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Lanka's expulsion of UNICEF official warning to all UN agencies: ACHR | A New Delhi-based human rights watchdog has said that the expulsion of a senior UNICEF official by the Government of Sri Lanka "is a clear warning to the UN agencies and all relief workers not to speak out about the situation of 300,000 Tamils who are being interned." Suhas Chakma, Director
of the Asian Centre for Human Rights, said: "It is worse than the way UN agencies
are treated by authoritarian regimes and sets a new low. Burma treats aid workers
better." Chakma was referring to Colombo's move to give James Elder, UNICEF's
head of communications in Colombo, two weeks to leave the country after he expressed
concerns about the plight of Tamils in the government-run "welfare camps". Elder
is the first UN official to be expelled from the country. He was told that his
diplomatic status will be revoked, even though his visa does not expire until
next July. There was no response from the government yesterday, although it has
been reported that immigration authorities in Colombo had been instructed by the
government to cancel the visa. According to local newspapers, the government had
been angered by remarks made by Elder to the media about the conditions in government
camps that are home to almost 300,000 Tamils displaced after the Sri Lankan army
routed the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in May. Elder warned recently that the
island's impending monsoon would flood the refugee camps, and called on the government
to act. UNICEF and the government had been involved in a war of words over who
was responsible for supplying the camps with basic facilities such as toilets
and tents. The government said criticisms over lack of facilities should be levelled
at the aid agencies. UNICEF pointed out ultimate responsibility for the camps
rested with the government, and that the UN's support had been greatly hindered
by the government's restrictions on access to the camps. Elder, an Australian
national, was a familiar figure to those who covered the bloody end game of the
Sri Lankan civil war. He had been working in Sri Lanka for UNICEF since July last
year and had been featured on foreign television news channels as well as quoted
in international media. |
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