{"id":116520,"date":"2021-07-26T16:16:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T23:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=116520"},"modified":"2021-07-26T16:16:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T23:16:03","slug":"us-embassy-and-its-involvement-in-local-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/07\/26\/us-embassy-and-its-involvement-in-local-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"US Embassy and its involvement in local politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sangadasa Akurugoda<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

As per media reports, US Embassy officials led\nby Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz held discussions with SLMC leader\nRauff Hakeem and earlier with TNA leader R. Sampanthan at the latter\u2019s\nresidence, where the focus was on the proposed new Constitution, post-war\nreconciliation efforts, devolution of power, rule of law, Prevention of\nTerrorism Act and other issues which are solely internal issues of the host\ncountry. It is also reported that both US and Indian missions are engaged in\ndiscussions with political parties represented in parliament and other groups\nto reach sort of common agenda. (https:\/\/island.lk\/us-embassy-consultations-with-political-parties-devolution-of-power-among-issues-discussed\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations\n(1961) contains the most widely accepted description of the international law\non diplomacy. A diplomatic\nagent is granted different inviolabilities and privileges, as well as immunity\nfrom the jurisdiction of the receiving state, in order to enable them to\nexercise their official functions independently and effectively and to avoid any interference on the part of\nthe receiving state. <\/strong>The functions of\na diplomatic mission are clearly stated in the Article 3 of the said\nConvention. https:\/\/legal.un.org\/ilc\/texts\/instruments\/English\/conventions\/9_1_1961.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(a) Representing the sending State in the\nreceiving State; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(b) Protecting in the receiving State the\ninterests of the sending State and of its nationals, within the limits\npermitted by international law; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(c) Negotiating with the Government of the\nreceiving State;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(d) Ascertaining by all lawful means\nconditions and developments in the receiving State, and reporting thereon to\nthe Government of the sending State; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(e) Promoting friendly relations between the\nsending State and the receiving State, and developing their economic, cultural\nand scientific relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizing meetings with local\npoliticians, who are well-known for their racial extremism, to discuss the\nproposed new Constitution of receiving State, devolution of power, rule of law\netc (none of which are any of the functions stated above) are gross violation\nof the Vienna Convention since the foreign Diplomats are bound to respect the\nlaws and regulations of the hosting State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process of dealing with\ndiplomats who are no longer welcome has now been fully recognized under Article\n9 of the Vienna Convention:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The receiving State may\nat any time and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending\nState that the head of the mission or any member of the diplomatic staff of the\nmission is persona non grata or that any other member of the staff of the\nmission is not acceptable. In any such case, the sending State shall, as\nappropriate, either recall the person concerned or terminate his functions with\nthe mission. A person may be declared non grata or not acceptable before\narriving in the territory of the receiving State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. If the sending State\nrefuses or fails within a reasonable period to carry out its obligations, the\nreceiving State may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the\nmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most common response\nwhen foreign diplomatic officials act inappropriately is to declare those\nofficials \u2018persona non grata<\/em> \u2018and to\nexpel them from the country, if diplomatic parlance fails. While this is\ntraditionally a remedy for offenses committed by the actual personnel being\nexpelled, it is entirely at the host country\u2019s discretion and several nations\nhave used it to respond to objectionable activities on the part of a foreign\ngovernment as a whole. We remember how President Ranasinghe Premadasa declared David Gladstone, who served as Britain\u2019s High\nCommissioner to Sri Lanka between 1987-1991, \u2018persona non grata<\/em> \u2018and expelled from the country for his unwarranted interference in an internal matter\nof the country\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statements issued by various foreign diplomats in\nColombo, notably those of former and current US ambassadors, almost one after\nthe other concerning the internal affairs of the host country, and reported\nvisits and secret visits said to have been made to meet the opponents of the\ndemocratically elected government to matters related to internal politics are\nexamples of diplomatic excesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also remember how the former US Secretary of\nState John Kerry blatantly boasted in public that US funded to execute Sri\nLanka\u2019s regime change in 2015. They didn\u2019t utter a single word against any of\nthe undemocratic, unconstitutional and mega level corruption issues which took\nplace under the government they funded to install, but appears to have\nrestarted their old game, once again by various means, soon after the removal\nof their choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meddlesome foreign envoys in Colombo should\nneed the growing concern, among the Sri Lankan population about the undue\nforeign interference. The government needs to act without further delay and\ntake remedial action to safeguard the country\u2019s security and sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sangadasa\nAkurugoda<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sangadasa Akurugoda As per media reports, US Embassy officials led by Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz held discussions with SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem and earlier with TNA leader R. Sampanthan at the latter\u2019s residence, where the focus was on the proposed new Constitution, post-war reconciliation efforts, devolution of power, rule of law, Prevention of Terrorism Act […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-s-akurugoda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116520","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=116520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}