Ban Kee Moon's visit distorted by Channel 4

The United Nations has said that UN Chief Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Sri Lanka’s northern part during the last stage of the War was not correctly portrayed in the ‘Sri Lanka’s killing filed’ film that was produced and aired by British Channel 4 news service.

Martin Nesirky, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General told media that
the Secretary-General did much more than a whistle-stop tour to one refugee camp, and that he most certainly did speak to refugees in camps in Sri Lanka. This is something that is not correctly portrayed in that film, he has added.





DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Quoted from June 21stnoon briefing by Martin Nesirky, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Question: Martin. Just now, across the street, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are screening this film, The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, that I asked you about I guess a week ago… among other things, it concludes that the Secretary-General has ignored the recommendations of his own panel to start an investigation into the war crimes that it depicts. I am wondering if, in the… since he came back… one, the Secretary-General has had any opportunity to see this video by this Channel 4, which is now widely available. And two, if he has any response to what it concludes with?

Spokesperson: Well, first of all, I have already answered this question. The notion that he has ignored the recommendations of the panel is just simply not true. As you know, he is already implementing the recommendations that deal with the internal workings of the UN at the time with safeguarding the material that was gathered during the course of the Panel of Experts’ work. And also, to ensure that there will be regular follow-up to keep an eye on the process that is under way through a national mechanism in Sri Lanka. As for the follow-up, we have repeatedly said that it requires either national consent or a mandate from an intergovernmental body. And that hasn’t changed.

Question: Has the status of this…

Spokesperson: And I’ll come back on the other, just in a second, ask your follow-up, but I wanted to continue on the nature of the film itself. But ask your follow-up question.

Question: Okay, oh sure, sure, absolutely. I just wanted to know, what is the status of his inquiry into the UN’s own actions that was announced in April? Has any actual… has that begun, has the process begun?

Spokesperson: The process of coordinating between different parts of the UN system to ensure that the kind of internal look at how events unfolded and what lessons can be learnt from that, that’s being coordinated between different agencies and different parts of the Secretariat at the moment.

Question: And in terms of looking, is it… is it… just asking yes or no, has he seen the film?

Spokesperson: I don’t think the Secretary-General has seen the film. As you well know, he has been on the move quite a bit. He has been briefed on the film; he is aware of it. And certainly, you were there yourself with the Secretary-General in Sri Lanka. I think you know well yourself that the Secretary-General did much more than a whistle-stop tour to one refugee camp, and that he most certainly did speak to refugees in camps. And I think that you were a witness to that yourself. This is something that is not correctly portrayed in that film. Okay, other questions, please? Yes, the last one.