UN body condemns Sri Lankan airstrike on VoT

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 14:21 GMT]
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has condemned the air strike on the Voice of Tigers radio station that killed five of the station’s staff. A total of more than ten people are reported to have been killed in the attack. “I condemn the bombing of the Voice of Tigers radio station,” the Director-General declared, “regardless of the content of the broadcasts aired by the Voice of Tigers, there can be no excuse for military strikes on civilian media."

"Such action contravenes the Geneva Convention which requires the military to treat media workers as civilians."

"Killing media personnel is not going to help reconciliation and I urge the authorities to ensure respect for the basic human right of freedom of expression.”

UNESCO is the United Nations agency mandated to defend freedom of expression and press freedom.

Chronology: