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Saturday, March 15, 2008 - 07.54 GMT |
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US Report: Distorted view to denigrate Sri Lanka
- Foreign Minister |
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The report on Sri Lanka in the US State Department’s
2007 Country Report on Human Rights released this
week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presents
a distorted view of the actual situation in Sri
Lanka during the year 2007 and is a litany of
unsubstantiated allegations, innuendo and
vituperative exaggerations, said Foreign Minister
Rohitha Bogollagama to US Ambassador Robert Blake.
It is indeed a matter of concern that the report has
resulted in throwing a life line to the LTTE at a
time when it is struggling to maintain its position
both militarily on the ground and internationally,
the Minister said, when he summoned the US
Ambassador to the Ministry yesterday (March 14) to
register Sri Lanka’s serious concerns about this
report.
Minister Bogollagama noted that there was a
suspicious similarity between the comments made in
the US report and the views expressed by those
deliberately seeking to denigrate the Government of
Sri Lanka.
Here is the text of the
statement from the Ministry of Foreign on the
Foreign Minister’s meeting with the US Ambassador :
Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama today (14th
March 2008) called in the US Ambassador in Sri Lanka
Robert Blake to register Sri Lanka’s serious
concerns about the recently released U.S. State
Department’s 2007 Country Report on Human Rights
Practices in Sri Lanka. The report presents a
distorted view of the actual situation in Sri Lanka
during the year 2007 and is unfortunately a litany
of unsubstantiated allegations, innuendo and
vituperative exaggerations. It was noted that there
was a suspicious similarity between the comments
made in the report and the views expressed by those
deliberately seeking to denigrate the Government of
Sri Lanka. While Sri Lanka had concerns with respect
to human rights in the late 2006 and early 2007, the
government had taken a range of positive steps to
address these concerns. The Government was confident
that the situation will continue to improve. Human
rights was an important issue for the Government of
Sri Lanka (GOSL).
The Minister who said the Foreign Ministry was in
the process of preparing a detailed response on the
issues raised in the U.S. State Department Report,
went on to share Sri Lanka’s objections to the
conclusions of the State Department report.
It was noted that while there had been allegations
of increased killings and abductions in the latter
part of 2006, and the first quarter of 2007, due to
the escalation of terrorist attacks by the LTTE, the
respected international humanitarian organization,
the ICRC, which has regular access to all parts of
Sri Lanka, except the LTTE controlled areas in the
north and the east, has confirmed a distinct
downward trend in disappearances and unexplained
killings in Government controlled areas during the
second and third quarters of 2007. According to the
ICRC figures, contrary to the State Department
assertion, this decline was also evident in the
Jaffna District. Notwithstanding the access the US
State Department has had to the confidential report
shared by the ICRC with GOSL, through its Embassy in
Colombo, it is deeply regretted that the U.S. State
Department appears to have ignored the improvement
on the ground and relied on dubious sources which
also feed the LTTE propaganda machine.
It was emphasized that this improvement in the
ground situation has been achieved due to action by
GOSL, through (a) the re-issuing of Presidential
guidelines on arrests, and detention in July 2006
(b) training of security forces and police personnel
in International Humanitarian Law, with 95% of the
Army already having received such training, (c) the
setting up of an Independent Commission of Inquiry (COI),
(d) the crackdown by the police, e) the detention
and arrest of Security Forces personnel, accused of
running abduction and extortion racquets, as well
as, f) issuing of indictments against offenders in
the security forces and police. It is ironically
disappointing that none of the improvements are
properly acknowledged in the report.
It was regretted that the report also failed to
appreciate the bold step taken by GOSL as early as
in November 2006 to appoint an independent
Commission of Inquiry (COI), to investigate and
inquire into 16 incidents of serious violations of
human rights. This was followed in February 2007 by
the constitution of the International Independent
Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) to observe
proceedings in order to ensure that such work
conformed to international standards. These steps
were heralded as groundbreaking by the international
community at the time they came into operation.
Today, the COI, having undertaken field visits, has
proceeded to the stage where it is conducting public
inquiries into cases including the ACF aid worker
killings - one of the cases that has been of
considerable public interest. While keen to see the
expeditious completion of these inquiries, GOSL is
conscious of the fact that following due process is
important so that the perpetrators of crimes do not
later have legal grounds to challenge the COI
findings. When compared with other similar
investigations, the COI has moved at a commendable
pace. It is noted that the COI with its limited
resources, has become functional much more rapidly
than any of the international courts established
with much fanfare and with huge resource bases. This
process is expected to further improve once the bill
on “The Assistance and Protection to Victims of
Crime and Witness” which is being expedited as an
emergency piece of legislation is approved by
Parliament shortly.
The Government also regretted that for an official
government document, it is unfortunate that the U.S.
State Department report bases itself on newspaper
reports, speculation and hearsay.
For instance, the insinuation that the report casts
on the GOSL in connection with the disappearance of
Rev. Father Thiuruchelwam Nihal Jim Brown, the
parish priest of the church in Allaipidi, Kayts, is
inappropriate for a report of the stature of the
State Department report. Ignoring the fact that when
a torso assumed to be that of Fr. Brown was
discovered, with the assistance of Rev Thomas
Saundaranayagam, the Bishop of Jaffna, the GOSL
expeditiously sought to ascertain whether it was
indeed that of Fr. Brown or his pillion rider Mr.
Vimalathas, through DNA testing, involving the
parents of the victims. The State Department report
states, “media reports indicated that a DNA test
confirmed that the body belonged to Brown, but the
Government announced in June that according to its
DNA test it belonged to neither Brown nor Vimalathas.”
Pitting the latter determination by a trained and
highly respected medical professional, Dr.
Abeywickrama of the Molecular Medicine Unit of the
University of Kelaniya, Faculty of Medicine, against
that of an unsubstantiated media report, underlines
the tendency evident in the entirety of the U.S.
State Department report, which manifests an
eagerness to come to pre-determined conclusions, in
pursuit of an unstated goal disregarding the facts
on the ground.
Referring to comments in the Report with regard to
the list of 355 alleged disappearances submitted by
the US Ambassador, it was pointed out that it
borders on the ridiculous, given the satisfaction
expressed by the US Embassy itself on the efforts
made to trace these people. 23 of them are well and
alive. With regard to over 120, no complaints have
been made to the police. A number of persons appear
to have left the island. Investigations are
continuing.
It was pointed out that the report also faults GOSL
in that “there was also no progress made in the
investigation of the killing of E. Kausalyn,
political head of the Batticaloa-Ampara division of
the LTTE”. This is indeed cynically ironic given
that Kausalyan was a leader of a terrorist group
banned as a foreign terrorist group in the US. It is
interesting to ask whether a similar demand would be
made on the progress made in the investigations into
the killings of terrorist leaders around the world,
including by the US, in the ‘War Against Terror.’
The Minister concluded that it is indeed a matter of
concern that the report, based on hearsay, innuendo
and exaggeration has resulted in throwing a life
line to the LTTE at a time when it is struggling to
maintain its position both militarily on the ground
and internationally.
Dr. Palitha Kohona, Secretary, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and senior officials were associated with
the Minister at the meeting.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colombo 1.
14th March 2008
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