UNICEF Works in Sri Lanka Seriously Compromised - Neil Buhne

Colombo – Sri Lanka’s Marxist party JVP’s spokesperson Weeravansha’s charged that the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) of involving illegitimate activities such as providing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with bullet-proof vehicles and working with the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization which recently banned in Sri Lanka.

UNICEF spokesperson Gordon Weiss told news agency that, 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 LTTE.

 “Only one vehicle was modified to withstand blasts and it is still being used by UNICEF,” Weiss said.

UNICEF Staff Working Tirelessly in Sri Lanka

“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 organization (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.

UNICEF was accused by the local media as working with TRO, ‘Meals Ready to Eat’ (MRE) brought to country by the UNICEF distained for LTTE, some staff took part in the local protest against the killing of two Red Cross staff and UNICEF has provided bullet-proof vehicles.

UNICEF Spokesman Gordon Weiss said MRE for the use of United Nations staffers in the country.

 “Those packets are purely for the use of our staffers based everywhere in the country,” Weiss said.

MRE for use in an emergency situation by all UN staffers, MRE not only those based in the north and east, but also those outside the north and east during any unexpected natural or man-made disaster.

 “Even in our Colombo office we have these food packets stored for use in the event of an emergency,” he said.

Sir John Holmes, the Under Secretary for the United Nations Human Rights, few weeks back said, that Sri Lanka was among the most dangerous places for aid workers to work in the world as at least 53 aid workers were killed in Sri Lanka during last two years in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is hard bent on pressing for a military victory over the Tamil Tigers and since 1972 the conflict has left at least eighty thousands people dead. Sri Lanka has been pronounced by media rights activists and right groups as the most dangerous place in the world for journalists and aid workers to work.