Contentious film to be aired as UNHRC rejects Lankan request

Friday, 1 March 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The UN Human Rights Council has turned down a request from Sri Lanka to stop the screening of a new documentary detailing alleged crimes of war during the final phase of the Government’s war against the LTTE inside the UN premises in Geneva.

Following the UN’s stand, ‘No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka’, directed by former Channel 4 journalist Callum Macrae, is scheduled to be screened today at the UN premises in Geneva on the sidelines of the 22nd Session of the UNHRC. The screening has been organised by the rights groups Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and FIFDH.

In a letter dated 27 February, responding to a protest lodged by Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha, on Monday (25), UNHRC President Ambassador Remigiusz A. Henczel said that such events do not reflect the official position of the Council.

In his letter, the UNHRC President also observes that NGOs in consultative status have the right to organise side events, and that “a large number of such meetings take place in the margins of the session and they do not reflect an official position of the Council.”

Ambassador Henczel added that “the organisers of side events take full responsibility for the content of their events.”

Sri Lanka protested strongly to the film being screened inside the Palais Des Nations which houses the UN in Geneva, saying it violated the UN’s own rules pertaining to the undermining of member states. Ambassador Aryasinha also met with the UNHRC President regarding the issue on Tuesday (26), the Permanent Mission said. (DB)