The internal report of the United Nations on its role in Sri Lanka raises troubling questions about its strategies and actions during critical stages of the conflict in the island nation. It unmasks yet another failure of the world body in preventing mass civilian casualties despite overwhelming evidence that a catastrophe was imminent. Its failure was ensured by a determined government that assembled a formidable diplomatic and strategic barrier around its military objectives. Sri Lanka was able to pass off its use of disproportionate force against a cowering population caught between an advancing army and a ruthless terrorist force that needed a civilian shield, as a necessary measure to eliminate terrorism. In the report, Sri Lanka emerges none the purer, as it contains cogent evidence of how Colombo worked to stave off international scrutiny and brazenly hounded U.N. and aid agencies out of the conflict zone so that there were no witnesses to its undoubted excesses. The U.N.’s internal narrative reveals a weak system that did not have the stomach to stand up for the rights of the people it was mandated to protect. The government deliberately underestimated the population trapped in the Vanni region and issued patently false denials about targeting no-fire zones and hospitals. It carried on a campaign of intimidation and calumny against U.N. officials, detained its national staff, and shelled convoys carrying essentials for the trapped population.
The emergence of the report should also occasion a sober reflection on the most appropriate response to a worsening conflict situation. One cannot forget that in those crucial months between late 2008 and May 2009, the international community faced the classic dilemma of the post-9/11 world — how long does one look away, if at all, when a democracy is fighting a “terrorist insurgency”? Could the U.N. have been expected to be out of sync with the global mood? To many, humanitarian aspects were clearly subordinate to the objective of eliminating terrorism. At least two permanent Security Council members — China and Russia — and India added heft to the Sri Lankan camp, and the diplomatic odds were stacked against the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has promised that the U.N. would learn from its mistakes and strengthen its responses. The world body cannot afford to give the impression that justice and accountability for past impunity have been forgotten. After perceived failures in Bosnia and Rwanda, and possibly Syria, the U.N. needs to find ways of insulating itself from the diplomatic clout of key players. Publication of its damning internal report on Sri Lanka serves as the perfect occasion for a break with the past.
Keywords: United Naitons report, Sri Lanka ethnic situation, Sri Lankan Tamils issue, Sri Lankan camp, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
The SL govt did not acknowledge the conflict that started as a movement more than 50 yrs ago demanding equal rights to all citizens, especially the ethnic minorities. It did not usher in a culture of engagement addressing their genuine concerns that predated the armed conflict which started during the early 80s. During the so called “last stage” of the civil war between 08 and May 09, the military decimated the civilians of Vanni in the form of shelling no-fire zones, driving out UN agencies, threatening the media and trapping &depriving innocent civilians in the conflict zone of humanitarian aid. There were authentic reports of people being abducted and killed in cold blood. Ban ki Moon once remarked “..all victims of human right abuses should be able to look to the HRC as a forum and as a spring board for action.” What happened to the UNHRC’s Special Procedures that has rapporteurs to monitor and provide technical support on issues and conflicts that take place in specific countries
The comments you posted here should be forwarded to the UN's Secretary General,
the Permanent Members of the Security Council and Human Rights Council so they
can work out the feeling of the world on their functioning.
The UN was created to effect conflict resolution in areas where peace and justice are threatened due to crises in the form of external wars and internal strives. If it has to do its job in an impeccable manner the organization has to free itself from the stranglehold of some countries whose Machiavellian power politics has always been detrimental to its proper functioning resulting in genocides going unchecked or happening right under its nose. On 24th October the UN celebrated its 67th anniversary, the theme was ‘ A message of peace’. The UN should know that enduring peace can never be brought without justice. An internal report regarding its role during the last phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war denigrates the way its staff handled the situation succumbing to government’s pressure. The death and human right violations of lakhs of innocent civilians that took place were even greater than that of the state sponsored killings of Syria, or the genocides of Rwanda or Bosnia.
The worth of an agency is influence. The editorial impartially discloses
the role of UN .
Well Done The Hindu.
Your daring impeccable views on UN's inaction and GOSL's barbaric action on innocent civilians under the disguise of fighting terrorism is tantamount to a hunter wiping out the whole forest,animals and birds to hunt down "Tigers".
A time for clear introspection and redefining the role of the UN. SL
govt and its authorities should be brought under the purview of the
International Court of Justice. But that should in no way affect the rehabilitation of
the affected Tamils in SL. All political parties should stand as one in
this regard. In the same vein, Rajiv killers should be given the same
treatment that is given to the SL govt authorities
This was an attempt at ethnic cleansing by a callous regime and should not be portrayed as otherwise. The UN will be judged, at best, as failing to prevent the mass killings . The media did their part in not relaying the concerns of human rights groups at the time with the notable exceptions of Channel 4 News and The Times of England.
The permission of these war crimes only allows other countries such as Syria to justify their targeting of innocent civilians. In effect, we have given future callous regimes the green light.
The second paragraph of your editorial should be compulsory reading for the world's powers, particularly when "collateral damage" has been normalised to serve geopolitical interests. Unfortunately, the UN lacks teeth because the real power is invested in the Security Council, a patently anachronistic and self-interested entity.
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