UN statement on former spokesman views
15 February 2010 - The Office of the UN Resident Coordinator has received queries regarding recent comments made by former UN spokesman, Gordon Weiss, in an interview with Australian Television.
These views, communicated to the media are his personal ones and do not represent those of the United Nations. The overall view of the UN on any particular situation comes from statements by the Secretary General or other senior UN figures.
A number of queries were made on Mr. Weiss’ comments on civilian casualties. The UN repeatedly and publicly said there were unacceptably high civilian casualties from the fighting in the last months of the war, as a result of the LTTE forcibly preventing people leaving and the Government’s use of heavy weapons in areas close to thousands of civilians. While we maintained internal estimates of casualties, circumstances did not permit us to independently verify them on the ground, and therefore we do not have verifiable figures of how many casualties there were.
The UN remains committed to supporting the Government of Sri Lanka in its efforts to rebuild communities and support peaceful solutions.
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Statement on arrested staff members
The UN understands that two of its national staff members have been arrested. The two employees, one from UNHCR and one from UNOPS, were reported as missing 8 days ago, after which it emerged that they had been taken into custody.
We are not aware which if any charges have been laid, and nor are we aware of the details of any accusations. The UN is in contact with the government over the matter, and has requested details as to their well-being and the basis on which they are being held. We are providing all assistance possible to the authorities in the interest of due process.
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Statement on casualty figures
The Office of the UN Resident Coordinator has received a number of queries regarding casualty figures that began circulating in the media ten days ago. The UN Under-Secretary General John Holmes has clarified since that these figures were drawn from an internal working document which is based on information that cannot be fully, reliably, and independently assessed, because of limits on access to civilians in the combat zone. Hence they have not been released publicly, and the figures cited were not circulated by this office to the diplomatic corps.
The overall view of the UN on any particular situation comes from statements by the Secretary General or other senior UN figures, who have regularly recorded their concerns about the high toll fighting over the last three months has taken on civilian lives.
The United Nations in Sri Lanka remains fully committed to supporting the Sri Lankan government to meet its responsibility to protect civilians in this conflict, and for the provision of humanitarian assistance to those displaced.
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