Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Sri Lankan air force helicopters deployed in South Sudan

A fleet of 17 MI17 helicopters from Sri Lanka's air force has been deployed in South Sudan as part of the UN mission in the (UNMISS).

A total of 104 personnel are deployed in the permanent base of the Sri Lanka aviation unit in Bor, alongside the aircraft.

The UN continues to employ peacekeeping troops from Sri Lanka on its missions, despite the credible reports of mass atrocities committed by the forces during the armed conflict on the island and the reports of sexual abuse during a mission in Haiti.

A UN review recently called for a ban on countries to serve as peace keepers if their troops were involved in the sexual abuse of children.

Sri Lankan troops were expelled from Haiti for sexually abusing children in 2007, with 111 soldiers and 3 officers were repatriated back to Sri Lanka after being part of UN mission in Haiti and were accused of a string of sexual assaults, including rape of children as young as 7 years old. No prosecutions have yet taken place.

Maithri seeks to increase Sri Lankan peacekeepers (27 June 2015)

UN calls for ban on peacekeeping for countries over child sex abuse (17 June 2015)

No mercy for soldiers found guilty of abuse says French president Tamil Guardian (30 April 2015)

Sri Lankan army contingent leaves for Lebanon peacekeeping mission (09 February 2015)

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.