{"id":96361,"date":"2019-12-13T22:24:31","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T04:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=96361"},"modified":"2020-02-04T15:47:57","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T22:47:57","slug":"sri-lanka-foreign-ministry-seek-explanation-from-eu-regarding-job-role-of-its-employee-yasmin-sooka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/13\/sri-lanka-foreign-ministry-seek-explanation-from-eu-regarding-job-role-of-its-employee-yasmin-sooka\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry seek explanation from EU regarding job role of its employee Yasmin Sooka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part\nof Sri Lanka\u2019s problem has been not to challenge some of the lies being\npropagated by the power of funding sources both legitimate and illegitimate. There\nare plenty of diplomatic avenues to take and plenty of polite jargon that can\nbe used just as effectively. EU that enjoys holding the red card to all\ncountries of the world must be questioned on how funding giving by EU to a\nworthy cause can end up being used by a proxy NGO to target Sri Lanka? Sri Lanka\nhas every right to raise this question through its foreign ministry and EU needs\nto offer an explanation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yasmin\nSooka is a paid employee of the European Union. The job given to her by EU is\nto look into the welfare of South Africans in South Africa. But, how much of\nher paid time has been spent in looking after South Africans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why\nis Yasmin Sooka so paranoid about Sri Lanka? She is not even an ethnic Tamil. Since\n2001 she has been employed by EU to function as Executive Director of the\nFoundation for Human Rights in South Africa which EU set up in 1996 through a cooperation agreement between the European\nUnion and the South African government channeling a portion of the EU\u2019s\ndevelopment assistance allocation to civil society organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foundation\nFor Human Rights in South Africa is funded by EU & Belgium and receives\nfunding from Ireland CARE, UN bodies & even the America Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBoard are all South African<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flanders International Cooperation Agency (FICA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowhere in the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa\nwebsite does it list the International Truth & Justice Project-Sri Lanka as\none of FHR\u2019s projects? There\u2019s a long list of projects by South African\nprovince but there is no mention of any International Truth & Justice\nProject-Sri Lanka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.fhr.org.za\/index.php\/projects\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the ITJP-Sri Lanka website http:\/\/www.itjpsl.com<\/a> claims in its ABOUT US <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Truth\nand Justice Project  – Sri Lanka (ITJP) is administered by the Foundation for Human Rights<\/a> in South\nAfrica under the guidance of transitional justice expert Yasmin Sooka\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nso why does the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa not mention this? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmain question is why should the EU and international donors funding South\nAfrica wish to plug some project totally unrelated to Africa under its\nExecutive Director? There is nothing in the ITJPSL website other than the name\nof Yasmin Sooka.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s\nthe real story here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is\nthis ITJPSL a one-woman show? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nEU and international donors are funding South Africa through the FfHR in South\nAfrica why should this Foundation have a project related to another country in\nit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ITJPSL first came up dead figures initially starting with 40,000\nand ending up with 200,000 but ITJPSL only submitted a list of 351 MISSING\npersons names to the Office of Missing Persons in June 2018 \u2013 that was after 9\nyears following defeat of LTTE ground force in May 2009. Why didn\u2019t they give\nnames of 40,000 dead or 200,000 dead? If there are \u2018tens of thousands of Tamils\u2019\nwho died in 2009 why can\u2019t she provide their names? If she could after 9 years\nprovide only 351 MISSING persons names what does that tell about the\nallegations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n2015 the ITJP managed to get a report published in the Oakland Institute (formed\nby Anuradha Mittal in 2004) on the issue of land & offences by Sri Lanka\u2019s\nArmed Forces.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.oaklandinstitute.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sooka\nthough employed by EU to look into South Africa\/South Africans is too busy\nchurching reports against Sri Lanka and its always timed for an international\nsession targeting Sri Lanka we released the report in time before the Geneva\nResolution because we wanted to influence the Geneva Resolution\u201d (so says\nSooka)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n2014 ITJP report was funded by the British Foreign Office through the Bar Human\nRights Committee of England & Wales. Of the 40 selected cases most were\nformer LTTE illegal combatants seeking asylum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sooka\nbecame involved with Sri Lanka only after being selected as a non-UN member of\nthen UNSG Ban Ki Moon\u2019s PERSONALLY appointed 3-member panel to advise him on\nthe last 3 months of Sri Lanka\u2019s conflict. That report held LTTE as ‘the most disciplined & nationalist of the Tamil\nmilitant groups\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it\nshould come as no surprise when in March 2012 the 3 members of Ban Ki Moon\u2019s\npanel co-authors an article published in the New York Times Revisiting Sri\nLanka\u2019s Bloody War\u201d and replaces \u2018credible allegations\u2019 (what they said in the\n2011 Ban Ki Moon report) with \u2018credible evidence\u2019\u2026 on what basis did the 3\nwrite a completely different version of what they said in their own 2011\nreport? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttp:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/03\/03\/opinion\/revisiting-sri-lankas-bloody-war.html?_r=0\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sooka\nis one among an bevy of international players who for some unknown reason are\nsimply anti-Sri Lankan\/anti-Sinhalese \/ anti-Armed Forces <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\norganizations include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLanka Campaign for Peace and Justice (Sooka on Advisory Council) Board members\ninclude Charu Lata Hogg (Chair<\/strong>) previously Associate Fellow in the Asia Program at Chatham\nHouse & Callum Macrae<\/strong> (of Channel 4 fame)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLCPJ\nAdvisory Council includes <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norwegian\nfilm maker Beate Arnestad<\/strong> \u2013 \u2018My daughter the terrorist\u2019,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lakhdar\nBrahimi<\/strong> \u2013 also a\nmember of The Elders\u201d & the Global Leadership Forum; Governing Board,\nSIPRI; Board of Trustees, International Crisis Group and Global Humanitarian\nForum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n