UK
Blocks
Sri Lanka's
Silva Then
Won't Confirm
It, UN Erases
Him From
Transcript,
Reinserts
After
Complaint
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 19 -- In
the run up to
a vote on Sri
Lanka at the
Human Rights
Council in
Geneva, there
is surprising
silence in New
York from the
sponsor, the
US, and also
from the UK
Mission. The
UN
of Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon,
meanwhile,
attempted to
erase the
issue even
from its
transcripts
until an
objection from
Inner City
Press.
Multiple
sources
say that the
UK Mission
made clear
that Sri
Lankan General
Shavendra
Silva,
depicted in
Ban's Panel of
Experts report
and UK Channel
4's
"Killing
Fields" as
engaged in war
crimes, should
not
attend a
Commonwealth
reception with
Foreign
Secretary
William J.
Hague.
But
when Inner
City Press
asked UK
Permanent Mark
Lyall Grant to
confirm and
explain
it at the UN
on Monday,
Lyall Grant
declined to
answer the
question:
Inner
City
Press:
if you could,
I
wanted to ask
you one thing,
if you could
just say for
the record,
there’s the
reports that
this
Commonwealth
event that you
deemed
inappropriate,
the presence
of the DPR of
Sri Lanka,
given his
record
in the UN’s
own report. Is
that the case
and could you
say your
reason for it?
Amb.
Lyall
Grant: I'm not
going to
comment...
Likewise
requests
to the US
Mission to the
UN for comment
on Silva's
continuing
presence on
Ban's Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations
have gone
unresponded
to, except for
the statement
that the Sri
Lanka
resolution is
slated for a
vote in Geneva
on March 22,
now apparently
with India
voting for the
resolution.
Ban
Ki-moon shakes
with Silva,
Kohona back to
camera (c)
MRLee
When
Amnesty
International
and Human
Rights Watch,
among others,
held a press
conference
last week,
Inner City
Press asked
both groups
about Silva
and the SAG.
Human Rights
Watch said
nothing; in
the past, HRW
has
refused to
provide even a
summary of Ken
Roth's meeting
with Ban,
ostensibly so
HRW can retain
"access."
Amnesty
International's
representative
did provide an
answer -- but
when the
UN issued its
press release,
the issue was
not included.
Inner City
Press
inquired, and
the official
of the UN unit
in charge, to
his
credit,
reviewed the
recording and
had the issue
re-included:
The
same
correspondent
[from Inner
City Press]
also asked
about the
"controversy"
surrounding
Sri Lankan
General
Shavendra
Silva’s
appointment to
the Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
The army
division that
official
headed up had
been cited
in the report
of the
Secretary-General’s
Panel of
Experts on Sri
Lanka as
having
committed war
crimes, he
said. Mr. Pomi
said that
while he was
unable to
answer
specific
questions
about the
matter, he
believed that
the question
of vetting was
very
important.
“There
are guidelines
on that and
the United
Nations should
apply them so
that
perpetrators
do not enter
the ranks of
national
army,” he
said.
As
for
the
"difficult"
issue of
screening out
persons who
would serve in
the United
Nations ranks
— in
peacekeeping
or in
other roles —
he said, "What
we would like
to see is
coherent
and consistent
policy by the
United Nations
to vet those
applying for
United Nations
positions,
especially in
peacekeeping,
because they
work closely
with local
populations
and with
weapons."
And
if such
vetting were
applied to
Ban's Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
it's hard to
imagine
Shavendra
Silva passing
the test.
Watch this
site.
, 
