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Thursday, September 18, 2008 - 4.33 GMT |
Sri Lanka will
look after its own,
says Secy, Disaster Management and HR
Ministry |
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Sri Lanka will look after its own, to the
best of our ability, and with the assistance
of our friends who care about our people,
including the dedicated workers of several
UN agencies, said Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha,
Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster
Management and Human Rights, responding on
behalf of Sri Lanka in the General Debate on
‘Human Rights situations that require the
Council’s attention’ on September 17, 2008.
“Given the caution of the international
NGOs, even when the government was able to
offer safe passage, it is clear that the
best assistance the international community
can offer is to persuade the LTTE to let our
people go, to the safety of government
controlled areas from where - as UNHCR
testified with regard to the Eastern
Province last year - we can ensure return
and restitution as soon as possible,” he
added.
The full text of
Prof. Wijesinha’s statement:
“ Sri Lanka is deeply touched by the concern
expressed by countries of the European Union
for the human rights situation in some
countries in Asia and Africa . We hope that,
with advances in globalization, such concern
will soon be universal. As others here have
pointed out, the moral stature this Council
should command requires consistency. Though
we know this is not easy, we hope all of us
will strive to achieve it in time.
“ Sri Lanka also appreciated understanding
of the fact that “internal conflict is a
breeding ground for violations of human
rights”. A more illuminating description
might have been that terrorism breeds such
violations, as indeed has been graphically
illustrated in so many theatres recently. In
this regard, it should be noted that
internal conflict is less corrosive when
democratic governments are mindful of the
rights of their own citizens, on whose
approval their mandates rest. Elsewhere,
where there is no such sense of
responsibility, and where “Othering” occurs,
violations as we have seen can be worse.
“The same thing applies with regard to the
work of humanitarian organizations. Much is
made of the fact that Sri Lanka had to
impose restrictions on international
organizations for their own safety. Indeed,
the pomposity of the pronouncements
regarding the international community, can
sometimes be painful. However, just
yesterday, when the government guaranteed
safe passage to NGOs to proceed to
Kilinochchi, where the LTTE had its
headquarters, they would not take the risk,
claiming – and I quote – ‘In these kind
(sic) of situations the humanitarian
agencies tend to err on the side of
caution’.
“It will not surprise our friends in this
august assembly that representatives of
national NGOs did proceed, and of course,
kept safe. The ICRC, we should note, has
been asked to continue in place, and does so
dutifully. In short, Mr. President , Sri
Lanka will look after its own, to the best
of our ability, and with the assistance of
our friends who care about our people,
including the dedicated workers of several
UN agencies.
“Given the caution of the international
NGOs, even when the government was able to
offer safe passage, it is clear that the
best assistance the international community
can offer is to persuade the LTTE to let our
people go, to the safety of government
controlled areas from where - as UNHCR
testified with regard to the Eastern
Province last year - we can ensure return
and restitution as soon as possible.
“Whilst most countries spoke with
circumspection, and as conspicuously in the
case of Japan with productive understanding,
we regret the assertion of Ireland that the
peace process has terminated. We have
explained to the Irish Foreign Ministry in
Dublin that the peace process continues, and
that terrorism should not be rewarded by
being treated as the sole arbiters of peace
when other democratically pluralistic Tamils
are keen on negotiations and a political
solution.
“With regard to the aspersions cast on Sri
Lanka by others, Mr. President, I have
responded elsewhere. Here let me reiterate
that it would help the work of this Council
if those who spoke here in the spirit of
finger pointing were required to register
the sources of the funding they enjoy that
facilitates and explains their performances.
I am not talking of Amnesty International
which, with a few aberrations, tries to
fulfill its original ideals. But
transparency in the case of more hysterical
criticism of Sri Lanka would, Mr. President,
soon make clear a situation that certainly
requires the Council’s attention.
“Organizations that have not presented
audited accounts for several years, where
the treasurer has been dead from about the
turn of the century, have every right to
raise issues, but they should also make it
clear from where they come, and where they
are heading.”
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