The Chief of Staff  on a hi-profile panel of experts report, Lena Sinha, investigating Sri Lanka’s mass atrocities was forced out of her job at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for criticising the UN learns Foreign Policy.

The Petrie report, named after the lead author Charles Petrie, a former UN official, documented the UN’s systemic failure to advocate for  the protection of hundreds of thousands of Tamils caught in the line of fire in the final months of the armed conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka.

The report criticised senior officials in New York as well as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) leadership team in Colombo, stating that the UN team in Sri Lanka “did not perceive the prevention of killing of civilians as their responsibility – and agency and department heads at the UNHQ were not instructing them otherwise."

Sinha received an email 2 days after the release of the Petrie report alleging that the UNDP had convened a ‘high-level crisis meeting’ and that she would ‘never work for the UNDP again,’ learned Foreign Policy.

"I was, of course, shocked by the developments following the completion of the Sri Lanka review. I tried to remain with UNDP, as it became clear that I would be unsuccessful in obtaining further regular appointments, I agreed to voluntary termination of my permanent contract with the U.N.” Sinha told reproters.