Friday, 27 September 2013 00:48
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UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay’s speech has given a definite deadline to the Government and could result in serious repercussions if Sri Lanka does not pull out all the stops in engagement for reconciliation.
Asserting that no new or comprehensive effort has been made to independently or credibly investigate the human rights allegations in Sri Lanka, UN’s Rights Chief Navaneethan Pillay said that Sri Lanka should use the time between now and March 2014 to engage in a credible national process with tangible results. The shocking part was the insistence that in the absence of such steps she believes the international community will have a duty to establish its own inquiry mechanisms.
Pillay in her statement to the 24th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday, which was read out by her Deputy Flavia Pansieri, stated that she encourages the Government to use the time between now and March 2014 to engage in a credible national process with tangible results, including the successful prosecution of individual perpetrators, in the absence of which she believes the international community will have a duty to establish its own inquiry mechanisms.
It is clear from this statement that her trip to Sri Lanka, which the Government hoped would reduce her calls for international intervention, has actually had the opposite effect. Key among her concerns is the serious deterioration of law and order that the Government has actively perpetrated. These included the 18th Amendment and the controversial impeachment of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranaike that undermined independent institutions in the country.
In the wake of the Weliweriya shootings, among numerous human rights concerns, Pillay noted that she believed the attention of the Human Rights Council in Sri Lanka remains critically important and will be making recommendations in March on appropriate ways it could continue that engagement.
Pillay’s statements were directly opposite to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s statements to the United Nations General Assembly, which he made for the first time since 2011. In his address Rajapaksa concentrated intensely on criticising international interference, particularly from the UN and US, “under the guise of human rights”. He also censured the double standards of the UN, saying the “UN system should be astute to ensure the consistency of standards applied so that there is no room for suspicion of manipulation of the UN System by interested parties to fulfil their agendas”.
True to form Sri Lanka’s Foreign Service criticised Pillay’s words insisting yet again that she does not have the mandate to make statements regarding a sovereign State. Be that as it may, it is clear that the Government and Pillay, which for a fleeting moment seemed to come together during Pillay’s visit, have now firmly parted ways again. If anything it seems that the rift is wider this time around.
What cannot be disputed is that come March the Government will be tested once again at the UNHRC. This is yet another in a long list of reasons for it to make good on what international support it has, by pushing ahead with reconciliation measures.
Election results in the north have added to this weight and Sri Lanka’s future hinges on the Government doing right by all its people, including minorities.
