UN Staff Union concerned at continuing detention and harassment of staff in SL

The UN Staff Union, last Friday called on Secretary General Ban to demand the Sri Lankan Government to release all UN staff members held without charge and not to restrict the movement of UN personnel.

The United Nationa Staff Union and its standing cOmmittee on the security and independence of the international civil service regret the continuing detention and harassment of UN staff members in Sri Lanka, said its statement.
The press statement dated 10 July, further said: The action by the Sri Lankan authorities against UN staff members in Sri lanka violate international instruments dealing with the privileges, immunities and independence of UN officials. In particular, detained staff must not be held without charge and must be brought before a civilian court. The freedom of movement of UN staff to do their work must be ensured.
It said that the recent action of Sri Lanka to detain two national staff members appears to be a campaign against UN personnel, which is illegal under international law. Authorities have been arresting without explanation, UN staff members, initially refusing to provide access to them by UN officials, it added.
On 20 June, the UN's country team in Sri Lanka said that two its staff members, one from UNHCR and one from the UN Office for Project Services, had been arrested. The staff members had been reported as missing eight days earlier, after which it emerged that they had been taken into custody. The country team was not aware if any charges had been laid, nor of the details of any accusations, and requested details as to the basis on which the staff members were being held. The two men both ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils, were working as drivers in the northern region of Vavuniya.
The committee called upon the Secretary General to demand the Sri Lankan Government to release all UN staff members held without charge, not to restrict the movements of UN personnel and to respect the independence of all UN staff, in accordance with international law.
The Staff Union also requested the authorities in Sri Lanka to provide the details on staff members' well-being and reminded the government that it is a party to the 1994 UN convention on the safety of United nations and associated personnel and the 1946 convention on the privileges and immunities of the United Nations.
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press said that with even the funders of Sri Lanka's camps for Tamils now calling them prison-like places of internment, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been quoted about Sri Lanka that "I should not be responsible for that." But what about the continued detention of the UN's own staff? Two UN system employees have grabbed up by plain clothes police in unmarked vehicles and have yet to be released: Kandasamy "Saundi" Saundrarajan and N. Charles Raveendran.
According to ICP, before issuing their statement, UN Staff Union officials expressed outrage at quotes by the UN's Country Representative in Sri Lanka, UNHCR's Amim Awad, that "the UN acknowledges without reservation the right of the security services of Sri Lanka to investigate any allegations of criminal wrongdoing, including by UN staff members, and will cooperate fully to support due process."
Whatever happened to the UN's claims, for example in Sudan, that its staff members are immune, at least in the scope of their work?
In fact, the UN on Sudan was taking a contrary position, that immunity extends to national staff, Lee said.
"In New York, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said U.N. officials in Khartoum had contacted authorities about Hussein to ensure a U.N.-Sudan agreement on the status of the mission was respected 'and that basic human rights are upheld in the context of national laws governing such issues.' U.N. officials said the United Nations interpreted the agreement to mean that members of the mission were immune from judicial proceedings."
Why are the UN's positions in Sri Lanka and Sudan so different? asks ICP.