UN RC (Neil Buhne) and some UNCT members brief diplomatic corps in Colombo leaving out key details
Item
Title
UN RC (Neil Buhne) and some UNCT members brief diplomatic corps in Colombo leaving out key details
Description
On 9 March, the RC and some UNCT members presented an estimate of casualties to the diplomatic corps in Colombo, while allegeding a wide range of LTTE’s “human rights and international humanitarian law violations” the briefing “did not explicitly address Government responsibility for the situation or for shelling” neither did it present the “casualty sheet which showed that a large majority of the civilian casualties recorded by the UN had reportedly been caused by Government fire, but the UN did not present this data. And when describing the lack of food and medicines, the briefing did not explain that the most immediate causes for the severe shortfall had been Government obstruction to the delivery of assistance, including its artillery shelling.
(Petrie report)
(Petrie report)
Date
9 March 2009