{"id":121899,"date":"2022-01-07T17:40:07","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T00:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121899"},"modified":"2022-01-07T17:40:07","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T00:40:07","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-25-d1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/01\/07\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-25-d1\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 25 D1"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The UN started to take an interest\nin the Eelam war from Eelam War III onwards. \nEelam War III was from `1995-2002 and Eelam War IV was 2006 -2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees\n(not to be confused with UNHRC) was in Sri Lanka in 1987, invited by the Sri\nLankan Government help with large scale repatriation of Sri Lankan refugees\nfrom India In 1990.Thereafter, UNHCR was asked to provide assistance to those\ndisplaced by the Eelam wars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNHCR became the lead agency dealing with the\nIDPs of Eelam wars II and III. UNHCR worked mostly with NGO partners and to a\nlesser degree with local government authorities. In September 1999\nUNHCR decentralized its programme .Field programmes were managed from UNHCR\noffice in Vavuniya, where most of the government, non-government and UN\nagencies also had offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 UN\ninitiated an Internal Emergency Task Force In October 1995. The task force\nincluded agencies such as WFP, FAO and WHO, which had no programmes or presence\nin the war-affected zone. Meetings were chaired by the Resident Representative\nof the UNDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 2006, UN dispatched several\nhigh ranking officers to Sri Lanka on fact finding missions. They were P.\nAlston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, ,Alan Rock who came\nas special representative  of Radhika Coomaraswamy\n,who was UN  Under secretary for children\nin armed conflict, and John Holmes, UN under secretary  for Humanitarian affairs.  It is alleged that these persons were not\nimpartial. They arrived with fixed ideas and\nproduced biased reports based on limited surveys of doubtful validity. Also,\nthey have had contact with the LTTE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media reported that\nthere is a very close friendship between Alan Rock and the LTTE front\norganizations and their agents in Canada.  \nRock had participated in LTTE festivities in Canada.  In Sri Lanka Rock had spent most of his time in\nColombo. Sri Lanka condemned Rock\u2019s report. The kind of\nevidence Rock has provided is hearsay\u201d which any court of law would refuse to\ntouch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2007, UN was discussing Sri Lanka at its\nHeadquarters in New York.  In New York,\nSri Lanka was on the agenda not just of the Policy Committee but also of the\nExecutive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs (ECHA), and an Inter-Agency Working\nGroup on Sri Lanka (IAWG-SL), said Petrie Report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007 and 2008, the UN Department of Political\nAffairs (DPA) in New York, considered various tactics in Sri Lanka, which\nincluded a political solution to the conflict, a special envoy, establishing a\nhuman rights field presence and ensuring accountability for past human rights\nabuses and violations of international humanitarian law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of these, UN \ndecided  in 2007, to focus on\nhigh-level visits by senior UNHQ officials who could present UN concerns and\nsuggestions to the government .In 2007 alone Sri Lanka was visited by  the \nUSG-Humanitarian Affairs , Head of the Office for the Coordination of\nHumanitarian Affairs,  Head of the Office\nof the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Representative of the\nSecretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons  and the Under Secretary-General -Humanitarian\nAffairs. USG-Humanitarian Affairs, conducted more visits to Sri Lanka than any\nother official, the Petrie Report  \nsaid.  However, the Government of\nSri Lanka rejected most of the proposed initiatives, including the appeal by\nthe UN for a field operation,  which meant a sort of peacekeeping\nmission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN had wanted to establish a human rights\noperation in Sri Lanka, but failed, said the Petrie Report. In 2008, Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner\nfor Human Rights, wanted to set up a UN mission to monitor human rights in Sri\nLanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nrefused to allow a field office of the OHCHR to be established in Sri Lanka.\nSri Lanka said it would be a Trojan horse. Rajiva Wijesinha had been warned\nagainst it by the South American countries. They said, once set up, the field\noffice would entrench itself, never go away, and behave like an alternative government\nsaid Rajiva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007 a\nConsultative Committee for Humanitarian Assistance (CCHA).was set up. The international community was represented in\nCCHA by the ambassadors of US, UK and EU, the humanitarian sector by the UN\nheads of agencies and the NGOs by the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CCHA was chaired\nby Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights.\nThe CCHA comprises of Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Secretary\/Ministry of Defence;\nMr. S. B. Divaratne, Commissioner General of Essential Services , Secretaries\nof the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Nation Building &\nEstate Infrastructure Development, the Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster\nRelief Services, the Ministry of Health and Nutrition; a representative from\nthe Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP); the Chairman of the\nCo-Chairs and Ambassador to the United States of America – His Excellency\nRobert O. Blake; Mr. Frederick Lyons the Resident Coordinator\/Humanitarian\nCoordinator of the UN and lastly, the  heads of UN agencies,  ECHO and the Consortium of Humanitarian\nAgencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Sub-Committees of the CCHA were set up for\nlogistics and essential services, resettlement, welfare, health, education and\nlivelihoods. These were chaired jointly by a Sri Lanka official and the head of\na UN or aid organization. Some committees worked very well such as the World Food\nProgramme which was handled by S.B.Divaratne, who was very efficient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CCHA   put\nforward a Modes of Operation, drafted by a committee, jointly chaired by head\nof ECHO, the EuAid agency and the Secretary, Ministry of Disaster management\nand Human Rights. However, the Ministry\nSecretary did not attend meetings, he sent the Additional Secretary  who , utterly at sea with regard to his western\ncounterpart,    allowed ECHO head David\nVerboom to  run the show, said Rajiva\nWijesinha . Rajiva   was Secretary-General of Peace Secretariat\nin 2007 and Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights\nin 2008. He saw what was going on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008 CCHA\nhad prepared a draft Modes of Operation agreement which Rajiva Wijesinha found\nquite patronizing and unacceptable. The draft had a clause which implied that\nLTTE and government were equal partners. Rajiva Wijesinha objected. He said it\nwas absurd to allow foreigners to sit in judgment over the GOSL   while supporting the LTTE .It was agreed\nthat the draft should be reviewed. Eventually,\nthe Modes of Operation document was allowed to lapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In New York, UN\nhad an Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).There was an\nOCHA representative in Sri Lanka.  OCHA\nhead in Sri Lanka, Zola Dowell told Rajiva   that he had \u2018won\u2019, when discussing some issue.\nThis indicated the combative mind set of this agency, observed Rajiva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Ray, Deputy Representative of OCHA,\nColombo had told Rajiva the UN had \u2018got this wrong.\u2019\nMost of the UN staff had worked in countries which did not have stable government\nand no regular provision of basic social services.  Many of the staff had come from\nAfrican countries where the government was not functioning in conflict areas\nand the UN staff made the decisions. They did not know how to negotiate\nwith a strong government, as in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN also had a\npolicy of launching a Common Humanitarian action plan (CHAP) for countries that\nneeded it.  CHAP was collaboration\nbetween UNHQ, UN field offices, UN agencies and OCHA. Every year there was a\nCommon Humanitarian action plan for Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 CHAP\ndonors were expected to give what the country wanted. But, as Rajiva noted, in this CHAP the government\nwas left out of the planning process.   \nOCHA prepared the plan together with other donor agencies and then\npresented it to the government.  We were\nexpected to rubber stamp it, said Rajiva <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Eelam war IV escalated, a Crisis Management\nGroup was established by the UN agencies in Sri Lanka. Its members were\nResident Coordinator, UNDP, the country heads of UNICEF, the UN High\nCommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN\nOffice for Project Services (UNOPS) and UN office for the Coordination of\nHumanitarian affairs, (OCHA). The group\u2019s initial focus was on the logistical\nand operational aspects of UN action in the war area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international\nagencies also set up an Inter Agency Service Committee, (IASC). IASC was a\nself-selected coalition of UN agencies and NGOs. Its objectives\nwere to monitor the condition of the displaced and inform the government and\ndiplomatic community. It\nhad no formal structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original plan\nwas that IASC should consist mainly of government officers with one\nrepresentative from a national NGO and one from international NGO. Instead, all the major international NGOs sat\non the committee and dominated the decision making. There were no government\nofficials in it. Ministry of DefEnece and the Joint Operational\nCommand also did not attend these meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IASC\nusurped the authority of government. We were expected to rubber stamp their decisions,\nsaid Rajiva. Treasury was presented with IASC decisions that they thought were\nmade by the UN. Actually they were made by the NGOs, observed Rajiva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajiva\nWijesinha found that the IASC had no status. It was not a body authorized by\nthe UN. Matters came to a head when IASC told Rajiva that they had prepared the\nCHAP for 2009.  The meeting was to be\nheld in Vavuniya. SCOPP could be present, also the Foreign Ministry   but\nother government ministries were not invited.Line ministries were ignored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the IASC\ncollapsed, the NGO group set up an informal consultation mechanism termed the\nCoffee Club which also developed policies which they then attempted to impose\non both the UN and the government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were\ntwo other UN agencies that need mention.\nThere was   <\/strong>UNOP. This was a new breed\nof UN agencies funded through project contracts. OCHA had given them a massive\nsum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka was\nalso had a UN Security Team. Rajiva Wijesinha called it a shadowy outfit. It was\nnot under the control of the UN Resident Coordinator. It was under UN Head of Security\nChris Du Toit who had been with Savimbi, in Angola.  The head of the   local Security Team, Guy Rhodes,\nRajiva thought was engaged in intelligence work.  There were others like Rhodes working to a\nwestern agenda which did not want to see the LTTE destroyed, Rajiva said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Sri Lanka UN was having\na covert relationship with LTTE, said analysts. Neil Bhune who was UN Resident\nCoordinator 2007- 2009 had worked closely with LTTE. He had held secret\nnegotiations with LTTE to get the release of some Tamil UN workers accused of\nhelping civilians. The Resident Coordinator headed the UN office in Sri Lanka,\nand reported to the Secretary-General through the UN Development Programme\n(UNDP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN\nagencies based in Sri Lanka were supporting the LTTE in the Eelam war. This fact\nwas hidden from the public, but was known to those working in the field. UNDP\nprovided funds to LTTE for its website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNHCR assistants\nin Colombo behaved haughtily and engaged in constants sniping against the government,\nsaid Rajiva Wijesinha. A couple of them were Australians with connections to\nTiger groups. Shelter Cell consultants, who were in fact UNHCR staff were\ngetting USD 11,000 per month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNICEF was expected to work in conflict areas\nthrough the government. UNICEF had no field presence in the north. Instead UNICEF\nhad direct links with LTTE. <\/strong>UNICEF gave direct 1 million, to the LTTE through\nSave the Children Fund. In     2007\nUNICEF had imported 6000 ready to eat meal packs and it was suspected that this\nwas for the LTTE. UNICEF   had contact\nwith the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization. UNICEF staffers were working with\nthe LTTE. Penny Brune, head of   UNICEF at Kilinochchi was helping the LTTE.\nShe was moved out of Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LLRC\nreport wanted the government to consider the accountability of UN and\ninternational organizations in the Eelam war. Government should scrutinize UN\nactivity in the war, LLRC said. (Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The UN started to take an interest in the Eelam war from Eelam War III onwards.  Eelam War III was from `1995-2002 and Eelam War IV was 2006 -2009 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (not to be confused with UNHRC) was in Sri Lanka in 1987, invited by the Sri Lankan Government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}