Human
Rights, the West and NGO Mercenaries: An Exchange of opinions
International rights activist refutes Sri Lankan NGO allegations of
servility
The Permanent Mission of
Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva
19th November 2007
The international activist Jean-Pierre Page who is coauthor of, War
in Yugoslavia: Preparatory Manipulations - Human Rights, Diplomacy,
the KLA, has refuted allegations leveled against him of having a 'stooge
state of mind' by Sri Lankan feminist and NGO activist Nimalka Fernando.
Their email exchange is published below.
Nimalka Fernando who is the President of the International Movement
Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), recently resigned
from the Advisory Committee to the Government of Sri Lanka on Human
Rights.
Dear Madam Nimalka,
Reading your letter, I don't know whether to laugh or to cry! I
find your tone quite pathetic! May I advise you to read my article at
least once, twice, or as many times as necessary, because obviously
you haven't read it at all or, if you had, you haven't understood a
word of it! My article has nothing to do with the situation of human
rights
in Sri Lanka, but rather with the instrumentalisation of the United
Nations by the US and its Western allies for their own strategic interests.
These are different issues!
I note that you have not responded to ANY of the arguments that
I have developed in the article. If you do not agree with my opinion
- a position that I can fully respect - or with any of the facts that
I have submitted, then you should be in a position to present counter-arguments.
Such a debate would have been of benefit to all of us.
The defense of human rights must be treated responsibly and not in a
polemical fashion that will only lead inevitably to instrumentalisation
of the victims. For my part, I refuse to take part in such an exercise!
I would have thought that you shared this point of view.
I note that it has taken you more than one whole month to react!
I wonder why?
I don't have pretensions to speak about human rights in Sri Lanka.
Again, I would plead that you read my article before jumping to conclusions!
I speak about Louise Arbour! But, perhaps, THAT is your problem! If
that is so, why don't you say so? Is it prohibited to speak of Louise
Arbour and her diabolical project? Is it a subject that is reserved
only for those you can agree with - whether or not they have visited
Sri Lanka, let alone the North and East? Is this because you are part
of the same network, share the same strategy, and benefit from the same
donors? I recommend that you carefully read the article of Lewis Wordsmyth
that appeared in newspapers internationally and was published in Sri
Lanka under the title "Louise Arbour's dangerous liaisons."
Now, on another serious matter. I challenge you to publicly prove that
the article was written out of a "stooge state of mind to the present
regime to get personal favours." What "personal favours"
are you talking about? Do you understand that this is a very grave accusation
that you are making? I am astonished that a person like you who claims
to defend human rights, freedom of expression and international solidarity,
can use arguments and language that are irrational, absurd, and even
totalitarian! I don't even know what "foreign woman" you are
talking about! Why should I be "jealous" about any "foreign
lady coming to Sri Lanka." And, in any case, I don't know what
all that has got to do with the United Nations!!!
My dear Nimalka, I seriously think that you should read and re-read
MY ARTICLE and read and re-read YOUR REPLY, to see for yourself if you
are making any sense to yourself!!!
And, then, what has all this got to do with Bernard Kouchner from
whom you say I should get "a good lesson"? Bernard Kouchner,
the man that Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), has forbidden from using
their name, is not the best reference for someone like you who claims
to be "left" or "ultra left." You also don't seem
to be aware that Kouchner is an ardent supporter of the US-led war in
Iraq, was the "gauleiter" of Kosovo actively involved in the
partition of Yugoslavia, and is now clamouring for war against Iran.
Did you know that, in exchange for a grand cheque from the "freedom
loving" transnational corporation, TOTAL, Kouchner wrote a report
saying that there were no serious human rights violations in Myanmar?
How can the Foreign Minister of the most pro-US and most pro-Israeli
President that France has ever had, become my "good" teacher?!
It is my ardent hope that when Kouchner visits Sri Lanka next January,
you will not be charmed by his well-known arrogance! The peoples of
Yugoslavia, Palestinine, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Chad, or Iran....
remember him for HIS message of HATRED and call for WAR & VIOLENCE,
rather than for any message of peace!
In the name of democracy and transparency, I will ask that your
letter and my response be published in the same newspapers and websites
in which my article appeared. Like this, everybody will have the opportunity
to appreciate the quality of your arguments and
"internationalism."
For my part, I am wary of unilateral arguments! It is hard for me
to understand how a human rights activist like you can speak of human
rights violations by the Government and the Karuna group only, and conveniently
ignore those committed by the LTTE and the support given by certain
Western powers and their NGO mercenaries. You cannot be blind to the
fact that the LTTE has physically eliminated large numbers of people
who didn't share its views, starting with the Tamil people themselves.
By being partial, you are not serving the interests of those people
that you claim to defend! Is that your way of respecting people?
Finally, your letter convinces me that the defense of human rights
is far too serious a matter to be left to amateurs, or worse, to those
who make a very good living out of it! I'm sure that I will never ever
receive an award from Human Rights Watch, but all things considered,
I think it is better that way, because I can maintain my independence.
Jean-Pierre Page
PS: I'm attaching my article "Louise Arbour's diabolical project"
published in the Daily News and The Island. on 10 October 2007, so that
you can read it again carefully.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/10/10/news27.asp
Tania Noctiummes and Jean-Pierre Page
War in Yugoslavia: Preparatory Manipulations - Human Rights, Diplomacy,
the KLA
26 (Volume 13, No. 2) Fall-Winter 1999
http://www.sdonline.org/backissues.htm
On 16/11/2007, Nimalka Fernando <imadr@slt.lk> wrote:
Dear Mr Pierre,
The article is a shocking one sided document written out of your
stooge state of mind to the present regime to get personal favours I
suppose. Like all those who are presently speaking nice things about
the UFPA government.
It is also alarming that a westerner is commenting about Sri Lanka
without even visiting North and East and having no evidence to back
your article re: human rights situation in Sri Lanka.
Can you tell me how many detainees are there presently in the various
camps in Sri Lanka for allegations without trial? Do you think this
shouls be normal in any country. It might be good for France and French
people but not good to us Sri Lankans who had fought against disappearance
from 1989 onwards.
Do you know that children are recruited by Karuna groups and are
kept in army camps supported by the Sri Lankan army?
Have you seen the tears of the mothers who have lost their children.
I am not sure what your expertise is but it is best that you refrain
from writing things you do not know much about.
Please ask your Foreign Minister about Sri Lanka. he will give you
a good lesson.
Our country has been breeding due to violence and I hope you will
speak of peace in my country and not spread hatred and violence.
You are not aware of our history in Sri Lanka. We had about 60,000
disappearances and HR activism is necessary and a must to stop the increase.
May be you are jealous about another foreign lady coming to Sri
Lanka.
N Fernando
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