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“Groundless” allegations could threaten aid work - UN official

Colombo newspapers make allegations against UNICEF. Amantha Perera/IRIN

“Groundless public accusations can seriously compromise our ability to carry out humanitarian and development work and are also putting the safety and security of UN staff and non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners at risk,” Neil Buhne, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sri Lanka, said in a recent statement released by the UN Inter Agency Standing Committee (ISAC) country team.

Buhne’s warning came in response to recent accusations against the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) by members of the Sri Lankan opposition, widely circulated in the local press. They include allegations that the UN agency had imported “combat rations” allegedly destined for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), that it had channelled finances to a banned organisation, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), and that its staff participated in a local protest in June 2007. On 26 November UNICEF was accused of providing the LTTE with bullet-proof vehicles.

On 22 November a member of parliament from the People’s Liberation Front, Wimal Weeravansha, asked about the intended use of a container of ready-to-eat-meals UNICEF had imported. “This kind of food is not for the consumption of civilians,” he told parliament. “Usually, this kind of food is needed for military units that engage in guerrilla warfare and that’s why these food parcels are known as ‘combat rations’.”

The UNICEF shipment was impounded the same day by Sri Lankan customs authorities.

The office of the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Colombo said in a 23 November statement that the meals were imported on behalf of 12 UN and other agencies, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UN Development Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the World Food Programme, for consumption by their staff in emergency situations.

UN to cooperate with any government investigations


Photo: Amantha Perera/IRIN
The 6 June 2007 demonstration against rising violence against aid workers. Three UNICEF staff allegedly attended the protest raising issues about staff impartiality.
“While the UN acknowledges and fully supports the right of a sovereign government to investigate credible allegations of wrongdoing, the circumstances of this action [impounding] appear to have been driven by unsupported statements in parliament earlier that day by a member of the opposition,” it added. Nonetheless, said Buhne, “The UN and its partners will follow established procedures agreed with by the government, including cooperation with investigations of any alleged misconduct.”

Regarding accusations by some Sri Lankan political parties that UNICEF was financing the TRO, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in a 23 November statement said UNICEF had agreed to make public an audit of its transactions in Sri Lanka to prove there were no ongoing dealings with the TRO. The TRO was banned this month in the USA and subsequently in Sri Lanka for acting as a front for the Tamil Tigers.

UNICEF spokesperson Gordon Weiss told IRIN UNICEF had stopped working with the TRO in early 2006. He also rejected Weeravansha’s charge that UNICEF had provided bullet-proof vehicles to the Tamil Tigers. “Only one vehicle was modified to withstand blasts and it is still being used by UNICEF,” Weiss said.

Three UN staff involved in demonstrations

On the issue of staff involvement in demonstrations, UNICEF headquarters in New York is currently considering action against three staff members from its Sri Lanka office who took part in a public protest, the UN agency’s Colombo office said. The 6 June protest had been organised by local civic groups to decry rising violence against aid workers.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry on 23 November asked UNICEF country representative Phillippe Duamelle “to take appropriate action against the staff members who participated in the demonstration, including the withdrawal of the concerned international staff and the termination of local staff.”

However, by the time the government request was conveyed, according to Weiss, a UNICEF internal inquiry into the protest incident was already under way.

Weiss told IRIN that one of the three UNICEF staff has already left the services of the UN agency, while the other two, one international and the other a Sri Lankan, are still working in UNICEF’s Colombo office.

“We take any transgression by a staff member extremely seriously,” said Weiss, adding that UN staff are barred from taking part in any activity that would compromise UNICEF’s impartiality.

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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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