{"id":112082,"date":"2021-02-26T00:35:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T06:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=112082"},"modified":"2021-02-25T17:32:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T00:32:23","slug":"unhrc-resolution-what-is-the-real-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/02\/26\/unhrc-resolution-what-is-the-real-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"UNHRC Resolution; What is the real agenda?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

US Secretary of State\nAntony J. Blinken today encouraged the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to\nsupport the resolution on Sri Lanka stating that the \u2018lack of accountability\nfor past atrocities in Sri Lanka<\/em> \u2013 Daily\nMirror Sri Lanka\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nUS Secretary of State seems to give an indication as to what the real agenda\nbehind his and his country\u2019s support for this resolution. He speaks of lack of\naccountability for past atrocities\u201d. This statement implies that atrocities\nwere committed if there is to be accountability for them. This leads to the\nquestion, who committed such alleged atrocities? There were two players in the\nbattle against the LTTE. The Sri Lankan Armed Forces and the LTTE. One or both\nmay have committed atrocities. The Sri Lankan government exists to respond to\nany allegations on atrocities. The LTTE does not exist although the atrocities\nthey committed were many and well documented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwould have been useful if Mr Blinken amplified how this resolution will address\nthe accountability issue as far as the LTTE is concerned as there is no one\nfrom the LTTE who could or would respond to lack of accountability on their\npart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LTTE\natrocities have been documented, and video footage shown on many world stages.\nWhile many very ordinary Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese were killed by them,\nthey also killed two Heads of State, several cabinet ministers and leading\npoliticians in Sri Lanka, and of course Tamil politicians as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is\nMr Blinken saying that since there is no one from the LTTE today who would\nacknowledge their atrocities or could be held responsible, the UNHRC should\nconcern itself only with the Sri Lankan government and pursue action against\nthem? Mr Blinken should know that Sri Lankans would not stand for this and if\nthe US or any other ally of it thinks they could subjugate the country by\nstealth and overlook the vile deeds of a ruthless terrorist organisation, they\ncould think twice about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior\nto looking for answers to the rhetorical question what is the real agenda?\u201d,\nit may be worthwhile to pose a counter rhetorical question and look for answers\nto that. This question is about the geographic location of Sri Lanka. If the\ncountry was not where it is now and thousands of kilo meters away and lost to\nthe world in some corner of an ocean, without China having any interest in the\ncountry, would the UNHRC or the Core Group or the US have had any interest in Sri\nLanka? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would\nthese concerned\u201d core group countries or the country and its allies suspected\nopenly by many as the driving force behind these resolutions, shown any\ninterest in human rights in Sri Lanka?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers\nare left to ponder and find an answer to this question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis reported and believed by some to an extent that the Tamil Eelam lobby groups\nin the US and in the countries who have allied with the US in targeting Sri\nLanka, that these countries are raising this issue at the UNHRC and other\nforums because of the pressure exerted by these lobby groups. The following extract\nof a communication sent to the writer by a leading Tamil activist who wished to\nremain unnamed at this stage, stated what might be the reality in regard to the\npower and influence of these lobby groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nsource stated there was much disgust amongst many Tamils, both within and outside\nSri Lanka and wishing that the writer would highlight this in an article. The\nmessage is quoted in full, quote the Tamil Eelam lobby have the\nmisguided idea that they are a powerful lobby group. If not for China showing\nan interest in the country, and making the US and India angry, they would have\ngone down like a lead balloon. They would have then worked with the Sri Lanka\ngovernment to address issues faced by Tamil people in a spirit of cooperation\nwith all others in Sri Lanka. This lobby has been holding a candle for the most\nhorrible terrorist organisation in the world and never once condemning their\natrocities. So many Tamil people were killed by them, not only Sinhala and\nMuslim people. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are funding the setting up of a separate state in Sri\nLanka and providing funds to Tamils in Sri Lanka to keep separatism alive and\npreventing the Tamil people and Sinhala and Muslim people in the country to\nfind solutions to outstanding issues. If the Tamil people in Sri Lanka are to\nfind their real enemy, it is this Eelam lobby and their supporters in Sri\nLanka, who are their real enemies and preventing reconciliation amongst the\npeople in the country. Please let Sinhala people know that a majority of Tamils\nwant to live in peace with them\u201d<\/em><\/strong> unquote.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nmuch for these lobby groups who obviously are profiting by preventing the Tamil\npeople living in Sri Lanka working together with all other communities to\naddress any lingering issues that have and are affecting them. Their agents in\nSri Lanka seem to be carrying out the dictates of these well-funded lobby\ngroups. Money does talk. One is reminded on an age old saying that a beggar\nnever wishes his or her wounds to heal for fear of not being able to beg and\nearn money. Keeping the Tamil Eelam issue alive seems to fall into this\ncategory of activism as these lobby groups would have to wind up and give up\ntheir privileged life style if the issue is addressed and resolved by the\npeople of Sri Lanka and their funding sources dry up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving\naside these lobby group, Sri Lanka is indeed in a vortex, with its proximity to\nIndia, its close links to China and the machinations of the US twirling it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconundrum that makes the vortex that Sri Lanka is in even more complex and\ndestabilising, is India, just 20 kilo meters away, and the US, with the threat\nto their strategic interests by the super power in waiting, China, an ardent\nenemy of both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLankans may be poor and they are not perfect like the rest of the world. It\u2019s\npossible that some human rights issues may have occurred in the heat of the\nfinal battle against the LTTE. However, Sri Lankans are not fools. They can see\nthrough this mirage of human rights violations advanced continuously by the US\nand its allies. Sri Lankans know that they have weaknesses and they know these\nhave to be addressed by themselves and not by others whose own record on human\nrights is appalling to say the least.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwould have been interesting if a resolution was moved to investigate human\nrights violations in the US based on the revelations documented in the latest\nHuman Rights Watch report. Unfortunately, no country would do that as its\nallies, in self-preservation, will not do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara\nKunanayakam, a\nwell-respected Sri Lankan diplomat and former Permanent Representative of Sri\nLanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva and who has an in depth knowledge\nof the inner workings of the UN system in the back of her hand states that quote\nthe countries in the Non Aligned Movement and in the Global South have\na principled position against targeting a country, or naming and shaming\u201d,\nwhich is a weapon in the arsenal of the US and its allies, when they want to\nachieve their strategic objectives elsewhere. She says further that to fulfil\nthe Charter responsibility to promote and encourage respect for human rights in\nall countries, the UNHRC has a mechanism called the universal periodic review\n(UPR) where all countries are duty bound to submit a report on promotion and\nprotection of human rights in their own countries and where questions can be\nraised by others and a list of recommendations made by all parties. The State\nunder review then has the opportunity to select the recommendations that it can\nimplement and makes a voluntary commitment to do so. It is a cooperative not\nconfrontational mechanism within which all states are treated equally, in\nconformity with the inalienable Charter principle of sovereign equality.  It is in the interest of the NAM\/Global South\nthat that principle is respected. It is the US and its allies that sees it as\nTHE major obstacle to its global hegemony. The UN Charter based on multilateral\norder is founded on the principle of sovereign equality of States, big or small,\nrich or poor, powerful or weak. It is the guarantor of our sovereignty. \nIt is that order that the US wants to dismantle as an obstacle to its own\nambition to a world order under its hegemony\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lankans\nof all hues. Tamils, Muslims, Sinhalese and others should echo Ms Kunanayakam\u2019\ns assertion that it is our responsibility to strengthen the United Nations not\nweaken it, and actively join with the Non Aligned Movement and the Global South\nto prevent it from being instrumentalised by the US and its allies. It is\ncommon sense that India cannot be trusted to side with Sri Lanka on this issue.\nIf the government thinks they could be trusted, and if they do support Sri\nLanka, it would be very important for all Sri Lankans to know the price that\nwould have had to be paid to elicit India\u2019s support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No doubt it\nwould be hefty price. It would be far better tactically and strategically for\nSri Lanka to follow the path so well-articulated by Tamara Kunanayakam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US and\nIndia should know that the action of the Core Group and their supporters will\nonly draw Sri Lanka even closer to China, and if they thought they were Sri\nLanka\u2019s friends who were only concerned in helping the country, Sri Lanka may\nwell ask why it needs enemies when they have friends\u201d like the US and its\nallies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndisturbing development that might be in the offing is that the Sri Lankan\nGovernment is ready to compromise with the US-UK led sponsors and accept a\nconsensus resolution. As Ms Kunanayakam clearly explains, the compromise will\nbe Sri Lanka\u2019s sovereignty, because the resolution will be based on the\nBachelet Report and resolution 30\/1, both of which were rejected by the same\nGovernment, as threatening Sri Lanka\u2019s sovereignty and national security. The\nreport is based on the R2P (Right to Protect populations) doctrine that allows\narmed intervention, rejected by the General Assembly in 2009, as incompatible\nwith the UN Charter and international law. If Sri Lanka goes ahead with\nnegotiations for a compromise, they will be playing a two faced Jekyll and Hyde\nact and endangering alliances like NAM and Global South. Countries in these\nalliances will not trust Sri Lanka thereafter and we will be dictated to by a\nUS led alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nconsensus resolution, once arrived at, will be a compromise agreed with the\nvery countries who are out to break Sri Lanka\u2019s alliances with the NAM and\nGlobal South, and it will be a precedent-setting resolution legitimising R2P.\nThe implications for Sri Lanka will be worse than in 2015, because, unlike\n2015, it will be argued there was a national consensus with no internal\nopposition to the resolution from a moribund Opposition, plus the 2\/3 majority.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since\nthe US agenda is to bring SL within the ambit of QUAD (a group of countries comprising Japan, India, Australia and the United States) and\naway from China as well as friendly nations in NAM and the Global South, it is\nlikely that a consensus resolution will be followed by imposition of the\noutstanding US defence agreements – SOFA and MCC by another name, completing\nthe US defence triptych with ACSA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLankans have short memories and they seem to have forgotten what consensus\nresolutions result in. In 1987, not even 3 months after Sri Lanka agreed to a\nconsensus resolution in Geneva, ndian Air Force planes and fighter jets\nviolated the country\u2019s airspace with food drops to the Jaffna peninsula, and 2\nmonths afterwards the Indo-Lanka accord was imposed on us, along with the 13th\nAmendment. Similarly, ACSA and the Disappearance Act allowing for extradition\nof Sri Lankan citizens for trial in foreign courts were imposed post 2015\nconsensus, along with intervention in key ministries and PM\u2019s office, etc. MCC\nwas not signed because of resistance from several quarters although the Cabinet\nat the time approved its signing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Ms\nKunanayakam says Sri Lanka has to work with countries in the NAM and Global\nSouth who are in the UNHRC, in order to defeat this latest resolution and\nensure that the UNHRC complies in Ms Kunanayakam\u2019 s words, with the principle\nof a cooperative, and not confrontational mechanism within which all states are\ntreated equally, in conformity with the inalienable Charter principle of\nsovereign equality\u201d. In order to defeat the resolution, and for Sri Lanka not\nto compromise its sovereignty, it has to ask a friendly Member of the Council\nto call for a vote when the resolution is tabled. Compromising with countries\nhostile to Sri Lanka will be like walking into a den of hungry Wolves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once\ntabled, the passage of this resolution will be a precedent to subjugate other\nnations who do not have the strength or the wealth to stand against duplicitous\nnations like the US and its allies whose own human rights violations record is\nworse than that of countries they support actively without any regard to\nviolations in those countries. This resolution therefore has to be defeated by\nthose countries in the NAM and the Global South who are vulnerable to the\nmachinations of these mighty powers, if not to support Sri Lanka, but at least\nfor their own sake.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nand other countries in the NAM and Global South need the assistance of all\ncountries including China, to improve the lot of their people. They need\ninvestments without strings, and not handouts. These countries should extend\ntheir hand of friendship with true concern for improving life in these\ncountries, and not extend a hand with a hidden instrument that will injure the\nhand extended in return. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken today encouraged the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to support the resolution on Sri Lanka stating that the \u2018lack of accountability for past atrocities in Sri Lanka \u2013 Daily Mirror Sri Lanka\u2019 The US Secretary of State seems to give an indication as to what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}