{"id":114108,"date":"2021-05-08T14:53:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T21:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=114108"},"modified":"2021-05-09T15:23:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T22:23:57","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-18d-pt-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/05\/08\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-18d-pt-3\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 18D Pt 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Revised 9.5.21<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human Rights\nWatch (HRW) and Amnesty International supported the Report of the High\nCommissioner for Human Rights. Human Rights Watch said that UNHCR, at its\nupcoming session, should act on the recommendations of the UN High commissioner\nfor Human rights, and adopt a new resolution to enhance scrutiny of Sri Lanka\u2019s\ndeteriorating human rights situation and pursue accountability for past and\nrecent violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President\nGotabaya Rajapaksa has withdrawn its support for the 2015 consensus resolution\nseeking justice and reconciliation, and shown general disregard for upholding\nbasic human rights.  UNHRC should act to\nprotect those most at risk and advance accountability for grave international\ncrimes,\u201d Human Rights Watch said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN High\ncommissioner\u2019s report highlights Sri Lanka\u2019s shocking record of complete impunity\nfor appalling crimes, and very disturbing developments under the Rajapaksa\nadministration,\u201d said John Fisher, Director, HRW Geneva. The UNHRC has given\nSri Lanka every opportunity to address these issues over many years, and now\ngreater international involvement is needed to help protect vulnerable groups\nand hold those responsible for grave international crimes to account,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amnesty\nInternational said: The international community must not turn a blind eye to\nthe deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka, which is being abetted\nby the government\u2019s regressive moves on justice and accountability. The OCHCHR\nwarns that there are \u2018clear early warning signs of a deteriorating human rights\nsituation and a significantly heightened risk of future violations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of\nthe military leadership that were in command during the last phase of the war,\nwhen allegations of human rights and humanitarian law violations are\nwidespread, were rewarded with promotions and positions of power under the new\nadministration, including to civilian positions. This has had a chilling effect\non victims demanding justice said Amnesty International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2019Amnesty is\ncalling on the UN Human Rights Council to implement the report\u2019s key\nrecommendations to put in place more stringent oversight on Sri Lanka,\nincluding more robust monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation,\nand the collection and preservation of evidence for future prosecutions. UNHRC must\ntake urgent steps to address the worsening human rights situation in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Human\nRights Council must take steps to end the cycle of impunity by holding the Sri\nLankan government fully to account, and launching a new internationally agreed\njustice process,\u201d said David Griffiths Director of the Office of the Secretary\nGeneral at Amnesty International..Amnesty International\u2019s findings reveal a\npattern of targeting those who have played an active role in investigating,\ndocumenting, litigating, or reporting on human rights violations and abuses,\nand advocating on behalf of the victims, including at least six incidents where\nlawyers were targeted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN report\nlays bare Sri Lanka\u2019s abject record on delivering justice and accountability\nand the decaying effect this has had on human rights in the country. The\nseriousness of these findings highlights the urgent need for the UN Human\nRights Council to step up its efforts in Sri Lanka.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more\nthan a decade, domestic processes have manifestly failed thousands of victims\nand their families. Given the Government\u2019s decision to walk away from\nresolution 30\/1 and regression on the limited progress that had been made, the\nHuman Rights Council must send a clear message that accountability will be\npursued with or without the cooperation of the Government said Griffiths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China took the\nopposite view. China extended strong support to Sri Lanka at the Interactive\nDialogue. China\u2019s Permanent Representative in Geneva Ambassador Chen Xu said it\nis the consistent stand of China to oppose politicization and double standards\non human rights, as well as using human rights as an excuse in interfering in\nother countries\u2019 internal affairs. We are concerned about the clear lack of\nimpartiality shown in the OHCHR\u2019s report to this session on Sri Lanka and\nexpress our regret over the failure of the OHCHR to use the authoritative\ninformation provided by the Sri Lankan Government. The so-called preventive\nintervention\u201d and the proposed targeted sanctions contained in the OHCHR\u2019s\nreport are clear interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and exceed\nthe mandate of the OHCHR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nGovernment of Sri Lanka also strongly rejected the Report.   Sri\nLanka pointed out that the Office of the High Commissioner was bound by United\nNations Resolution 60\/251  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • . United Nations Resolution 60\/251    said\nthat the work of UN Human Rights Council shall be guided by the principles of\nuniversality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, constructive\ninternational dialogue and cooperation. \n(clause  4)<\/li>
  • The preamble to United Nations Resolution 60\/251     said the UN recognizes the importance of\nensuring universality, objectivity and non-selectivity and the elimination of\ndouble standards and politicization.<\/li>
  • The preamble also said that the promotion and protection of human\nrights should be based on the principles of cooperation and genuine dialogue\nand aimed at strengthening the capacity of Member States to comply with their\nhuman rights obligations. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The Report\nwas subjective and biased\u201d said the government. It was intended to mislead the\ninternational community,  said Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This report\nshows that the OHCHR wishes to directly intervene in the internal affairs of\nour country. The Report\nhas broadened its scope, and included issues of governance and matters that are\nessentially domestic in any self-respecting, sovereign country. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    High\nCommissioner Michelle Bachelet has overreached her jurisdiction and has\ninterfered with the independence and sovereignty of Sri Lanka by releasing this\nnew UN report. She cannot challenge appointments made by the head of state of a\nsovereign country and interfere with its internal affairs and independence. She\nmust be advised not to overreach her scope of authority in this manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Report wants\nSri Lanka to remove from office Security Forces personnel and other public officials\nalleged to have committed war crimes. The alleged charges were not proven\nagainst any of the officers. The removal of such officers without being proven\nguilty would be a violation of their human rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The continued\nchorus in the Report that credible allegations of serious violations of international\nhumanitarian law amounting to war crimes having been committed during the\nseparatist war, however, remains unsubstantiated with the absence of\nsubstantive related evidence, said Sunday Times , <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here is the<\/strong> full statement made by the government of Sri Lanka to the OHCHR\nReport: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The OHCHR Report which is\npresented today, emanates from the Resolution 30\/1 and 40\/1, from which the\nGovernment of Sri Lanka announced its withdrawal of co-sponsorship, at the 43rd\nSession of this Council last year. Sri Lanka rejects the High Commissioner\u2019s\nReport which has unjustifiably broadened its scope and mandate further,\nincorporating many issues of governance and matters that are essentially\ndomestic for any self-respecting, sovereign country. This is in complete violation\nof Article 2 (7) of the Charter of the UN that states: Nothing contained in\nthe present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters\nwhich are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The trajectory that has emerged\nwith regard to the recommendations and conclusions reflects the preconceived,\npoliticized and prejudicial agenda which certain elements have relentlessly\npursued against Sri Lanka. These recommendations are based on ill-founded\nallegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sri Lanka categorically rejects\nthe conclusions and recommendations in the High Commissioner\u2019s Report. The call\nfor asset freezes, travel bans, references to the ICC and the exercise of\nuniversal jurisdiction by individual States, based on evidence that up to date\nhas been denied access to and retained by the High Commissioners Office with\nsome of it unreleased for thirty years, particularly in relation to a country\nlike Sri Lanka which has consistently and constructively engaged with the UN\nand its mechanisms, points to a distinct and eminent danger which the\ninternational community as a whole need to take note of. Such unilateral\nactions by certain countries are unacceptable and a violation of the principles\nof natural justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to the progress made since\nlast March, Sri Lanka has provided written comments on instances of erroneous\ninformation, misconceived and arbitrary assessments in the Report. It is\nregrettable that the High Commissioner\u2019s Office published its Report,\naccompanied by an unprecedented propaganda campaign on it and refused to\npublish our Comments on the report as an addendum. This has deprived Sri Lanka\nand Members of equal visibility of Sri Lanka\u2019s views on the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sri Lanka refutes the allegations\nthat have been reproduced in the High Commissioner\u2019s report, from the highly\ncontentious Report of the Panel of Experts (PoE) on Accountability and the\nReport of the High Commissioner\u2019s Office Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL),\nwhich have been rejected by Sri Lanka for reasons explained to this Council\nbefore. The contents of the Report which have been drawn from the said disputed\nreports are rife with factual inaccuracies that appear to equate atrocities\ncommitted by the LTTE, a terrorist organization proscribed internationally,\nwith legitimate action taken by the Government to safeguard the territorial\nintegrity of the country and the right to life of our people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The insistence on ever-expanding\nexternally driven prescriptions, notwithstanding our continuous cooperation and\nengagement with this Council and all UN bodies, can pose numerous challenges\nand such processes could set a dangerous precedent affecting all Member States\nof the UN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We regret the disproportionate\nattention drawn to Sri Lanka by this Council, driven by political motivations.\nSri Lanka calls upon the members of this Council that any resolution which is\nbased on this Report, be rejected by the Council and be brought to a closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We remain open to engaging\nconstructively with the UN, including this Council, and the international\ncommunity in mutually agreed areas, in conformity with the Constitution and in\nkeeping with domestic priorities and policies.\u201d End of statement<\/strong>. (Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 9.5.21 Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International supported the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Human Rights Watch said that UNHCR, at its upcoming session, should act on the recommendations of the UN High commissioner for Human rights, and adopt a new resolution to enhance scrutiny of Sri Lanka\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114108","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=114108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}