On
Sri Lanka, Ban
Meets
Samarasinghe,
Not on Petrie
Report but
LLRC, Climate
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 16, updated
-- As questions
mount about
the United
Nations'
"Petrie
Report" into
the UN's own
acts and
omissions in
Sri
Lanka in
the final
stages of the
conflict in
2009,
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
schedule for
October 16
listed, at 11
am, "Hon.
Mahinda
Samarasinghe,
Minister of
Plantation
Industries and
Special
Envoy of H.E.
the President
of Sri Lanka
on Human
Rights."
Inner
City Press
went to the
photo
opportunity.
Accompanying
Samarasinghe
was, among
others, Sri
Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Palitha
Kohona. The UN
side included
Ivan
Simonovic, the
New York
representative
of High
Commissioner
on Human
Rights Navi
Pillay.
Before
the Press was
asked to
leave, Ban
Ki-moon and
Samarasinghe
agreed
that they had
not met since
last October.
Ban mentioned
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa;
Samarasinghe
said that he
is in Kuwait.
Then it
was over. Video
here.
An
hour later
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
if
the meeting
did, in fact,
relate in any
way to the
overdue Petrie
report.
No,
Nesirky said,
it was about
the Sri Lankan
government's
own Lessons
Learnt &
Reconciliation
Commission and
about climate
change.
(Samarasinghe
is, after all,
"Minister of
Plantation
Industries").
Nesirky
promised
that a
read-out would
be emailed
later to all.
He took only
one more
question from
Inner City
Press, about
Afghanistan,
and then
no follow ups.
Unresolved
is
how Petrie
could be
working on
this report --
still
unfinished,
according to
Nesirky -- and
at the same
time for a
Norway funded
project in
Myanmar.
Inner City
Press first
asked and
wrote about
this; then
when the Irrawaddy
asked Petrie
he answered
that he
supervised
three other UN
officials
-- which ones?
Were they
full time? --
and was paid
"When Actually
Employed."
This has been
noted in Sri
Lanka's Nation
on Sunday
and Daily
Mirror.
That
status does
not excuse any
conflicts of
interest, or
by its terms
waive Article
100 of the UN
Charter. It
would have
been better
for the UN to
answer
questions on
the specifics
of Petrie's
status and
team, and to
state that the
report will be
made public,
as past
similar
reports have
been. We'll
see -- watch
this site.
Update
of 5:23 pm
- After 5 pm,
that is, six
hours after
the meeting,
Ban Ki-moon's
office issued
the following
readout:
Readout
of the
Secretary-General’s
meeting with
H.E. Mr.
Mahinda
Samarasinghe,
Minister of
Plantation
Industries and
Special Envoy
of the
President of
Sri Lanka on
Human Rights
The
Secretary-General
met today with
H.E. Mr.
Mahinda
Samarasinghe,
Minister of
Plantation
Industries and
Special Envoy
of the
President of
Sri Lanka on
Human Rights.
They exchanged
views on the
post-conflict
situation in
Sri Lanka. The
Secretary-General
noted the
Government’s
latest efforts
on
accountability
as well as the
steady
progress on
resettlement
issues. He
also
emphasized the
need to find a
political
solution
without
further delay
to the
underlying
factors of the
past conflict.
They also
discussed
cooperation
between the
Government of
Sri Lanka and
the United
Nations in
related areas
and beyond,
including on
efforts to
combat climate
change.
, 
