Sri Lanka’s democracy in peril: US envoy

Monday, 3 February 2014 01:50 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Concerns over continued attacks on religious minorities, corruption, impunity
Cites ‘insufficient progress’ on justice, reconciliation and accountability’
Urgency that has gripped international community is justified: US envoy
Says frustration over lack of progress heightening calls for international inquiry in US and around the world

By Dharisha Bastians A deteriorating human rights climate and insufficient progress on reconciliation, justice and accountability five years after the end of conflict was placing Sri Lanka’s proud democratic traditions in jeopardy, a top United States envoy said in Colombo on Saturday (1). “We are concerned about the worsening situation with respect to human rights, including continued attacks against religious minorities, as well as the weakening rule of law and an increase in the levels of corruption and impunity,” US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Biswal told journalists over the weekend.

Biswal, who was appointed late last year as the Obama Administration’s key focal point on the region, has placed Sri Lanka on notice at the conclusion of a two day visit to the island, pledging that Washington would sponsor a third resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in March. “It’s too early to determine what the text of the resolution will be exactly,” Biswal said, stopping short of saying if the US would include a call for an international war crimes inquiry in its third resolution. She said that clear expectations had been set out in two previous resolutions on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, but the lack of progress against those recommendations had prompted Washington to go before the Council once again to seek a third resolution to “underscore mounting concerns”. Asked if she believed sufficient time and space had been granted to Sri Lanka after the end of a brutal war to work on reconciliation issues, Biswal noted that five years after the end of the conflict, meaningful steps towards reconciliation were yet to be taken. “It has been the desire of many to provide space for the Sri Lankan people to come together, to heal the wounds of war. But when that space is not used productively and aggressively to pursue peace and to pursue reconciliation, to pursue justice and accountability, then it draws the concern of the international community. And that is where we find ourselves,” the US official explained. “Substantial steps towards reconciliation have been too few and far between,” she noted during a press briefing at the American Centre in Colombo. She said the lack of progress in Sri Lanka had led to “frustration and scepticism” both in the US and in the international community. This frustration has led to increasing calls for an international inquiry about the final phase of the war in Sri Lanka, the US official explained. Biswal underscored that the US had always had a strong desire to see a Sri Lankan process to address allegations of abuses during the war. “But there is frustration over the pace and the international community’s patience is wearing thin,” she said. “The culture of deteriorating human rights gives us great concern, when churches and mosques are burned down, when people feel they cannot practice their faith freely and without fear, then the urgency that has gripped the international community is justified,” Biswal noted. Assistant Secretary Biswal is the second high ranking US official to visit Sri Lanka since the beginning of this year ahead of the March sessions of the UNHRC. She held discussions with Government, Opposition and TNA officials in Colombo and also flew to Jaffna for meetings with Bishop Thomas Soundaranayagam, TNA Councillor Ananthi Sasitharan and civil society representatives. She also held discussions with Northern Province Governor G.A. Chandrasiri during her visit to the north.