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 2013-03-15
The final amended draft of the US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka, which will be presented in Geneva, indicates several of the resolutions have been ‘softened-up’ to ‘pacify’ the Government of Sri Lanka. However, the resolution also calls Sri Lanka for a ‘dedicated general debate’ at the 25th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The debate will be on the report, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) would be presenting to the Council.
The resolution encourages the Government of Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations in the OHCHR report. A discussion on ‘Promoting Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka,’ was held by the US Mission at the UN office in Geneva yesterday, before the final draft of the resolution was submitted.
Subsequently, strong terms in the resolutions such as ‘urges’ as ‘encourages,’ along with ‘noting with concern’ and ‘failure by the Sri Lankan Government’ were amended and replaced with the word ‘encourages.’ However, the resolution, in its entirety, stands by what it had urged the Government of Sri Lanka to work on. It is also learnt that countries such as Russia, China, Pakistan and Cuba had proposed to amend the resolution ‘to soften further,’ but the other delegates had said it would be ‘toothless and meaningless’ if they went ahead with further amendments. On the other hand, the EU countries and Canada wanted the resolution be amended with wordings ‘much stronger.’
The most debated issue was ‘the dedicated general debate’ (No. 4). All four countries, namely: Russia, China, Pakistan and Cuba that supported the Government of Sri Lanka, opposed the inclusion of a ‘dedicated debate.’
The resolution No. 6 requested the OHCHR, with input from relevant special procedures mandate holders as appropriate, to present an interim (deleted) oral report at the 24th session (2014) and a comprehensive report in an interactive dialogue (deleted) followed by a dedicated general debate at the 25th session (2015) of the UNHRC, on the implementation of these resolution.
The Government of Sri Lanka did not participate in the discussion, although one official from the Sri Lankan delegation was present.
It was also noted that India ‘kept silent’ while the discussion was going on.
The US, along with the co-sponsors, will submit amended final resolution today and the final resolution will have the same format and content as in the third draft.
Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, reading the final draft of the resolution told Ceylon Today, “Well, under the circumstances, it seems like the best one can expect. The most important fact is that it will come up again in 2014. There will be a report in September, the international investigation and the rest of the High Commissioner’s report noted and call for implementation of same.”
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