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Leaks, errors and improprieties of UN underlings

by lalith | May 7, 2009 at 05:52 am

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Leaks, errors and improprieties of UN underlings Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha Secretary General Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP)
6th April 2009

The Peace Secretariat is disturbed by a recent programme on British Channel 4 TV, which raised issues with regard to sexual violence in welfare camps. The programme is not however surprising, because we were aware that material was being prepared for leaking, as has become all too common recently with some employees of the United Nations in Sri Lanka.

We should note that such employees seem to have taken their superiors for a ride. The number of occasions on which the UN Resident Coordinator has had to apologize for accidents or leaks or fraudulent criticisms of Sri Lanka is steadily mounting.

The attached correspondence indicates that the disease is spreading. The Head of UNHCR claimed, when asked about a press release in Geneva that contained material not previously brought to government attention, that these matters had been discussed, and that there was more that he had kept confidential. It has however been pointed out, in Vavuniya to those responsible for these wild allegations, that the word of the UN as regarded confidentiality was a joke, given how often junior officials seem to have got away with irregularities. We predicted that the story of three dead bodies would soon hit the headlines, so it is not at all surprising that it did so, on British Television.

In this letter which was written by Prof. Sanjiva Wijesinghe, he highlights the leaking of wrong information by the juniors employed by UN agencies.

The UN leak is morally unsound and ethically weak. All this time, we were wondering what had happened with the Channel 4 and our doubts have been confirmed.

"The detailed response of the Deputy Head of UNHCR as to what actually had been conveyed to the Sri Lankan authorities confirms the view that senior officials of the UN are both utterly decent and easily fooled by their subordinates."

Prof. Wijesinghe further stated, " We hope the UN will now at least take disciplinary action against those members of its staff engaged in insidious assaults on the Sri Lankan government. But, given the indulgence shown thus far to improprieties, we have little doubt that this game will go on and on and on, until either terrorism is destroyed, or until it rises again with the witting or unwitting support of these angels of death."

The false propaganda machinery of the LTTE had spread its tentacles everywhere and leaves no stone unturned to achieve the goals set. It is also now becoming dirty.

At the UN offices in Colombo, there are many Sri Lankans who are employed as the junior executive and minor levels. It will be good to find out the backgrounds of these people.

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sudharaka

at 06:10 on May 7th, 2009

How many times such leaks and wrong stats can be attributed to mere oversights? This looks more and more like quite deliberate. Time oppotune for the UN to get its act together before calling "foul" at anyone, anymore.

israeli.agent

at 06:52 on May 7th, 2009

Today seems to be a day of dedicated for leaks alone.

http://www.nowpublic.com/comment/reply/2311617/359592

.Agent.

lalith

at 07:01 on May 7th, 2009

Also, it is imperative that we find out the 'leak' at the UNHCR office. Already, the top officials at UNHCR has pinned the blame on the underlings.

Blame game after exposure?

Gym (not verified)

at 09:21 on May 7th, 2009

This is why UN missions should be staffed by a better mix: in the past decade offices have become majority staffed by local nationals. This means the office is in danger of being captured by domestic political factions and the UN mission becomes the plaything of those forces. By having a truly international staff at the UN mission, you can be assured this risk will be reduced.

israeli.agent

at 17:07 on May 7th, 2009

This is true that most of the UNHCR missions are staffed by the people who suffer. The idea behind this practice is that the locals can understand the situation better, they communicate better and they can easily identify the good and bad apples.

The sad part is the terrorists understand this loophole better and push their own moles dressed up like humans to such missions. These moles can act like humans and even talk like humans.In this way the moles can interact with the forces because UN missions can't go on without the cooperation from them.In this way the mole can gain vital information about troop movement and strategies.

Since UN missions are not military operations, even if at all they find this out, they tend to ignore the mole, if it does even half of the work it is supped to do.

.Agent.