Imprisonment of aid workers violates international law: UN Staff Press Release 10th July 2009
UN STAFF UNION EXPRESS CONCERN AT CONTINUING DETENTION AND HARASSMENT OF STAFF IN SRI LANKA
Member States have obligations under international law to respect independence and work of UN Staff
The United Nations Staff Union and its Standing Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service regret the continuing detention and harassment of United Nations staff members in Sri Lanka.
The actions by the Sri Lankan authorities against United Nations staff members in Sri Lanka violate international instruments dealing with the privileges, immunities and independence of United Nations officials. In particular, detained stuff must not be held without charge and must be brought before a civilian court. The freedom of movement of United Nations staff to do their work must be ensured.
The recent action of Sri Lanka to detain two national staff members appears to be campaign ageist United Nations personnel, which is illegal under international law. Authorities have been arresting, without explanation, United Nations staff members, initially refusing to provide access to them by United Nations officials.
On 20 June, the United Nations Country Team in Sri Lanka said that two of its national staff members, one from UNHCR and one from the United Nations Office for Project Services, had been arrested. The staff members had been reported as missing eight days earlier, after which it emerged that they had been taken into custody. The Country Team was not aware if any charges had been laid, nor of the details of any accusations and requested details as to the basis on which the members were being held. The two men, both ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils, were working as drivers in the northern region of Vavuniya.
The Committee calls upon the Secretary General to demand the Sri Lankan Government to release all United Nations staff members held without charge, not to restrict the movements of United Nations personnel and to respect the independence of all United Nations staff, in accordance with international law.
The Staff Union also requests the authorities in Sri Lanka to provide details on the staff members’ well being and reminds the Government that it is a party to the 1994 United Nations Conventions on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel and the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
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at 14:27 on July 16th, 2009
The arrested individuals are not employees of the UN but contracted local drivers and are not members of the UN Union. Being affiliated with the UN or another INGO does not make such individuals immune to investigation/prosecution by the authorities, and such actions are certainly not illegal under any international law (the diplomatic privilege does not extend to these lower level local employees). The Tamil Tigers have a long history of using aid workers, doctors, pregnant women, priests etc as a cover to carry out their terrorist activities. Infiltrating the lower levels of an organisation such as the UN - particularly as the head of its local mission is widely suspected to be an Tamil sympathiser - is certainly not surprising considering the Tamil Tigers' track record.
There is reasonabe cause and credible evidence to arrest them along with several others under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
at 14:35 on July 16th, 2009
Even Swedish foreign minister and Canadian MP seem like "LTTE" to the Sri Lankan government. I would not blame them for fearing the local UN staff who have seen the war crimes of the government.
Why the government has the five doctors in arrest who provided invaluable service to Tamils during the last 3 months of war? They are also LTTE? I think the government is right in one sense. Until there is freedom for Tamils in Sri Lanka, there will be a "Tiger" in every human rights fighter fr the Tamils' rights.
at 15:52 on July 16th, 2009
To re-iterate, the arrested individuals were not UN staff, but external contracted drivers. There is sufficient evidence to arrest and investigate them. There have been numerous occassions in both Sri Lanka and abroad where organisations like UNHCR, ICRC etc have been abused by terrorists. As far as I know, the UN has not expressed its concern to the government.
The Swedish minister and the Canadian MP were not allowed because we do not like them. It is a privilege, not a right for anyone to visit our country, and we chose not to extend that privilege to people we don't like, and that's our prerogative. Whether or not they were LTTE is insignificant, as we don't need to explain ourselves to anyone.
The doctors (two of them don't have degrees and have been "medically trained" by the LTTE) were quite clearly Tamil Tiger members/supporters and they have admitted to the fact. Is it impossible for a Tamil doctor to be an LTTE member, or do you mean that doctors are above the law and can engage in terrorist activities without fear of prosecution? Consider the circumstances - they were in the LTTE area by consent, they were given access to satellite phones and the internet by the LTTE, and LTTE was the sole beneficiary of the anti-government statements by these doctors. Only these doctors themselves and LTTE websites like Tamilnet vouch for their honesty, impartiality and "invaluable service", which itself is damning evidence of their guilt.