The Sri Lankan government has ordered the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Communications Chief James Elder to leave the country on or before September 21. The government cancelled his visa on September 7, but it extended it to another two weeks after he appealed. The Australia-born Elder is carrying a UN diplomatic passport. His visa is set to expire July next year, but Sri Lanka cancelled it without even giving reasons other than saying that he was acting against the State.
The blunder Elder committed was that he spoke continuously on the welfare of children. While he was condemning the LTTE, along with other UN officials demanding the LTTE release the underage children from its military wing, the Sri Lankan government was providing a red-carpet welcome to these officials. The LTTE has silenced their guns. In the midst of around 280,000 Tamils in the heavily guarded camps in Vavuniya are nearly 70,000 children, about one-fourth of the guarded population undergoing severe hardships. Children cannot think of attending school even after four months have passed since they fled the LTTE’s formerly held region in the north. It is agreed by all that Tamil children have been the worst victims in this war. The indiscriminate shelling by government forces not only killed children, it left many maimed and many have become orphans. Their educational life has been destroyed.
When UNICEF started speaking out about the children’s situation, it angered Colombo. Before fleeing the war-torn region, the children could not attend school because the government armed forces launched military operations which closed the schools for more than a year. Even after reaching government-controlled areas, children faced further restrictions. All age groups have fallen victims of the post-war scenario.
UNICEF’s duplicity exposed
When the children remained in Vanni while the LTTE controlled most of Vanni before Sri Lanka occupied the region, UNICEF and other UN agencies came out strongly against the LTTE saying that the LTTE treated the children badly and they were recruiting children for its military wing. Also, they condemned the LTTE for allegedly using humans as shields.
However, the LTTE was defeated militarily in May this year, and the government claimed that they released the Tamil civilians from the LTTE terrorism and assured that the government would show the civilians real freedom, and further said that the Tamils will breathe the fresh air out of LTTE terrorism. But, even after four months have passed since they left the LTTE’s formerly held areas, these Tamils remain in the militarized camps and are not allowed out of the barbed-wire heavily guarded camps.
Furthermore, the Sri Lankan government does not allow NGOs, INGOs, nor even UN officials to visit the camps. A recent report by Tony Birtley to Al Jazeera media revealed that Sri Lanka’s government has been accused of killing thousands of its own civilian citizens, of war crimes, rape, torture and inhuman treatment of hundreds of thousands of refugees from its war against the Tamil Tigers. The report further said that Al Jazeera conducted its own investigation into the conflict and had spoken to Tamils who have suffered and to aid workers who have remained silent until now, revealing testimonies that call into question the version of events Sri Lanka’s government wants the world to believe. This report is not a surprise to Tamils, but indeed, it could be a news story for the UN as well as to the majority of the global governments because they accepted the words of Sri Lankan government as truths, failing to recognize the double-face of Sinhala politicians who do not care about the Tamils nor the Sinhalese general public.
The Sinhalese are still experiencing the overburden of the wealthy and power-hungry politicians who want to remain in power. They will do anything to remain in power and they will spread venomous lies against other communities so they can survive in public services, saying that they need to serve the public as the situation in the country is not solved yet. But, the truth is, that UNICEF is not allowed to say a word about the children’s plight. The result of UNICEF’s concern is heavy repercussions by the State such as expelling senior UN official out of the country. However, the UNICEF headquarters in New York has taken little action against Sri Lanka which is a member state of the UN and does not obey to the Charter of the UN.
So, UNICEF’s duplicity is exposed. They had to act against the LTTE while even when they could not verify as the LTTE was recruiting children for its military wing, and they had to issue the statements to please Colombo so that they can receive a red-carpeting welcome. But now, when UNICEF speaks out for the children’s plight in the camps, Sri Lanka repeals the visa and asked the UNICEF representative to leave the country.
This is not the first time the Colombo government has shown its total disregard to UN. A number of times it has shown its disrespect to UN Charter. Even it did not allow the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to visit the displaced civilians in war zone during his visit to Sri Lanka in the last days of the war when humanitarian crisis reached peak. It was seen as a slap on the face to the UN by the Colombo government although the UN Chief appeared happy with this gesture of the Rajapaksa government. Still the UN is not taking any stern action against the Colombo, which manifests its weakness.
Sri Lanka gives clemency to no one
Even the god of Christianity, Jesus Christ, advocates for clemency and at least recommends His followers to give at least three chances for them to return to normal so that they could join the mainstream after forgetting all the past bitter events. Sri Lanka, who happens to be the real perpetrator of war crimes and responsible for the mass murders, rape, abductions, and many other forms of human rights abuses, has set itself the challenge to wipe out the Tamil race from the island.Sri Lanka has been a State with no mercy although the majority of the people are followers of Buddha who preached for peace and justice. However, things are different in Sri Lanka as many Buddhist monks encourage violence and they even wish the army generals and others with blessings whose hands are steeped in the pool of Tamil blood.
Further, the Buddhist monks are the ones who support the politicians and ignite communal violence, but the Sri Lankan judicial legislators and politicians find journalists just as guilty, as they are encouraging communal violence and supporting terrorism. The recent verdict of 20 years of jail given to T. S. Tissanayagam for writing papers exposing the truth is a classic example as how a democracy can sentence to such a hard labour punishment.
The judicial court’s verdict is a clear example of the judicial branch of the country being intervened by the legislative and executive powers. This absolutely shows that Sri Lanka is a failed State and shows that the Tamils will never get their political demands from the Sinhala majority who hold all the three branches of the powers of the country. So, the question of demanding rightful appeals will go into garbage bins, and the Tamils will have no choice but to become extinct soon if the Tamil leadership does not rise up again to save the Tamils.
The UNICEF spokesman has fallen victim to State terrorism, and now the State terrorists brand the pure heart of an Australian who possesses a UN passport. He has been kicked out of Sri Lanka by the terrorist State. UNICEF claims that they will take up the issue with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. However, there is no doubt that he will once again speak in favour of Sri Lanka rather than UNICEF. There are growing concerns about Ban Ki-moon. He has not been an effective administrator nor a charismatic leader. He will not be able to bring the Sri Lankan State to respect the new world order. Rather, Ban will increase the UN’s weakness as an organization.
As a global leader, the UN and its Secretary General should be able to protect the civilians through diplomatic path and if needed, with the support of other organs of the UN. The UN’s geo-political attitude should change; it should come out to help the people in such plights. The stories coming out of the camps in Vavuniya are pathetic. Elders and children are facing enormous hardships. Pregnant women are treated badly and given no proper meals and other prenatal care. Rather, they are torturing even the pregnant women. However, the UN funds these camps without having access to maintain silence from the camps.
Thank God to UNICEF and its spokesman Elder who spoke out about children’s hardships. But now he is expelled for nothing but highlighting the plights of the children. Sri Lanka should clarify to the world why UNICEF, which is the organization serving for the betterment of children, are expected to remain mute when the children are facing hardships?
Then, why would UNICEF need to stay on the island? Is it because Colombo wants UNICEF to take care of the Sinhalese children? So, does not the Sri Lankan government indirectly create communal violence?
But when we try to expose these truths, the government and even the judicial branch comes out strongly saying that we are creating communal violence even when we have the right of freedom to speak, write and express our opinions. If the Sri Lankan government does want to oppress the freedom of expression, then it should change its Constitution abolishing democracy and it could openly declare themselves as an Authoritarian State like Saudi Arabia or even it could call itself as a Totalitarian State like China!
Sri Lanka’s outgoing Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona who is to take up the position as Permanent Secretary of UN said Elder was leaving the country since his visa had expired and he had been granted two weeks time. He said: “This is not an expulsion but merely the standard procedure that is carried out by the immigration authorities.” He further told the BBC that Mr Elder had issued statements which were not exactly based on facts, which were not researched, which were essentially reflective of the LTTE perspective. He further added: “He was doing propaganda, in our view, in support of the LTTE.”
At least the international community and the UN should have known how the Sri Lankan successive governments would punish the defenceless Tamils. When the Sri Lankan armed forces were fighting the LTTE in the three-decade of war, Sri Lankan authorities abducted, murdered, raped and committed other forms of violence as well as arrested innocent Tamils, but shifted blame on the LTTE. The governments arrested and detained the Tamils and in force demand the Tamils put their signatures on blank paper and then the authorities fabricated stories so that their arrest and detention could be justified.
Tens of thousands of Tamils have paid a high price this way, and many thousands paid billions as ransom to get out of the jails. This is the normal practice in Sri Lanka. But the Tamils are victims. The only weapon the Sri Lankan authorities has is that if anyone who has been born into Tamil families will be taken into custody under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and charge them without truth. At least now the global governments and the UN should realize how the Sri Lankan State treats the Tamils.
On the other hand, Immigration Chief P. B. Abeykoon told the AFP news agency that he had been instructed by the government to cancel Mr. Elder’s visa. He said Mr Elder’s visa had been cancelled as of 7 September and had been ordered to leave immediately. “But the UN appealed for more time and we extended until 21 September.” He told further that this had been decided months earlier. The question is, why didn’t the government inform UNICEF earlier and now especially at the time when the children along with tens of thousands of Tamils are in the camps? This action shows merely that the government will do anything to anyone who does not respect the orders of Colombo.
UNICEF heavily criticized Colombo for such action saying that James Elder had been UNICEF’s voice advocating on behalf of those who do not have a voice - children and the most vulnerable. UNICEF’s regional chief of communications, Sarah Crowe said: “We strongly feel that James Elder should be allowed to continue to act as an impartial advocate on behalf of Sri Lanka’s women and children.”
Among others, Elder spoke about issues like malnutrition among children in the refugee camps which attracted wide attention. He also warned that the island’s impending monsoon would flood the refugee camps, and called on the government to act. Also, UNICEF and the government had been involved in a war of words over who was responsible for supplying the camps with basic facilities such as toilets and tents. The government said criticisms over lack of facilities should be levelled at the aid agencies. UNICEF said ultimate responsibility for the camps rested with the government, and claimed the UN’s support had been hindered by government restrictions on access to the camps.
UN officials said Sri Lanka’s move was reminiscent of “North Korean diplomacy” and was aimed at “paralysing UNICEF”. New Delhi’s Asian Centre for Human Rights Suhas Chakma said: “This is a clear warning to the UN agencies and all relief workers not to speak out about the situation of 300,000 Tamils who are being interned...It is worse than the way UN agencies are treated by authoritarian regimes and sets a new low. Burma treats aid workers better.”
Expelling the UN official is a direct threat posed upon other UN officials as well as aid agencies who come out strongly after the LTTE, as these agencies are trying to help the displaced population. Although the government wants the funds raised by these agencies, they do not want these agencies to help the displaced directly with the fear that they will see the real sufferings experienced by the displaced people.
So the government puts heavy restrictions to camp access so that no others could speak. Further, the government took severe restrictions on journalists and even killed and abducted journalists. Nearly a dozen Sinhala journalists have sought asylum in western countries after death threats from the government. All the media in Sri Lanka, whether it is Sinhala or Tamil, are heavily monitored by the Sri Lankan government and the editors of the newspapers are given special instructions as how to publish articles and situation reports.
Sri Lanka is a failed democratic State and the former Marxist activist who is now the president of democratic republic of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, along with his brothers and Marxists allies, turn the country either into authoritarian or totalitarian State. The pathetic thing is that the international countries and the UN have yet to realize the motives of President Rajapaksa and his allies. Tamils on the island will suffer forever. For the time being, Sri Lanka is a victor of the war, drums its chest challenging everyone that they would do anything without any fear. But, the Tamils are the victims of war and they will experience the same unless the Sri Lankan State fulfills their political demands and allows them to live freely in their homeland after pulling out the Sinhala armed forces from the traditional Tamil homeland.
By Satheesan Kumaaran
(The author can be reached at e-mail: satheesan_kumaaran@yahoo.com)