Sri Lanka rejects new US resolution as intrusive, unjust and politicised

The Sri Lankan Government vehemently rejected the new resolution the United States tabled against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday in Geneva, saying that the resolution is “substantive, intrusive and political in nature,” and far from a procedural resolution.

Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka at the UN Ravinatha Aryasinha says that the resolution is unfair biased, unjust and contrary to the principles of cooperation genuine dialogue and the founding principles of universality.

Stressing that the Sri Lankan Government does not recognise the previous resolution 19/2 sponsored by the US and adapted by the UN last year, the Sri Lankan Envoy to the UN said the new resolution was far from a “procedural resolution,” as it was originally claimed.

“It is intrusive, politicised and in clear contravention of accepted principles of conduct in the Council,” Aryasinha said in his address.

Addressing the informal meeting held by the US on Friday (8 March) on the Draft Resolution on ‘Promoting Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka’ at the UN HRC in Geneva, Aryasinha said the new resolution was based on a “misconceived and arbitrary premise” and did not have a nexus to 19/2, although it recalls 19/2.

He pointed out that there was no acknowledgment in the new draft of the substantial progress made by Sri Lanka through the ongoing reconciliation process.

The Sri Lankan Envoy had noticed a “paradigm shift” in the draft text of the resolution tabled Friday by the US and charged that the draft resolution had completely disregarded the “pith and substance” of the resolution 19/2 and has deviated from it to call for the implantations of the measures put forward by the High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanetham Pillay in her report to the HRC (A/HRC/22/38).

Aryasinha noted that the High Commissioner had gone beyond her mandate in making recommendations which were arbitrary, highly intrusive and of a politicised nature.

Her recommendations have not given due regard or recognition to the work of Sri Lanka’s ongoing mechanism of reconciliation through the National Action Plan on the implementation of the recommendations of the LLRC, according to Aryasinha.

“Sri Lanka therefore is firmly of the view that country specific resolutions of this nature, intent on singling out countries for “naming and shaming,” and paying disproportionate attention towards Sri Lanka, is unwarranted,” the Ambassador to the UN further said.

He said he conveyed the Sri Lankan Government’s position on the resolution to the US Ambassador for Human Rights Eileen Donahoe during a meeting with her Friday and told her that Sri Lanka did not intend negotiating with the US on the text of the draft resolution.

“I expressed the hope that the US Government and possible co-sponsors of this resolution would do nothing to endanger the delicate reconciliation process ongoing in Sri Lanka, as well as the constructive engagement Sri Lanka is presently pursuing with the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner and the OHCHR, as well as our bilateral partners,” the Ambassador has noted.