Visit of Dr Kim Howells to
Sri Lanka
PRESS RELEASE
British High Commission
I have just completed my third visit to Sri Lanka, my
second this year. I met His Excellency the President and discussed
the role of the international community in assisting Sri Lanka resolve
its conflict.
As always the people were warm and friendly and the
country as beautiful as any I have ever visited.
But the clouds that hung over Sri Lanka during my last
visit have become darker and more threatening. The effects of the
conflict are being felt directly in Colombo - a cowardly terrorist
bomb during the rush hour on 28 May 2007 killing eight people, seven
of them civilians. And there was the repulsive abduction and murder
of two Red Cross volunteers, whose bodies were discovered on 2 June
2007.
There is no justification for this terrorism and abuse
of human rights. They highlight the very real threat the people of
Sri Lanka face. In recent weeks there has been speculation that the
British Government might lift its ban on the LTTE - allowing it to
resume fund raising and political activity in Britain. This will not
happen while the LTTE continues to use terrorism. The targeting of
civilians make the case ever more strongly that our decision to proscribe
the LTTE was totally justified. Before we change our views on this,
the LTTE must renounce violence in word and deed.
There are some that believe the only way to address
the LTTE's violence is to fight fire with fire. They are wrong. For
the last twenty-four years the front lines have moved north and south
along the A9 road, but neither side has been able to win a decisive
victory. And in any event even if the security forces were able to
win - what then? There would still need to be a political deal, otherwise
resentment will build up and there will be more violence, in twenty-five
or fifty years.
This is a lesson we learnt through bitter experience
in Northern Ireland, where violence began in 1969. While the overriding
responsibility of British Governments was, like any Government, to
stop the killing and to protect the citizens of Northern Ireland,
it became increasingly and painfully clear that there could not be
an exclusively military solution to the problem. The first Military
commander in Northern Ireland was quick to point this out. The army
could contain the terrorist campaign, but it could not address the
causes.
In fact a security led response to terrorism can end
up strengthening the terrorist. The introduction of internment without
trial in Northern Ireland in 1971 resulted in the IRA's ranks being
swelled by hundreds of new recruits. I am sure that similarly, the
reports of human rights abuses and civilian deaths are being used
by the LTTE to win arguments and raise money among Tamil populations,
including those overseas.
Human rights abuses not only play into the hands of
propagandists, they damage Sri Lanka's image overseas and make it
more difficult for the international community to give the Sri Lankan
government the political support it wants. But most importantly human
rights abuses are wrong in themselves. The Red Cross worker deaths
and the constant reports of disappearances in Colombo and Jaffna suggest
that the situation is, if anything, getting worse.
There has been some concern voiced in Sri Lanka about
international attention focussing on human rights. Some claim that
comments about human rights are interference in Sri Lanka's internal
affairs. But Human Rights are not a purely domestic matter. Both Sri
Lanka and the UK are signatories to the United Nations human rights
conventions, which means we both have an obligation to uphold the
highest standard of human rights. If either of us is perceived to
fall below those standards we can and should expect difficult questions.
I realise I have painted a bleak picture. But I do not
believe it is a hopeless one. Most moderate people in Sri Lanka, the
British and Norwegian governments and the wider international community,
want to see Sri Lanka remain as a single country which is able to
address the legitimate demands of all its ethnic groups within its
existing borders. Other countries in the region, most notably India
and Indonesia, have been able to form prosperous and united nations
out of diverse linguistic and religious groups. In order to guarantee
stability, Sri Lanka needs a sustainable political solution, one that
allows its Tamil population to feel they will be able to prosper within
a Sri Lankan state that takes pride in the identity of all of its
people.
No one pretends this will be easy. The All Party Representative
Committee provides a clear opportunity to move the debate forward
if it publishes ambitious enough proposals. The way to defeat terrorism
is not through relentless military action, but by winning the battle
of ideas and with it the support of moderate Tamils. Without some
form of political support even the most ruthless terrorist group will
have to either come to the negotiating table or become marginalised.
The UK is ready to help with the search for peace and the need for
all parties to the conflict to move away from the path of violence
and respect human rights.
Dr Kim Howells MP
Minister of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
June 12 2007
Dr Kim Howells MP , Minister of State isResponsible in the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office for: South Asia, the Middle East, and Afghanistan,
Counter Narcotics, Counter Proliferation, Counter Terrorism, UN and
UN Reform.
Dr Kim Howells was appointed Minister of State at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office in May 2005. He was previously Minister
of State at the Department for Education and Skills. He has also held
Ministerial posts at the Department for Transport, the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department for Trade and Industry.
Dr Howells was born in 1946 and is married with three
children
