During
Sri Lanka
Visit by UN
Group,
Questioning
Confirmed,
Power on Way
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 18
--
During the Sri
Lanka visit of
the UN Working
Group on
Enforced or
Involuntary
Disappearances,
on November 11
Inner City
Press asked
the UN this
question:
Inner City
Press: I
wanted to ask
you a Sri
Lanka
question,
while this
grouping is
still
there.
There’s a UN
working group
on enforced
disappearances
that’s
visiting Sri
Lanka,
including
northern Sri
Lanka.
Maybe this is
not true, but
the “Colombo
Gazette” says
that families
whose people
have been
disappeared,
who met with
UN working
group,
including the
widow of
Prageeth
[Eknaligoda],
the
cartoonist,
were told,
quote, by the
UN not to
speak to the
media about
their
discussions
with the
working
group.
It says “the
UN.” So
it’s…
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
I don’t…
Inner City
Press:
Is there…
Spokesman
Dujarric:
You can ask
our colleagues
in Geneva, who
kind of help
back up these
independent
working
groups, but
it’s not
something I
can answer
from
here.
No
answer ever
came in from
the UN in
Geneva -- too
busy giving
elite speeches
in New York,
some said.
On November
18, the
Working
Group's
delegation of
Bernard
Duhaime,
Tae-Ung Baik,
and Ariel
Dulitzky said,
among other
things, that
"Some of the
persons with
whom we met
have been
questioned in
relation to
our visit.
This is
absolutely
unacceptable
in a
democratic
society."
Their
preliminary
observations
added, "The
highest levels
of the
Government
should take
decisive
actions to
stop such acts
and instruct
all public
officers that
these actions
will not be
tolerated and
will be
punished
accordingly.
The Working
Group calls on
the State to
guarantee the
safety of
those with
whom it met,
and to protect
them against
any form of
reprisals,
threat or
intimidation.
The success of
any measures
on truth and
justice will
depend on how
safe the
victims and
relatives
feel. Over the
years, the
Working Group
has
transmitted
more than
12000 cases to
the Government
of Sri Lanka,
of which 5750
are still
outstanding.
So now what?
Their preliminary
observations
are here;
they will
present their
report in
Geneva in
September
2016.
Meanwhile US
Ambassador
Samantha Power
is headed to
Sri Lanka
after India,
where she
arrives on
November 23.
She will visit
Jaffna, "to
meet with
local
government
officials and
organizations
and
communities
affected by
the conflict.
There, she
will meet with
members of the
local press
corps,
including by
visiting the
headquarters
of Uthayan
newspaper,
which was
targeted
during the
war.
Ambassador
Power will
also
participate in
the
inauguration
of a new wing
of Osmania
College, which
suffered
significant
damage during
the conflict,
as well as
tour the
Jaffna
Library, where
she will
announce U.S.
support for
the local
restoration of
ancient Tamil
manuscripts."
Full announcement
here.
Back on
October 22
when Bernard
Duhaime, the
Vice-Chair of
the UN Working
Group on
Enforced or
Involuntary
Disappearances,
held a press
conference at
the UN, Inner
City Press
asked him
about his
country visit
to Sri Lanka
set for next
month, and
about how the
Working Group
considers
disappearances
and worse by
ISIS and other
“non-state
groups.”
Duhaime said
he will be
meeting with
civil society
in Sri Lanka
as well as
with the
government
(regarding
which he
repeatedly
emphasized
“transition,”
and called the
timing of his
visit
“historic.”)
He said one of
the Working
Group's roles
is to give
certainty to
the families
of the
disappeared.
There are
certainly many
of those,
particularly
in Northern
Sri
Lanka.
Inner City
Press will
have more
coverage of
the Working
Group country
visit.
On
ISIS, Duhaime
said said the
key would be
to consider if
there is a
nexus to any
state (there
are neighbors
one might wish
to review) and
that it will
be reviewed at
a conference
next February.
He politely
declined to
answer a
country- and
complaint-specific
question Inner
City Press
posed. Watch
this site.
When the UN
Special
Rapporteur on
torture Juan
E. Méndez held
a press
conference on
October 20,
Inner City
Press asked
him for his
view of the
only partial
release of the
US Senate's
report on CIA
torture, about
Guantanamo Bay
and whether he
thought
President
Barack Obama's
visit to a
prison might
make his
long-pending
request to
visit US
prisons move
faster. Video
here.
Mendez said
there should
be more
release(s),
and
accountability.
He said he had
had to request
the US'
conditional
offers to
visit
Guantanamo Bay
and US
prisons, as he
would not be
allowed to
speak with all
prisoners. He
praise Obama's
visit, but
still - Mendez
can't get in.
On October 16
when the Chair
of the UN
Committee on
the Rights of
the Child
Benyam Dawit
Mezmur held a
press
conference at
the UN, Inner
City Press
asked him
about US
President
Barack Obama's
decision to
continue to
provide
military aid
to the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo,
Nigeria,
Somalia, and
South Sudan,
despite all
four being on
the UN's (and
US') lists on
children and
armed
conflict. Video here.
Benyam Dawit
Mezmur said
that while the
US is the lone
holdout on the
Convention on
the Rights of
the Child, the
issue can
still be
gotten-at
under the
Optional
Protocol.
Inner City
Press asked
about the
sexual abuse
of children in
the Central
African
Republic by
French and UN
peacekeepers.
Benyam Dawit
Mezmur replied
that the
Committee is
asking France
about the
alleged sexual
abuse of
children, and
will conduct a
review in
January. We
aim to have
more on this.
At the
press
conference,
there were
only two
correspondents,
as there was
an emergency
UN Security
Council
meeting on
Palestine at
the same time.
Inner City
Press on
behalf of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access thanked
Benyam Dawit
Mezmur for the
briefing but
suggested that
in the future
postponement
of briefings,
so that more
journalists
could attend,
be considered.
UNCA wasn't
present at
all; nor has
it disclosed
the extend of
funding and
connection by
indicted David
Ng and Frank
Lorenzo and
their
affiliates.
Also on
the UN, when
the UN find a
staff member
using the UN's
email system
to trafficking
in sexual
images of
minors, a
crime, what
does it do? On
October 16,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about this
paragraph from
a UN
report it had
dug up:
“49. A staff
member sent,
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system,
pornographic
material,
including
pornographic
material
involving a
minor, and
failed to
report that
another staff
member had
sent the staff
member
inappropriate
material
though the
Organization’s
e-mail system.
Disposition:
dismissal.”
Inner
City Press
asked, was
that all that
happened,
dismissal?
Such that the
person could,
for example,
work in a day
care center?
Haq said in
instances the
UN waives
immunity.
Inner
City Press
asked, how
would law
enforcement
know that the
person had
used the UN's
email system
for child
porn? Haq said
there have
been cases in
which the UN
told local
authorities.
Inner City
Press asked,
did it do so
in this case?
Apparently,
the UN will
not answer
this. For now.
Here are other
paragraphs:
46. A staff
member stored
pornographic
material,
including
pornography
involving a
minor, on the
staff member’s
United Nations
computer,
distributed
other
pornographic
material
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system
and failed to
report that
another staff
member had
sent the staff
member
inappropriate
material
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system.
Disposition:
dismissal.
47. A staff
member sent,
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system,
and stored on
the staff
member’s
United Nations
computer,
pornographic
material
involving a
minor and, on
other
occasions,
distributed,
through the
Organization’s
e -mail
system, other
pornographic
material.
Disposition:
dismissal.
48. A
staff member
sent, through
the
Organization’s
e-mail system,
pornographic
material
involving a
minor and, on
three other
occasions,
distributed
other
pornographic
material
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system
and stored
pornographic
material on
the staff
member’s
United Nations
computer.
Disposition:
dismissal.
The
report is
entitled
"Practice of
the
Secretary-General
in
disciplinary
matters and
cases of
criminal
behaviour, 1
July 2014 to
30 June 2015."
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