Sandra Beidas, the UN official who has been named as the head of the international investigation on Sri Lanka, was expelled by South Sudan for allegedly conducting an unethical probe into human rights violations in the country. 

Beidas will formally call on Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha , Sri Lanka’s envoy to the UN In Geneva before assuming duties as the senior coordinator and the head of OHCHR investigation team. 

The official. whp had worked with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), was last transferred two weeks ago to the UN Regional Service Centre in Entebbe, Uganda, pending a decision on her future status. She was given 48 hours to leave the country by South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“In the two weeks since she was expelled, the authorities have so far not provided the UN with any satisfactory evidence of serious misconduct by the staff member,” said UNHRC Chief Pillay in the press release pertaining to the expulsion. “The Government therefore appears to be in breach of its legal obligations under the UN Charter and under the 2011 Status of Forces Agreement between the Government of South Sudan and the UN concerning UNMISS.”

According to a news report in the “Sudan Tribune” Beidas’s expulsion may have been linked to a UN report published in August, which accused the South Sudan army (SPLA) of incidents of torture, rape, killings and abducting civilians during the civilian disarmament campaign in South Sudan’s Jonglei State.

At that point, Pillay said that  the authorities, when they ordered the staff member Sandra Beidas to leave the country, accused her of misinforming the international community about human rights abuses. This was “utterly unsatisfactory and unacceptable,” the UNHRC Chief said. 

Sri Lanka has not lodged any complaint so far over the appointment of Beidas, an official who has been expelled the South Sudanese authorities over wrongful conduct in office.