The United Nations failed to protect civilians in the final months of sri Lanka’s 2009 separatist conflict, according to a U.N. interim report that on Wednesday angered Colombo, accused of “bullying” their staff.
According to the provisional internal report, a copy of which was obtained by the BBC, “many UN staff did not feel it was their responsibility to prevent civilian deaths” despite a “catastrophic” situation on the ground.
The document also states that the government’s “intimidation scheme”, including monitoring the obtaining of visas for UN personnel, has prevented the UN from protecting civilians in the conflict zone.
The conflict between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil guerrillas, who were fighting for independent territory, lasted from 1972 to May 2009 and resulted in some 100,000 deaths, according to UN estimates.
Human rights organizations estimate that 40,000 civilians have been killed in recent months by government forces. Tamil rebels have also been accused of abuses and of using civilians as human shields.
Sri Lanka on Wednesday strongly denied the allegations contained in the report, which has not been commented on by the UN at this stage.
“There was no intimidation,” agricultural plantation minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told reporters in Colombo. “Nothing like that. How can you intimidate them? They don’t let anyone be intimidated.”
Samarasinghe, also Sri Lanka’s human rights envoy to the UN Human Rights Council, declined to comment directly on the interim report, but said Colombo intended to respond to the attacks against him.
According to the minister, Colombo had good relations with humanitarian aid agencies, including UN staff, reporting regular meetings during the war.
“I chaired these discussions at the Ministry of Defence and we discussed many topics and found answers,” Samarasinghe said. “We have worked closely with the United Nations and other agencies.
According to the report, the UN withdrew from the north of the island in September 2008, after Colombo warned that it could no longer ensure the safety of humanitarian workers, allowing the military to carry out aerial bombardments that also affected civilians.
“I didn’t hear anyone say that we asked them to leave (the conflict zone),” Mr Samarasinghe said.
No comment from UN officials in Colombo was available, but the minister said the government was willing to discuss the report with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
According to the document, “the events in Sri Lanka are a serious failure for the United Nations” and the United Nations should in future “much better assume its responsibilities in terms of protection (of civilians) and humanitarian matters,” the text adds, denouncing “a failure of the system”.
There was a “reluctance (…) “institutionalized” among UN staff in Sri Lanka “to defend the rights of the people they were mandated to assist,” the report said.
The UN declined to comment on the document, telling the BBC that a final version would be published once Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had received it and read it.
