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Sunday, March 15, 2009 - 04.35 GMT |
Government rejects OHCHR statement that
supports LTTE propaganda
“Dismayed by
unsubstantiated figures and comments” -
Minister |
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The Government of Sri Lanka categorically
rejects the allegations by the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem
Pillay, as they are unsubstantiated,
unverified and vague; only reflects the
propaganda of the LTTE and its agents, and
have been made without any consultation with
the Government.
Minister for Disaster Management and Human
Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe told a Media
Briefing in Colombo, Saturday 14, that the
Government was very disappointed and
dismayed at unprofessional nature of the
Press Release issued March 13, by the Office
of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR).
He sad the various allegations made by the
OHCHR including the numbers that “may” have
been killed and injured in the designated
safe zones and conflict zones were
unsubstantiated. The figures of civilians
killed and injured that “may have been”
killed and injured, 2800 and more than 7000
respectively, were not correct, had not been
unverified by the Government, and were
approximately the same as the numbers stated
by the LTTE’s propaganda arm, Tamil Net, and
put forward by LTTE’s front organizations
and persons at present lobbying on the
sidelines of the current UN Human Rights
Council sessions in Geneva.
Minister Samarasinghe said that although the
figures given were said to be those killed
and injured from January 20 this year, the
UNHCR Navanethem Pillay, who he met in
Geneva last week and on a one-on-one
discussion lasting nearly 25 minutes, had
not mentioned any of these figures nor
raised any such issues at this meeting. He
added that even if she or her office had got
these figures after that meeting, they had
not raised this very important matter with
the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Geneva, Senior
UN persons in Colombo, or with the
Government in Colombo, which was the proper
and appropriate thing to do.
He also said the Sri Lankan Armed Forces do
not target civilians, emphasizing that the
humanitarian military operation now on in
the north was to liberate the civilians from
the armed threats and hold of the LTTE.
The mention of 2,800 killed was not
professional and all too vague because there
was no mention of the names, age, sex and
other details of these so-called killed on
which a proper study could be based, knowing
well, as stated by other agencies including
the United Nations, that the LTTE was
holding civilians hostage, and there were
confirmed reports of the LTTE attacking and
killing civilians who attempted to flee its
armed control and enter the safe zones and
other government held areas, the Minister
said.
He also said that though the figure of
injured was over 7000 from January 20, 09 as
stated by the OHCHR, the ICRC had
transported 2,224 injured civilians to
Trincomalee from February 02 to March 06,
09, as well as more than 900 others who
could be minders or family members of those
injured. If there were 7,000 injured as
stated by the OHCHR, it was most unlikely
that the ICRC which had a mandate to
transport the injured, would have brought
other civilians to Trincomalee leaving the
injured behind. It appears the OHCHR is
pointing a finger at the ICRC too in this
regard, the Minister said.
Minister Samarasinghe drew attention to the
failure of the High Commissioner Navanethem
Pillay in making no mention whatever of the
crux of the issue in the current conflict n
Sri Lanka, which was the holding of
civilians as hostage by the LTTE. This had
been noted and condemned by many
international bodies such as UNICEF, the UN
High Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs,
the European Union and the UN Secretary
General, too. However, the OHCHR preferred
to remain silent on this matter.
He said the unsubstantiated statements by
the OHCHR, by the publicity it had obtained,
appeared to be aimed at slinging mud and
tarnishing the image of Sri Lanka, its
Government and armed forces and assist in
the propaganda of the LTTE, which is now on
the verge of defeat, giving the promise of
freedom for the civilians held and
threatened by it.
He added that as much as OHCHR has the right
to listen to the subjective views and
positions of other parties, it also had a
duty to discuss these matters with the Sri
Lanka Ambassador in Geneva who is also
accredited to the UN. To issue statements
without such discussion can only make them
one sided and their contents questionable.
However, he said, the Government of Sri
Lanka was willing to continue dialogue with
the OHCHR on these matters, and hoped that
in the future the proper procedures would be
followed before issuing such unsubstantiated
statements that lacked in balance with
regard to the truth and actuality.
The Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Dr. Palitha Kohona, said a senior officer of
the United Nations of the rank of High
Commissioner for Human Rights was expected
to consult the relevant government before
issuing such statements. The High
Commissioner had not consulted the Sri Lanka
Embassy in Geneva, the Minister in charge of
Human Rights in Sri Lanka or any relevant
government official in making this
unilateral statement, and such action was
highly regrettable.
He said the UN Secretary General had sent a
high official – the UN High Commissioner for
Humanitarian Affairs, at the invitation of
the President, to study the situation here
and report to him and the Security Council.
The United Nations was not established to
find fault with or castigate member states
but for the purpose of engagement on
resolving issues, he said. Stating that both
the allegations made and the figures stated
were not substantiated, he expressed the
hope that High Commissioner Navanethem
Pillay would give Sri Lanka the opportunity
to clarify the matters stated without any
substantiation, and present the actual
situation to the OHCHR, the UN and the
world.
With regard to the references in the OHCHR
statement to the military targeting
civilians in the safe zones, Dr. Kohona said
that the previous evening the US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, in a telephone
conversation with President Mahinda
Rajapaksa, had appreciated the assurance
given by the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary
that civilians would not be subject to
attack in any form by the security forces.
The statement by the High Commissioner by
using figures approximating those of Tami
Net, other LTTE front organizations, and of
late by the International Crisis Group (ICG)
was playing right into the hands of the LTTE
propagandists seeking a ceasefire for the
LTTE to regroup, recover and resume the
terrorist war against Sri Lanka, and could
be seen as an effort to breathe life to the
dying terrorist tigers, he said,
Referring to comments about international
crimes stated in the OHCHR Press Release,
Dr. Rohan Perera, Legal Consultant to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said any
alleged acts should cross a certain
threshold to be considered as international
crimes, which required that that acts
referred to should be widespread,
systematic, and form part of a systematic
plan or strategy, none of which was found in
the situation in Sri Lanka, adding to the
subjectivity of the statements by the OHCHR.
Answering a question from the media whether
here were suspicions of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem
Pillay, having connections or being
influenced by the LTTE, Dr. Palitha Kohona
said the government did not have any such
suspicions and neither did it believe this
to be the case, but was concerned at the
figures and allegations made by the Office
of the High Commissioner being so close to
what was said by the LTTE and its agents.
Minister Samarasinghe also said the
Government did not have any suspicions or
reservations about the High Commissioner
having links to the LTTE, and this was
confirmed by the government’s readiness to
continue dialogue with her on matters
relating to Human Rights in Sri Lanka, and
the current developments in particular.
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