{"id":117649,"date":"2021-08-30T17:30:26","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T00:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=117649"},"modified":"2021-08-30T17:30:26","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T00:30:26","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-25c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/08\/30\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-25c\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 25c"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Eelam victory has led to an interesting\ndevelopment in United Nations policy at the United Nations Secretariat. The\nfailure to control Eelam War IV in Sri Lanka   has led the UN to adopt a new global policy\ncalled Rights up Front\u201d, which places human rights at the center of the UN\u2019s\nwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon,\nappointed an Internal Review Panel on United Nations Action in Sri Lanka ,  known as  the Petrie Report (2012). The Petrie Report\nfound a systemic failure\u201d in the UN response during the final months of Sri\nLanka\u2019s conflict, evoking comparisons to UN failures in Rwanda in 1994 and\nSrebrenica in 1995.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n2013, in direct response to the Petrie Report, the Secretary-General launched\nthe Human Rights Up Front (HRuF) initiative with a detailed Action Plan\n(updated March 2014). This called on the UN system to play a strong role to\nprevent human rights crises. https:\/\/interagencystandingcommittee.org\/system\/files\/detailed_hruf_plan_of_action.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nRights Up Front initiative calls for collective responsibility across the whole\nUN system to prevent serious human rights violations. It calls for identifying\nrisks of human rights violations at an earlier stage, leveraging the wide range\nof UN mandates and capacities to respond, and ensuring senior UN officials at\nthe country level are supported by UN Headquarters (UNHQ).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ncould be interpreted as a license to meddle. \nIt could be considered a way of getting round chapter 7 of the UN Charter which says that the UN shall not intervene in\nmatters that are within the domestic jurisdiction, except upon a Security\nCouncil finding that       there is a\nthreat to peace, breach o peace or act of aggression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This new initiative led to changes in the core human rights\nresponsibilities of the Resident Coordinators functioning in UN member countries.   The Resident\nCoordinator was originally linked to the United Nations Development Fund activities\nin that country. But in 2014, the Resident Coordinators job description was\nrevised to match the new policy for Human Rights set out in the\nSecretary-General\u2019s Human Rights up Front initiative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guidance Note on Human Rights for Resident Coordinators\n&UN Country Teams gives a list of the main Human Rights violations, the RS\nshould look out for. This booklet was issued by UN Development Group.  See https:\/\/unsdg.un.org\/sites\/default\/files\/UNDG-Guidance-Note-on-Human-Rights-for-RCs-and-UNCTs-final.pdf<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This new role\nhas permitted the UN representative to intervene in purely internal matters of\nSri Lanka.  UN Resident Representative\nHanaa Singer wrote to Prime Minister in November 2020, asking him to end the\ncremation of all Covid-19 victims. Singer criticized Sri Lanka for what she\ncalled a discriminatory policy adopted as regards disposal of bodies. She said\nshe had heaps of requests from the Muslim community, as well as others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The letter was copied to Foreign Minister,\nJustice Minister and Health Minister.<\/em>\nThe media also received copies of the letter hours after it was delivered to\nPrime Minister and Cabinet ministers. The letter received significant\ninternational media coverage.  Eelamists\nthought the matter would be useful at the March 2021 sessions of the UNHRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leelananda de Silva has commented on this\nmatter. There has been a new development in the role of the UN Resident\nCoordinator, observed Leelananda de Silva writing in October 2019. For the past\n50 years or so, the UNDP Resident Representative has also been the UN Resident\nCoordinator. It was an office involved with development\u201d. The UNDP funded the\npost of UN Resident Coordinator in all developing countries where they were\npresent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few months ago, the UN Secretary General\ndelinked the role of the UN Resident Coordinators from the UNDP and brought it\nunder Secretary General. The office of Secretary General of the UN is a\npolitical one. By\nchanging the role of the RC, the Secretary General has now a largely political representative\nin Colombo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLanka needs to be more aware of this changed role of the UN Resident\nCoordinator. What does this official do? And what kinds of reports does this\nofficial send to the Secretary General? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nunderstand that recently there was a request from the UN Human Rights office in\nGeneva, to appoint a representative in Colombo, and that was turned down by the\nGovernment. Now with this appointment, the UN has got a political office on the\nground here. The government should be aware of his precise role in this country,\nobserved Leelananda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leelananda\nalso looked at protocol. UN personnel in Colombo are expected to meet\ngovernment officials at an appropriate level. In the 1970s,\nwhen I was Director of Economic Affairs in the Planning Ministry, I met the UN\nResident Coordinator and the UN Resident Representative in my office from time\nto time. The Resident Coordinator hardly met the Permanent Secretary or a\nMinister.  The Prime Minister they never met unless on some ceremonial\noccasion. In New York\nor Geneva, High level UN officers   meet\nour Ambassador. They do not meet first or second secretaries of our Embassy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now,\nthe practice has changed. Recently I saw some photographs of the UNDP Resident\nRepresentative (not the UN Resident Coordinator) meeting Sri Lanka\u2018s President and\nPrime Minister. This UNDP representative is a mid-level official of the UN. He\ndoes not have official access to President and the Prime Minister. This means\nthat   High level UN officers do not need\nto seek an appointment with Head of state, the junior\nofficials can attend to the matter for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis another problem when protocol is discarded, said Leelananda. When UN\nofficials in Colombo can conduct their business at the ministerial level, why\nshould they bother with government officials? They can go above their heads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those interested in using Human\nRights for political purposes are now asking that the UNHRC, based in Geneva, be\nelevated to a higher rank so that it could attack countries more strongly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Universal Rights\nGroup<\/a>\u201d, said in\n2016 that    the UNHRC should be elevated\nto the status of a main UN organ. At present there is no primary UN organ\ndealing directly with human rights issues. The work of the Council is not\nwell known or understood in New York at present.  Universal Rights\nGroup<\/a>  is a small, independent think tank based in\nGeneva, dedicated to strengthening global human rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Universal Rights\nGroup<\/a>  asked Bichet and Rutz (2011) to study the\nrelationship between the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council.\nBichet and Rutz reported that contact between the two was very limited. UNHRC must\nbe better connected to UNSC to fulfill its role,  they said.  UNHRC needed to link more\nstrongly with its parent body, UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bertrand G. Ramcharan, former Deputy High\nCommissioner for Human Rights, pointed out in 2016 that at present the UNSC is reluctant to interact formally with human rights\ninvestigators. He suggested that the Human Rights Council Special Procedures Group\nshould communicate directly with the UN Security Council,  when there are\nviolations of human rights that might threaten international peace and\nsecurity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UNHRC special committees are at present able to meet the UN Security\nCouncil informally and brief the group. This is taking place at present under\nthe Arria formula. , but this is not sufficient, said HR\ndevotees. Arria-formula\u201d\nmeetings are convened at the initiative of a member of the Council not the\nPresident and do not constitute an activity of the Council. They are not held\nin the Security Council Consultation Room. Not all UNSC members attend the\nbriefings, and there is no official record.   (continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Eelam victory has led to an interesting development in United Nations policy at the United Nations Secretariat. The failure to control Eelam War IV in Sri Lanka   has led the UN to adopt a new global policy called Rights up Front\u201d, which places human rights at the center of the UN\u2019s work. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117649","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\/117649","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=117649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}