Former UN diplomat urges global attention on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 2009, 04:57 GMT]

Jan Egeland, the former UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a commentary article published in a leading newspaper in Norway on Saturday has called for world attention on forgotten conflicts where situation has deteriorated while the focal point of the world was centered on Gaza. "With catastrophic consequences to an already exhausted civilian population, the army of Sri Lanka has taken upon the guerrilla controlled areas," he writes.

Jan Egeland [Library Photo]"In Gaza, as well as in Sri Lanka, the elected governments wish to crush the resistance movements – which have used abhorrent terror – but also enjoy peoples' support. In both the places, the government forces are engaged in widespread violations on peoples rights. In both the cases one attempts keep the international media and other witnesses away. And, there ends the comparison," writes Jan Egeland, who was also a former secretary general of the Norwegian Red Cross.

"Any rocket explosion in the sand of Israel or a building in Gaza becomes international news, while the entire townships that fall after heavy and bloody fighting in Sri Lanka don't get mentioned [in the news]."

Bringing also in other conflict examples such as the crisis of Congo, West Sahara, Somalia and Burma, Mr. Egeland, who is now director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), says that the hope of the Palestinians, Israelis, and the people of Middle East was that having huge media attention would finally lead to an effective pressure on the parties that cause misery for themselves and for their neighbours and argues that also the 'forgotten conflicts' call for global attention.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28135

It happened & still happening

Since the end of the 20th Century, the nature of armed conflict in the world is dominated by internal conflicts with civilians making the majority of the casualties than inter-state warfare. The genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia, as well as crimes against humanity in Kosovo, East Timor and Darfur have demonstrated massive failures by the international community to prevent atrocities. After these failures, there was a recognized need to shift the debate to crisis prevention with “never again” determination.

All member states of UN solemnly pledged in the September 2005 General assembly, the responsibility to protect all beleaguered and threatened civilians and populations irrespective of time place and circumstance. The doctrine is officially known as the responsibility to protect (R2P). The R2P must be depoliticized and a truly shared interest for all member states and the UN.

Jan Egeland, the former UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a commentary article published in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten on Saturday has called for world attention on forgotten conflicts where situation has deteriorated while the focal point of the world was centered on Gaza. His commentary in Norwegian when translated titled as “It happened while we were preoccupied with Gaza” draws attention to the humanitarian crisis in Congo, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Burma.

...

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/it-happened-still-happening