UNICEF faces criticism after collaborating with Rajapaksa

by Thusiyan
May 27, 2020

The United Nations Children's Fund faced criticism after it collaborated with Sri Lanka’s prime minister and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa to produce a video for children on the coronavirus earlier this month.

“Kids have big questions about COVID-19,” said UNICEF. “Watch the Hon. Prime Minister H E Mahinda Rajapaksa answer them.”

The video goes on to show Rajapaksa answering questions from children across the island.

“UNICEF cannot be that desperate to use an alleged war criminal [Rajapaksa] interacting with kids to support kids during COVID 19,” tweeted Canadian parliamentarian Gary Anandasangaree. 

“Perhaps some collaboration on finding out who is responsible for the kids who went missing under [Rajapaksa’s] watch maybe more appropriate.”

Rajapaksa was Sri Lanka’s president 11 years ago, when the military launched a massive offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians. Thousands of children were among the dead.

Amongst the crimes that took place under Rajapaksa’s tenure were the countless forcible disappearances of Tamil children, many of whom were last seen in Sri Lankan military custody with their parents.

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Official trailer for film below.

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