|
|
|
Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 4.17 GMT |
|
HRC session on Sri Lanka ill-timed and
unwarranted – Human Rights Minister |
|
|
|
The convening of a special session of the
United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to
discuss ‘The human rights situation in Sri
Lanka” is ill-timed and unwarranted is the
view of the Sri Lanka Government.
The Minister for Disaster Management and
Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe said the
realities in Sri Lanka., where more than
250,000 civilians had been liberated from
the clutches of the most ruthless terrorist
organization in the world, and the aftermath
of the largest known hostage rescue
operation in the world, gave no cause for
any special discussion of the human rights
situation in the country.
“We feel this is a waste of time, energy and
resources that could be used more
purposefully to assist in relief measures
for the IDPs in the country, by those who
have genuine interest in their conditions,
and the situation regarding human rights in
Sri Lanka,” he added.
He was referring to the special session of
the HRC sought by 17 of its 48 members,
which is currently scheduled to be held on
May 25 in Geneva. The special session is to
be held under the rules of the HRC that
requires such a session to be held if
one-third or 16 members of the body call for
such a session.
Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe will lead the
Sri Lanka delegation at this special
session. The other members of the delegation
will be the Attorney General Mohan Peiris,
Secretary to the Ministry of DM & HR Dr.
Rajiva Wijesinghe and Sri Lanka’s Permanent
Representative to then UN in Geneva Dr.
Dayan Jayatilleka.
The countries that called for the special
session are Argentina, Chile, Mexico,
Uruguay, Republic of Korea, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Ukraine, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, United
Kingdom, Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Mauritius.
The position of Sri Lanka is very clear that
it does not believe in the need for such a
session of the HRC, which would seek to
divert attention from the more pressing need
to provide relief to the large number of
Tamil citizens who have been liberated from
the hold of the LTTE, which the US State
Department identified in 2008 as the most
ruthless terrorist organization in the
world.
Sri Lanka expects the larger number of
members of the HRC that did not sign the
call for this special session, as well as
policy and opinion in most other countries
that do not have membership in the HRC,
would be supportive of Sri Lanka’s right as
a sovereign country to eliminate terrorism
from its soil, and would also show
appreciation of the success that Sri Lanka
has made in the larger global fight against
terrorism, and through this the safeguarding
of human rights.
The members of the HRC that did not sign the
call for the special session are: Angola,
Azerbaijan, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Bolivia,
Cuba, Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon,
Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, South
Africa, Zambia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China,
India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Qatar, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia,
Philippines and the Russian Federation.
Political analysts said the signatories to
the call for this special session had a
clear Euro-centric political alignment,
which showed the electoral pressures of the
pro-LTTE Tamil populations in those
countries, and the pressures that such
countries can bring on their neighbours and
on countries coming under the direct
political and economic influence.
They were of the view that this line up of
countries, showed a clear division of the
Afro-Asian and Non-Aligned nations against
the western powers and countries under their
influence, as well as the different position
taken by the new emerging economies of Asia
and Latin America against the traditional,
and former colonial centres of power of the
West.
|
|
|
|
Contact Information: Send
mail to