable or
unwilling to
respond.
We
will work to
help Member
States reach
agreement on
early actions
and play our
role in
implementing
their
decisions.
We
will speak out
publicly where
violations are
ongoing.
But
will they? Did
they, during
the crackdown
surrounding
the
Commonwealth
Heads of
Government
Meeting in Sri
Lanka last
month, when
media was
blocked from
traveling
North, and
families of
the
disappeared
were banned
from traveling
south to
testify?
Now, this
Monday,
Eliasson is
meeting with
Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa at
10:45 am , and
Inner City
Press has asked
for a read-out.
Ban Ki-moon
does a Q&A
press
conference at
11 am. Watch
this site.
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