US exit from UNHRC & US-sponsored UNHRC Resolutions against Sri Lanka

 

It is not the exit of the US from the UNHRC that should draw our attention but the cause cited for US withdrawal. If the US claims to the UNHRC to be a cesspool of political bias’ by the ‘hypocritical & self-serving’ it has only reconfirmed what Sri Lanka has been saying of the UNHRC that passed 3 questionable resolutions against Sri Lanka & co-sponsored by the former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister who was removed for this reason. If the US can walk out of the UNHRC simply because of a resolution that is not even directed at the US, then Sri Lanka has every reason to refuse to comply given that no longer is the US that drafted the 3 resolutions against Sri Lanka part of the UNHRC but that the resolutions would have been drafted by the politically biased, hypocritical & self-serving nations. Sri Lanka’s government having made the mistake of co-sponsoring a non-binding resolution & agreeing to implement recommendations that are imposing on the internal affairs of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty should also refuse to comply to implementing any of the demands set out by the US. What we see taking place inside the UN is a crass violation of the fundamentals of the UN Charter by which the OHCHR Head & the UNHRC are bound.

 

The UNHRC is a body that was a successor to the UN Commission on Human Rights (1946-2006) The Commission on Human Rights was shut down because of bias & it is no surprise that its successor is being branded the same, ironically by the very country that has been using the UN to bully smaller non-Western nations.

 

If Israel has an argument, it is that 1.5billion Muslims in the world against 13million Jews & 56 of the first 103 resolutions in the UNHRC have been criticizing Israel. If that be the case Sri Lanka has a worthy argument too – there are 14.8m Sinhalese against 76m world Tamils of which 72m live in Tamil Nadu & from where the bulk of Tamils were brought to Sri Lanka by the colonials as slave labor on colonial plantations.

 

Israel is lucky, it has the US, UK, some European countries & Australia backing it.

Sri Lanka on the other hand has had to rely on a handful of countries headed by Russia, China, Pakistan.

 

While Israel is a sovereign country, most would be perturbed as to why US ends up vetoing every resolution against Israel & it is the US administrations calling for the removal of Item 7. On the part of Israel, it too has a valid question – why did the resolution passed in 2014 (1725 words) addressing ‘human rights violations’ in Gaza not mention Hamas. Here is where Sri Lanka can empathize with Israel – none of the Resolutions against Sri Lanka has been anywhere near unbiased or fair too… need we be surprised when the Ban Ki Moon personally appointed panel calls Sri Lanka’s terrorists as ‘disciplined’ in their report which inspite of not being tabled in the UNHRC giving Sri Lanka the right of reply as a member nation, but this legally questionable Report is the basis on which the US pushed 3 resolutions all to advance its geopolitical ambitions in Asia.

 

The statements issued by western leaders & their envoys is interesting. While these countries are not only carrying forward the legacy of unaccounted colonial crimes, they are responsible for much of the mayhem taking place around the world.

 

Who manufactures arms & ammunition?

Who dropped the Atomic bomb twice even after realizing the damage caused by the first?

Who manufactures conflicts?

Who creates non-state actors & arms them?

Who uses rebel groups to create internal dissent justifying intervention in these countries claiming to liberate them?

Who uses friendly proxy states to wage terror in neighboring countries?

Who trains & arms terror groups?

Who runs the illegal arms trade/narcotics trade, opium trade?

Who has the largest military bases across the world?

Which countries have illegally invaded & occupied sovereign countries manufacturing false stories & spreading fake news?

Which countries have enforced their own created concept of R2P/militarily humanitarian intervention to land in countries & completely transform their internal systems without UN authorization?
What has the UN or the UNHRC done about all of the illegalities committed by US-UK-NATO troops in all of the countries they have illegally invaded, bombed, used drones, killed civilians & occupy?

 

And these are the very countries that issues disparaging statements against other countries accusing them of human rights violations, war crimes & what not.

It is baffling that the terrorist experts, the international academia & others are totally silent on these ‘hypocrites & self-serving’ nations.

 

In 2015, the UK had a secret deal with Saudi Arabia to ensure each others support to sit for election to the UNHRC according to leaked diplomatic cables. If this is how things function inside the halls of a supposed to be unbiased UN then do countries that have no clout like these powerful nations stand a chance at all?

 

The case of Saudi is poignant because while human rights groups are never short of accusing it of torture, suppressing women’s rights & beheadings, the US & UK are best of friends with Saudi. In fact, while the world watches in sadness the plight of the Yemenis’ on account of Saudi bombing, the UK that is one of the beacons of virtue has no issues in selling arms to Saudi & UK takes legal measures to ensure that these secret details remain hidden from public domain.

 

The UNHRC 47 rotational membership is always controlled by the bloc votes – EU Christian bloc votes & the OIC Muslim bloc votes will always tilt the bias in favor of their own political agendas. Russia & China will only balance the status quo with their veto vote. This is not a very healthy route & it is one of the reasons why many a UN member is today totally disillusioned with where the UN is going.

 

Until & unless the UN system absolves itself of bias & scheming methods by which it is acting as foot soldiers for powerful nations owing to the fact that these countries account for much of its project funding, the UN is just a puppet for powerful nations & countries cannot expect to find any fair justice.

 

In the case of Sri Lanka, it is now the onus of the government to seriously review the fact that the co-sponsoring of the resolution was done by one minister without the concurrence of the President or the Parliament or even the People & he had no right to subject the National Army to ridicule in so far as accepting that war crimes had been committed without demanding that anyone making allegations must first produce the evidence & substantiate their claims. The manner in which all of the players associated with the Resolutions inclusive of the UNHRC heads past & present have also been responsible for tarnishing the image of the UN needs to one day be investigated.

 

Sri Lanka’s government needs to immediately ask the UNHRC to review all of its resolutions on account of the statement made by the US before leaving the UNHRC.

 

If the UN/UNHRC does not take the same actions against US-UK-NATO that the UN/UNHRC adopts against other smaller countries – then it is time these non US-UK-NATO states take a call

 

 

 

Shenali D Waduge