By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 6 -- Rapes
in Sri Lanka,
about which
the UN's
Zainab
Bangura,
Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General
on Sexual
Violence in
Conflict, publicly expressed concern on April
24, are
the subject of
a session at
Canada's
Mission to the
UN on May 6.
Scheduled to
attend
representing
Sri Lanka is
controversial
military
figure
Shavendra
Silva, Inner
City Press has
learned.
Soldiers under
Silva's command
were depicted
engaged in war
crimes in the
UN's own Sri
Lanka report;
here
is a story of
Silva spinning
at the UN, and
some aftermath.
Accompanying
Shavendra
Silva to
Canada's
Mission on Second
Avenue would
be First Secretary
Varuni
Muthukumarana
and "Documentation
Officer" Dilup
Nanayakkara.
Among
delegations
slated to
attend are New
Zealand,
Montenegro,
South Africa
and Norway.
It is a
doubly-timely
topic at the
UN, the day
after the 130
rapes at Minova
by two
Congolese
army
units which
still receive
support from
the UN's
MONUSCO
mission resulted
in a mere two
convictions
and three
dozen exhonerations.
A Press
question on
how this
relates to the
UN stated
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy is
pending at the
Office of the
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights in
Geneva.
Inner City
Press send
questions to
Canada's
mission to the
UN; the
mission's
Senior
Political and
Public Affairs
Officer
Patrick
Travers
replied,
"Thank you for
your inquiry
regarding the
meeting on
sexual
violence in
Sri Lanka
being held
today in our
Permanent
Mission. As
the meeting is
closed, we
will not be
able to extend
invitations to
the press and
have no
comment at
this time."
The
rapists in Sri
Lanka have not
even been
prosecuted, or
are being
facilely
cleared, as
were the Sri
Lankan
"peacekeepers"
repatriated
from Haiti.
We'll have
more on this.
Back on April
24 Inner City
Press asked
Bangura about
the rapes in
Sri Lanka and
what if
anything the
UN is doing
about it. UN
video here
from Minute
15:15, Inner
City Press video here and embedded below.
Bangura
replied
that she is
"concerned,
worried" and
has spoken
with Sri
Lanka's
Permanent
Representative,
Palitha
Kohona, about
it, urging him
that Sri Lanka
designate a
"focal person"
on the issue.
It is not
Kohona slated
to attend on
May 5, but his
deputy
Shavendra
Silva.
Inner
City Press
asked about
the report
authored by
Yasmin Sooka,
who previously
served on one
of the UN's
panels looking
at war crimes
in Sri Lanka
and who will
give a
briefing at
the May 5
meeting, along
with Kirsty
Brimmelow. Here
is a link to
the report.
Earlier
in April,
Inner City
Press asked
yet another
former UN
panelist on
Sri Lanka,
Marzuki
Darusman,
if he thought
the UN's
response to
his report had
been
successful.
Darusman cited
the example of
Cambodia, for
the
proposition
that justice
can take a
long time.
But how long?
The UN
can't even
keep track of
its own
statements. On
alleged rapes
by UN
peacekeepers
in Mali, the
UN told Inner
City Press in
January that
the
investigation
was finished.
Then on April
23, the UN's
Mali envoy Bert
Koenders said
it won't be
finished for
two or three
weeks, but
predicted or
pretold that
the UN
peacekeepers
will be
cleared.
Bangura, when
Inner City
Press asked,
didn't know
which was
true, or any
update on the
rape charges
against UN
peacekeepers
themselves.
Combined
with
the UN's
refusal to be
accountable
for, or even
acknowledge
service of
legal papers
on Ban Ki-moon
about,
bringing
cholera to
Haiti, how
can the UN
effectively
push for
accountability
by anyone
else? We'll
see. Watch
this site.
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