A necessary catharsis
November
17, 2012
The internal report of the United Nations on its
role in Sri Lanka raises troubling questions about its strategies and actions
during critical stages of the conflict in the island nation. It unmasks yet
another failure of the world body in preventing mass civilian casualties despite
overwhelming evidence that a catastrophe was imminent. Its failure was ensured
by a determined government that assembled a formidable diplomatic and strategic
barrier around its military objectives. Sri Lanka was able to pass off its use
of disproportionate force against a cowering population caught between an
advancing army and a ruthless terrorist force that needed a civilian shield, as
a necessary measure to eliminate terrorism. In the report, Sri Lanka emerges
none the purer, as it contains cogent evidence of how Colombo worked to stave
off international scrutiny and brazenly hounded U.N. and aid agencies out of the
conflict zone so that there were no witnesses to its undoubted excesses. The
U.N.’s internal narrative reveals a weak system that did not have the stomach to
stand up for the rights of the people it was mandated to protect. The government
deliberately underestimated the population trapped in the Vanni region and
issued patently false denials about targeting no-fire zones and hospitals. It
carried on a campaign of intimidation and calumny against U.N. officials,
detained its national staff, and shelled convoys carrying essentials for the
trapped population.
The internal report of the United Nations on its
role in Sri Lanka raises troubling questions about its strategies and actions
during critical stages of the conflict in the island nation. It unmasks yet
another failure of the world body in preventing mass civilian casualties despite
overwhelming evidence that a catastrophe was imminent. Its failure was ensured
by a determined government that assembled a formidable diplomatic and strategic
barrier around its military objectives. Sri Lanka was able to pass off its use
of disproportionate force against a cowering population caught between an
advancing army and a ruthless terrorist force that needed a civilian shield, as
a necessary measure to eliminate terrorism. In the report, Sri Lanka emerges
none the purer, as it contains cogent evidence of how Colombo worked to stave
off international scrutiny and brazenly hounded U.N. and aid agencies out of the
conflict zone so that there were no witnesses to its undoubted excesses. The
U.N.’s internal narrative reveals a weak system that did not have the stomach to
stand up for the rights of the people it was mandated to protect. The government
deliberately underestimated the population trapped in the Vanni region and
issued patently false denials about targeting no-fire zones and hospitals. It
carried on a campaign of intimidation and calumny against U.N. officials,
detained its national staff, and shelled convoys carrying essentials for the
trapped population.
The emergence of the report should also occasion a sober reflection
on the most appropriate response to a worsening conflict situation. One cannot
forget that in those crucial months between late 2008 and May 2009, the
international community faced the classic dilemma of the post-9/11 world — how
long does one look away, if at all, when a democracy is fighting a “terrorist
insurgency”? Could the U.N. have been expected to be out of sync with the global
mood? To many, humanitarian aspects were clearly subordinate to the objective of
eliminating terrorism. At least two permanent Security Council members — China
and Russia — and India added heft to the Sri Lankan camp, and the diplomatic
odds were stacked against the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has promised
that the U.N. would learn from its mistakes and strengthen its responses. The
world body cannot afford to give the impression that justice and accountability
for past impunity have been forgotten. After perceived failures in Bosnia and
Rwanda, and possibly Syria, the U.N. needs to find ways of insulating itself
from the diplomatic clout of key players. Publication of its damning internal
report on Sri Lanka serves as the perfect occasion for a break with the
past.
