March 19, 2013
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Washington: The US is going ahead with its resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva as the Rajapaksa government has failed to fulfill its international obligations, which it promised after the fall of the LTTE, the Obama Administration said.
Without naming any one, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland, on Monday, told reporters at her daily news conference that the US is working with a lot of governments who share its concerns about the lack of progress in Sri Lanka.
“It is not a surprise to the government of Sri Lanka that we are doing this. We made clear publicly and privately that this was a response to the fact that we just didn’t see the kind of movement that was necessary.
We didn’t see promises fulfilled. So we’re being very transparent with the government of Sri Lanka and we’re expecting strong support for the resolution that we’ve put forward,” Ms Nuland said.
“I remember when the (Sri Lankan) Foreign Minister was here last year and met with (the then) Secretary (of State, Hillary) Clinton, she made clear that if we didn’t have progress, we would go forward, and that’s what we’ve done,” she said.
The Sri Lankan government needs to fulfill its promise and international obligations, she said when asked about the views of the critics of the American resolution that this would boost the morale of pro-LTTE groups in the country and the world over.
“The best thing that the government of Sri Lanka could do for its own people and to undercut the claims of these groups would be to fulfill the obligations that it made to the international community to take the process forward. So that hasn’t happened and we are taking more measures in the Human Rights Council to make clear that progress has been insufficient,” Ms Nuland said.
The US had adopted a similar resolution last year with India’s support which bound Sri Lanka to make rapid progress on reconciliation with Tamils.
Sri Lankan forces had crushed LTTE in May 2009 after nearly three decades of brutal fighting. The conflict claimed up to 1,00,000 lives, according to UN estimates, and both sides are accused of war crimes.
March 18, 2013
The HinduTamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. File photo
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Even as State-wide students’ protest continues on the issue of Sri Lanka’s human rights record, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday called for a “strong, historic and courageous stance” of India in the matter and wanted the Union government to not only support the US-sponsored resolution in the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) but also strengthen it through suitable amendments.
Emphasising that there should be, in the operative portion of the resolution, an unequivocal call for a credible, independent, international mechanism to prosecute “genocide, war crimes and war criminals” and the accused should stand trial before an international court, she said “this process should be completed within a period of six months and the outcome reported for a special discussion in the 25th session of UNHRC in 2014.”
The operative part should also insist that the OHCHR [Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights] report be implemented in its totality. Also, there should be a strong call to the Sri Lankan government to accept the establishment of an impartial, international institution to initiate credible and independent actions.
“This should include Sri Lanka providing a pragmatic political package to the Sri Lankan Tamils and restoring their equal rights of citizenship on par with the Sinhalese community,” she pointed out. Among her other suggestions was a mention in the resolution of the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts report, in addition to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report. In the portion dealing with reports of the continuing violations of human rights, the words, “serious concern and dismay” should replace “concern.”
In another paragraph, the term, “condemnation” should be included with reference to the failure of the Sri Lankan government to fulfil its public commitment including devolution of political authority.
She expressed dismay over the recent statements of the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, saying that they did not give a clear indication of India’s position. “It was disappointing that India had maintained a deafening silence when the US- sponsored draft was taken up for discussion in the ongoing UNHRC session.”
Recalling her memorandum presented to Dr. Singh in June 2011 and a resolution adopted by the Tamil Nadu Assembly in the same month on the issue of war crimes and the imposition of an economic embargo on Sri Lanka, she said that after a resolution was adopted in the 19th session of the UNHRC last year with the support of India, “the events and developments of the past year in Sri Lanka, as evidenced by the report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, are a continued and sorry saga of human rights violations against the Tamils in that country.”
Washington: The US is going ahead with its resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva as the Rajapaksa government has failed to fulfill its international obligations, which it promised after the fall of the LTTE, the Obama Administration said.
Even as State-wide students’ protest continues on the issue of Sri Lanka’s human rights record, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday called for a “strong, historic and courageous stance” of India in the matter and wanted the Union government to not only support the US-sponsored resolution in the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) but also strengthen it through suitable amendments.
