Geneva Resolution: Sting is in the Tail
Posted on March 14th, 2012
By Gomin Dayasri
Once deemed unthinkable may become inevitable if the Human Rights Council by a majority vote endorses the resolution proposed by the United States of punishing Sri Lanka for successfully eliminating terrorism comprehensively.
The danger zone of the resolution lies in the final clause, which reads: –
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Encourages the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant special procedures mandate holders to provide, and the Government of Sri Lanka to accept, advice and technical assistance on implementing the above mentioned steps, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to present a report on the provision of such assistance to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-second sessionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.
The resolution deceptively presented carries the venom neatly concealed in the phrase ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-relevant special procedures mandate holdersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Sounds innocuous until the publications issued by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights are read to ascertain its full implications.
Special procedures is the general name given to the mechanisms established by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights provides these mechanisms with personnel, policy, research and logistical support for the discharge of their mandates.
Special procedures’ mandates usually call on mandate holders to examine, monitor, advise and publicly report on human rights situations in specific countries or territories, known as country mandates. Various activities are undertaken by special procedures, including responding to individual complaints, conducting studies, providing advice on technical cooperation at the country level, and engaging in general promotional activities.
Special procedures are either an individual (called “Special Rapporteur” or “Independent Expert”) or a working group usually composed of five members (one from each region). The mandates of the special procedures are established and defined by the resolution creating them.
Most Special Procedures receive information on specific allegations of human rights violations and send communications to governments asking for clarification and thereafter investigate the validity of the allegations. Final and interim reports are submitted.
Mandate holders also make visits to investigate the situation of human rights at the national level. They often send a letter to the Government requesting to visit the country
United States is sharpening its carving knife to bludgeon Sri Lanka and bring a sovereign state under the control of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Introducing a novel technique by offeringan innovative style of intervention, the West hopes to launch an attack from a pad in Geneva enabling storm troopers in civilian attire to descend, monitor, supervise and report on varied aspects of Sri Lanka inclusive of the subjects considered by the LLRC.It reaches the same objective taking a route different from the path followed by the infantrymen that landed in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the airmen that attacked targets in Libya without making a landing.
Inherent in the resolution are matters that travel beyond implementing the proposals of the LLRC. The resolution has utilized the LLRC as a cover to justify its presence as an adventure by Samaritans to assist Sri Lanka. Ironically this is the route taken often in changing the leadership with defections from the regime itself by implicating them in war related crimes.
It will begin as a tiny wave not sufficiently strong to surf on but would soon grow into a mighty tsunami that will create seismic shifts to cause a limited regime change. Sugar coated pills offered will become poisoned darts with time.
The fate Sri Lanka suffered by the monitoring exercise carried out by the Scandinavians under the Ceasefire Agreement was minimal compared to rights conferred to the human rights missionaries under the present resolution.
March 14th, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Let SL REDUCE the DIPLOMATIC presence and TERMINATE all “cultural” and “democracy building” activities in Sri Lanka of all countries that sponsored the UNHCR initiative against Sri Lanka. These activities are only designed to undermine and destabilize Sri Lanka.
Let SL CLOSE the Embassy of NORWAY, that has UNDERMINED Sri Lanka and aided terrorism in Sri Lanka for DECADES!
If India VOTES against Sri Lanka, let us stop accepting Indian Aid for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for the North & East, and reduce Indian diplomatic presence in SL to ONLY the Indian Embassy in Colombo.
Let us also RETALIATE AGAINST the harrassment of Sinhala Sri Lankan citizens in Tamil Nadu with a PROHIBITION against visits by Indian Tamils to Sri Lanka. Let us not engage in business activities with Tamil Nadu based businesses.
ENEMIES should be TREATED as ENEMIES, and Sri Lanka should be protected from their underhand activities.
March 15th, 2012 at 12:37 am
This amount of sense shown by India is lacking in the “human-rights” protecting “democracies” of the US-UK alliance.
The latter are SHAMELESS HYPOCRITES who bomb, kill, and torture people, and overturn legitimate governments in the developing world pursuing their Neo-Colonialist agendas without blinking their eyes!
………….
Lanka issue: Soft line tied to J and K, Manipur
Prince Jebakumar
ExpressBuzz.com
March 14, 2012
CHENNAI: If India failed to support the US-backed resolution on war crimes against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council, it would be due to the fear of allegations of rights abuse in Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur being raised in the international forum by the block of countries supporting Sri Lanka, according to a highly placed source in the Union Government.
India feared that Lanka, or even Pakistan, which had its interest in J&K, could raise the issues if it supported the resolution, the PMO source told Express over phone.
“For instance, what would happen is that the issues of J&K and Manipur would be dragged in if we fail to support Lanka during such a crisis. We can’t also ignore the participation of China in the Island nation,” he said. Pressure has been building on the Centre over its stand on the issue. While major political parties in Tamil Nadu, including the AIADMK and the DMK, have been at its neck, other parties and civil society in TN have been building consensus on the issue. Soon after news about the UK-based Channel 4’s video on rights abuses during the Lankan civil war went viral, the two Dravidian parties had – a rare occasion considering their rivalry – jointly stalled proceedings in Parliament on Tuesday demanding India’s support to the resolution.
March 15th, 2012 at 8:25 am
Read the list of countries that had declared their backing to the US proposed resolution against Sri Lanka. Whether the aim of those backers are Human Rights as they say or it is something else we can easily notice it from their past acts.
Leave out the early killings by the so-called explorers and the slaughter of freedom fighters by colonial rulers during the last century, did not the US and its lapdogs, the descendants of those white colonialists invaded Iraq to dig out WMDs and Afghanistan to catch Bin Laden. Even after almost ten years, they found no WMDs in Iraq. And it took ten years to locate unarmed Bin Laden and a hit squad to kill him.
In pursuit of their targets, the US and its lapdogs must have killed at least a million young, old and sick civilians using newly invented Weapons of Mass Destruction throughout the ten years. If one add killings like the one by the GI who had gone berserk recently and those that we never heard of that figure would have easily reached twice the number that I have mentioned. Yet, no country dare submit a resolution against the US or its lapdogs at UN HRC. Why?
Leela
March 15th, 2012 at 8:49 am
We need not tell India that DK begat DMK and AIADMK, and DK had been the pioneer separatists in India. India is no fool not to konw that erstwhile Indian Tamil separatists pander Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka because they cannot even talk separatism in India.
Indian Center knows that aim of both Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil separatists and the US is to divide Sri Lanka but for different reasons. Tamils want to establish a country. The US wants military bases in the Island to watch on the Chinese shipping lanes.
India knows that the US will never have military bases in Sri Lanka while President Rajapakse is in power. They knew that the US tried their best to replace him at the last election and aftermath but failed miserably. Also, India knew verywell that Americans are trying to use them as porn.
India knows the US cares two hoots about the Indian unity. They know the US instigates them to keep Chinese away from Sri Lanka for the good of the US and not for the good of India. Indians knew that ever since Chinese started construction of Hambantota harbour, the US got its paid analysts and journalistic puppets to write on Chinese impediment to India’s security.
They wrote about Gwadar and other Chinese funded new harbours in South East Asia as a pearl of strings around Indian neck. But Indians knew from the surrounding infrastructure of those harbours that Chinese aim is not military but to refuel, and perhaps refit their vessels in them at least for the time being.
India knew Jeyalalitha, Karunanithi and co portrays the US views as right for shear political expediency. India knew its future is with the associations like BRICKS and not with the war mongers, lairs and hypocrites.
This had been my stand all alone and now I have been proved right.
Leela
March 15th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Some points to consider :
(1) Re the two Dravidian political parties from Tamil Nadu which are wanting India to act against Sri Lanka, as per Ananda – USA writes : “Soon after news about the UK-based Channel 4’s video on rights abuses during the Lankan civil war went viral, the two Dravidian parties had – a rare occasion considering their rivalry – jointly stalled proceedings in Parliament on Tuesday demanding India’s support to the resolution”.
These two Dravidian parties are a drop in the ocean of the Dravidian South India composed of states Karnataka, Andrapradesh & Kerala, plus the rest of Tamil Nadu which have NOT voted with the two Dravidian parties concerned.
Dravida is merely a language base such as Pali or Sanskrit.
(2) From Lanka Page, Mar 15, 2012: “Sri Lanka’s major Tamil party urges UNHRC to ensure the government resolves ethnic issue promptly
Mar 15 (CP) Colombo- Sri Lankas major Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has urged the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to ensure the Sri Lankan government takes immediate steps to offer a political solution to resolve the ethnic issue. The Council must ensure that the Sri Lankan government immediately takes steps to offer a political solution to the Tamil people to resolve the long-festering and deep-seated national problem and also address serious concerns about human rights and governance, TNA leader R. Sampanthan said in a lengthy statement”.
We state again that there is NO ETHNIC PROBLEM in Sri Lanka. Tamil people have a CASTE PROBLEM which stems from TAMIL NADU, NOT SRI LANKA. The ltte was formed initially to fight the Tamil caste system of Jaffna, and later spread into forming Eelam to unify the Tamil nation with trumped up charges against the then GoSLs. If another Tamil nation is formed such as Eelam, would not the CASTE PROBLEM manifest there again ?
CASTE PROBLEMS can be solved only through education and understanding, and living in a multi-ethnic society. There is no other way.
March 15th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Fran,
“These two Dravidian parties are a drop in the ocean of the Dravidian South India composed of states Karnataka, Andrapradesh & Kerala, plus the rest of Tamil Nadu which have NOT voted with the two Dravidian parties concerned.”
Not true.
Elections are held by state. ALWAYS Dravidian RACIST parties won in Tamil Nadu. Even today they get almost all the votes.
Karnataka, Andrapradesh & Kerala are not Tamil and cannot be added to Tamil Nadu elections.
This is just like SL. Tamil majority areas ALWAYS vote for Tamil RACIST political parties just like their blood relatives in Tamil Nadu.
March 15th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Stanley,
What is happening with the class action against TNA?
Looks like it is not going to happen.
March 15th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Here’s some further views on the topic :
What makes Tamil voters vote only for TNA or some racist Tamil political party ?
We think it is a ‘language thing’ with the Tamil voters, in India or Sri Lanka. The Hindu religion is the other binder, but not so much with the low caste/Dalit origin Tamils. The HIndu religion is not such a great binder with Sri Lankan Tamils. It is breaking Caste that is important to Sri Lanka Tamils. Tamil Leaders of Tamil Nadu & Sri Lanka have made the general Tamil population believe that Caste can be broken if only Eelam is achieved, i.e. vote for the TNA/other racist Tamil parties, to save the Tamils of Lanka and Tamil Nadu. The Tamil leaders have somehow gradually pasted this false idea into Tamil voters’ minds over quite a long time, from the 1930s. A Tamil Eelam in Lanka will only re-instate Caste even more solidly.
In South India, Tamil leaders’ attempts to spread the Tamil language in the other adjoining states (Andrapradesh, etc.) have failed. Some Tamil Nadu leaders have always attempted to be the ‘leaders’ of the Dravidian South Indian states to break away from rest of India, and they have always failed. In fact, there are occasional skirmishes between leaders of those areas and TN leaders over water and other issues. So, expanding into the South Indian territories on the Tamil language ticket is out.
Now, we have Sri Lanka as a left over for the same exercise. Some Tamil Nadu leaders are lonely and locked up in their caste bound state of Tamil Nadu, with no great Cause to unify Tamil people and push at boundaries.
Some Tamil leaders have found soft pushing ground only in Sri Lanka because of our Laws. Language being the only real binder, some Tamil leaders will push the language issue on Lanka as a soft and gradual take over. We suspect that the Tamil language will be pushed even more, may be through the UNHRC. Learning more Tamil for Lankans is a waste of time. It is the English language that is a world language and better for getting a job and travelling the world. It makes sense to learn English as a strong link/second language.
The word ‘Tamil’ includes LANGUAGE AND ETHNICITY, but the word “Dravidian” is ONLY A LANGUAGE ROOT. We need concern ourselves only with Tamil Nadu problems pushing us, not the rest of India. More views on the language matter welcome.
It beats me why successive Governments of Lanka have tolerated ethnic based political parties and illegal migrants. This is a lethal combination. We are asking for trouble.
March 15th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Fran,
Language or Hinduism have nothing to do with it.
MOST Tamils in SL DON’T vote for Tamil racist parties.
MOST Tamils in North-east ALWAYS vote for Tamil racist parties.
Kerala, Andra, Karnataka also have their own language and Hinduism but they don’t vote for racist parties.
This is a TAMIL mental disorder found in Tamil Nadu and “Tamil Elam” as they call it.
The solution is to colonize the north with non Tamils.
We should NOT dismantle the Tamil caste system. We need it to DIVIDE and RULE them.
May be we should arm a Tamil group to hunt down Valla-alla-la Tamils. Pitting one against the other is an easy and effective way to avoid human rights BS, BRING ATTENTION of the IC to Tamil caste discrimination and divide and rule.
“It beats me why successive Governments of Lanka have tolerated ethnic based political parties and illegal migrants. This is a lethal combination. We are asking for trouble.”
Agree.
March 15th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
A guy named Kamaraj from Tamil Nadu writing to comments in India media says “Sri Lankan Tamils” call Indian Tamils “faminine”. He asks why Tamil Nadu Tamils should have ANY sympathy for “Sri Lankan Tamils”. This is what we need.
DIVIDE AND RULE.
PIT one Tamil group against the other. Sit back and watch the Kollywood opera.
March 15th, 2012 at 3:26 pm
A correction.
A guy named Kamaraj from Tamil Nadu writing to comments in India media says “Sri Lankan Tamils” call Indian Tamils “famine”. He asks why Tamil Nadu Tamils should have ANY sympathy for “Sri Lankan Tamils”. This is what we need.
DIVIDE AND RULE.
PIT one Tamil group against the other. Sit back and watch the Kollywood opera.
March 15th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Everyone should read this,
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=news-section&page=news-section&code_title=42
March 15th, 2012 at 4:19 pm
LL,
It leads to a blank page.
Can you paste it here or at least the heading.
March 15th, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Lorenzo, stanley took few hard knocks from prominent people he met. He is new to the political scene. Please don’t discourage him. He got plenty of strengths. Please give him a little breathing space.
March 15th, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Leela,
BRICS is only a name board organisation. At most they are an economic grouping. They have not decided to act as one in matters of international pressure. Both India and China are in BRICKS but we know they have irreconcilable differences between them. It is almost impossible to bring BRICS nations into one political entity. India went against Russia and China on Syria. India is more in the lap of USA than Russia. Especially after the 2009 decision to allow and help India with its nuclear power ambitions.
India may not vote in support of the US resolution but it will implement exactly the US resolution without the stigma. Another fooling exercise like 1987. In 1987 India stopped Jayawardena from wiping out the LTTE and promised it will disarm the LTTE. After years of wasting time, India did nothing to disarm the LTTE. In fact LTTE was armed better in 1990 than in 1987. Seems to me we will fall in the same trap on the 25th anniversary of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord which is only 4 months away.
It is US-India collusion that is at play. Clinton warned Pakistan against trading with Iran and Pakistan had to give up. Apart from a few useless gutsy statements, USA is allowing India to buy Iranian oil cheap paying in rupees. Both US and India benefit.
Russia is not helping India on China (its biggest threat). Only USA does. This is the inescapable trap India is in. India will do anything for USA by fooling Lankan leaders pretending that they are helping Lanka.
March 16th, 2012 at 5:50 am
Dilrook
Agree with you that it seems futile for Lankans to think that an outside source will bail Lankan out of its present troubles, as you say, proven from past incidents.
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We think we should secure the country from within. Getting advice or other forms of help from different sources is alright once the basic structures within the country are secured. I will attempt here to put some facts together in a simple way.
Best do what is life supportive for everyone concerned, i.e. ban ethnic based (and religion based ones at a future date) political parties. Ethnic base political parties drag outside sources to interfere in Lanka matters in an inimical manner. Also, deport all illegal migrants and stop all illegal migration in future. As things stand, Lanka appears to be offering itself as a sort of sacrifice on the alter for various troubled sources all over the world, and get bullied to distraction.
There are, of course, other aspects that must be improved greatly such as writing in new Laws or removing old ones in the Constitution, particularly those imposed on Lanka by outside sources. Election processes have to improved on, with MPs having to be better educated and the number of political parties on the register reduced to about 20 (from over 100 at present). Corruption must stop at all levels. An Oath of Allegiance to Lanka a must by all citizens here.
As things are, Lanka is just only waiting for the ghastly inevitable to happen, piecemeal. Once divided or taken over, Lanka will never be the same again, nor will we able to put it together again. Change is inevitable in a lot of ways, but change for the worse should not be tolerated by any Lankan.
March 16th, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Dilrook,
Sorry, I couldn’t reply you earlier.
In my opinion BRICS is more to do with economics than politics. So, I agree with you that BRICS is not a strong political grouping. Given the Russia, India and China long common unresolved border disputes, if they expand cross border trade and stay put in friendly terms that itself is an achievement for BRIC. Most people hope together the developing countries would form a new reserve currency and challenge the dollar in time to come. I am sure there are many of us who loves to see G7 domination being challenged across the board for the good of the world community.
Other than the neo-colonialists club called ‘the International Community’, I am not sure there is another political grouping that stick together with a common agenda; often to sting others for economic benefit. For that purpose, neo-colonialists strive hard to pitch groups within groups against each other.
See what that despicable woman tried to do visiting Tamil Nadu. She went there to give an impetus to pitch India against Sri Lanka. Through LTTE terrorists backers in Tamil Nadu she gave them hope that LTTE ideals can be achieved. And Tamil Nadu separatists developed an extra vigour to put tremendous pressure on Centre to back the US resolution and vote against Sri Lanka. Yet, India had not bulged Tamil Nadu separatists for Centre knew ultimate aim of separatists.
What India had done to Sri Lanka during the JRJ regime they will never repeat ever again. We should not let India fool using Sri Lankan leaders but turn the table the other way around. Parripu drop and ram Indu-Sri Lanka accord is a lesson for both countries to learn and avoid misunderstanding and mistakes. Having said that, I seriously believe that our politicians can and should manage India for our advantage and benefit just like our kings did throughout the history: When Chola attacked us we ask Pandaya for help. When we had to fight Chera we got Chola to fight them. China is a useful factor in that.
Leela
March 16th, 2012 at 6:40 pm
Leela,
I mostly agree with you.
However, the world is divided differently. USA has priorities to attend to and they are doing it.
According to the Pentagon there are 2 parts of the world.
1. Functioning core
2. Non-Integrating gap
Please refer the map below.
http://www.cuttingedge.org/News/n1833.cfm
As you can see Pentagon (though the map is produced and drafted by an independent source), has carefully bailed India into the good group leaving all (I reiterate all) other south Asian countries. India should be very pleased with this and will do everything to remain so.
Sri Lanka falls into the non-integrating gap. All US led wars and destabilisation programs target this “non-integrating gap” so that US can “integrate” them to the US economic and political policy.
Russia and China both fall with in the functioning core where US, EU, India are. They are not the immediate priority.
All BRICS countries are within the functioning core. So BRICS does not pose any political, military or economic challenge to USA in the short to medium term.