NEW DELHI (AlertNet) - The United Nations' humanitarian work in Sri Lanka will not be impacted by its decision to shut one of its offices in Colombo, the U.N.'s head in the country said, as protests against the world body entered the fourth day.
Hundreds of demonstrators -- led by a cabinet minister -- have been protesting outside the U.N.'s compound in the capital, demanding that the United Nations dissolve a panel set up to examine if war crimes were committed at the end of the country's 25-year war.
Blasting President Mahinda Rajapakse's government for failing to stop protesters disrupting the work of his staff, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday recalled his top official in Sri Lanka and ordered the closure of a regional office of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) in Colombo.
"Just to be clear, there is nothing that is being closed down that affects Sri Lanka and our activities in this country," said Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne, confirming that he had been requested by Ban to return to New York for consultations for a few days.
"The UNDP has a small office here which supports policy-related work for some of its regional programmes in Asia and that small office, which has about 20 staff is being closed and relocated," he told AlertNet by phone from Colombo.
The United Nations has around 2,000 staff working in the Indian Ocean island on various humanitarian activities.
A large proportion of the organisation's work involves assisting hundreds of thousands of war-affected civilians in the north who are returning home to rebuild their lives and homes after the civil war against Tamil separatists ended in May 2009.
WAR CRIMES
There have, however, been widespread accusations, particularly from the West, that both the army and Tamil Tiger rebels put thousands of civilians in harm's way in the war's final months and rights groups are demanding an investigation into alleged atrocities committed by both sides.
Rajapaksa in turn accuses the West of applying double standards to Sri Lanka's fight to destroy a group on U.S. and EU terrorism lists. The government says Ban's new panel violates its sovereignty, because it has its own commission probing the war.
The protests are being led by the country's construction minister Wimal Weerawansa -- who is also on the second day of a hunger strike over the issue. The demonstrations began on Tuesday with protesters clashing with police who tried to escort trapped U.N. staff out until the government ordered then to stand down.
A statement issued by the U.N. Secretary-General's spokesperson on Thursday said the U.N. chief found it "unacceptable" that authorities have failed to stop the "unruly protests" and called on the Sri Lankan government to "live up to its responsibilities" to support the U.N.'s work in the country.
Buhne said despite the protests, the U.N.'s work was continuing in the capital, with most staff working from home and limited staff inside the offices.
"The U.N. is doing its best to continue its programming because we don't want to have any impact on the programmes that we do together with the government which benefit hundreds of thousands of people around the island."
"We feel it's important that the limits there are now on our work -- caused by the demonstrations which now hinder access to our main office -- be as brief as possible as they could eventually effect the efficiency of our work and affect the people we reach though it."
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