Minister of Plantation Industries and Special Envoy of the President on Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe has said Sri Lanka’s opposition to the Resolution being moved by the US, UK and a few other countries against Sri Lanka was a fight on a matter of principle and that Sri Lanka would not compromise on it. Noting that what is happening to Sri Lanka today, could happen to any other NAM country tomorrow, Minister Samarasinghe called upon all Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states to continue to show solidarity with Sri Lanka.
Mahinda Samarasinghe
Minister Samarasinghe made these observations when he addressed the Permanent Representatives and delegates of the cross regional Non-Aligned Group in Geneva, on the sidelines of the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council yesterday (13th March 2014). Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ravinatha Aryasinha was also associated with the Minister at this briefing.
The Minister who had earlier this week addressed the Asia –Pacific Regional Group of Member and Observer States and the Latin American Group of Countries at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, said Sri Lanka over the years was a country that had continued to engage with the international community and needed no Resolutions encouraging it to do so. He said on this occasion too Sri Lanka was briefing that various groups and has been proactive and shared information in a transparent manner.
Recalling the challenges faced by the country in the aftermath of the conflict, Minister Samarasinghe pointed out that Sri Lanka looked after the internally displaced persons of around 300,000 taking care of their every need, leading to their resettlement after the completion of de-mining in their native habitats. The Minister also said that Sri Lanka has rehabilitated around 12,000 ex-combatants and former child soldiers have been reunited with their families while others have been provided with tertiary education, all within the space of under five years.
Briefing the cross regional Non-Aligned Group, Minister Samarasinghe also said that the Government of Sri Lanka had undertaken massive reconstruction of the former war ravaged areas and has invested heavily in its economic and infrastructure development. Having done all this, the Minister said, the Government was looking at also accounting to its own population. He said a Commission of Inquiry on Missing Persons had been appointed and census was in the process of being carried out to ascertain the number of people killed during the conflict.
He underlined the commitment of the Government of Sri Lanka to achieve comprehensive reconciliation. It was in order to achieve this objective, the Minister said, that Sri Lanka was requesting the cooperation of the international community, especially the western nations which have a large number of Sri Lankans domiciled in their countries, for their cooperation.
He also recalled the visit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Sri Lanka in August 2013 and the subsequent visit of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of the Internally Displaced Persons in December 2013. The Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants is due to visit Sri Lanka in May 2014 while the Special Rapporteur on Education has also been invited.
The Minister said that while Sri Lanka has continued to demonstrate its cooperation with the UN and the international community through its bilateral and multilateral engagements, it was disappointing to note that the country had been singled out through this Resolution. The Minister added that the country has its own domestic mechanisms to reach reconciliation and has continued to show progress and constructive engagement.
Minister Samarasinghe, together with Nimal Siripala de Silva, the Leader of the House and Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management, is due to address the African Group as well as the Group of Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) next week.
*Statement by Sri Lanka Mission Geneva
Ajith / March 14, 2014
“”what is happening in Sri Lanka today can happen to any other NAM country tomorrow”””
You are right. If any other NAM country follow the same way as Sinhala racist did to its own people they should have to face the same fate. If you don’t take action against a country that committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide of other communities now,there will be more genocides will happen tomorrow. It should be stopped now.
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Thiru / March 14, 2014
Yes, Ajith,
Stop genocide in its tracks, punish Sri Lanka and its culprits for genocide of Tamils.
Set another precedent.
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Point Man / March 14, 2014
It is the same spirit that defeated the “invincible” Tigers. Keep going Minister and truth and justice will prevail at the end.
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Unreal / March 14, 2014
… Minister … pointed out that Sri Lanka looked after the internally displaced persons … … leading to their resettlement … … in their native habitats.
– So SL Tamils have a native habitat in some region within SL.
… Government of Sri Lanka … … has invested heavily in its economic and infrastructure development.
– How the native habitat is gaining its economic benefit when the infrastructure development does not involve them and only engages and employs people from extraneous habitat, beats me.
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Piranha / March 14, 2014
Principled stand? Not one man or woman in your government is principled. How dare you talk about a principled stand when your government butchered thousands of its own citizens? No other decent country should support a government run by a bunch of criminals like yours.
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Safa / March 14, 2014
Talk of principles for NA nations when the fundamental principles of humanity are violated. What principles when Justice is with held and Truth is suppressed?
RIP to the good for nothing non-aligned movement which is full of dictators and tyrants. Gaddafi, Mubarak have gone and so you too can follow.
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Park / March 14, 2014
“Principle”, well Mahinda whose Principles are you talking about? Yours, your President’s, your foreign minister’s or Sri Lanka’s? Have you not realized, after being a diplomat and a politician that all the above mentioned do not contribute to a common Principle? Oops, sorry yes one principle they all contribute, that is LYING NOT ONLY TO THE SRI LANKANS BUT TO THE WHOLE WORLD!
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kabaragoya / March 14, 2014
The man is talking of principles. The only principle that is relevant is that human dignity and life has to be protected. That does not happen in Sri Lanka. Leaving aside events prior to 2009, it does not happen now as both Sinhalese and Tamils live at gun point and get shot if they dissent. The only principle is that this situation must be ended. In the North, people live in an army camp. There is a climate of fear. The occupation of the North is evident to anyone who cares to visit.
The Latin American states have just woken from dictatorships. They cannot be conned by twits like Samarasinghe. There is China which will no doubt give comfort because it is a fellow violator of the rights of its people. Human rights are no Western plot. All states need them. If the West secures them, so much the better for the peoples of the world. Poofter Peiris and the atavistic Aryasinha (neither an Aryan nor a Lion but an embodiment in name of Sihala chauvinism) cannot con the non-aligned movement with an old shibboleth of interference in domestic affairs.
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Javi / March 14, 2014
“Sri Lanka was a fight on a matter of `principle` and that Sri Lanka would not compromise on it. “
Mottaya school teacher talking about the gona school principal appointed by his meeharka lokka.
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jansee / March 14, 2014
Look who is talking about principle. Of all persons. If someone is suffering amnesia it may be excusable but when one pretends to suffer from amnesia, he should be crucified. In the UNHRC he made a solemn promise on the implementation of the 13A in full. Where is that promise? When the world came to know who killed the Trinco five, he had called the parents of one of the victims to offer “bribe” to hush it up. He even had the gall to hurt them by offending how ordinary the killing was. A Sinhala racist to the core, his face is as sick as his actions are. Wonder how he would feel if one of his own children had been “dumped”?
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Halt / March 14, 2014
Infrastructure development is for the whole country . not for only one community. when travelling to North these days it shows the road network and its improvement. though the tamil labor was not involved in the process, not all the sinhalese or muslim were involved. how possible to get every one involved in such. some have commented with an intention to discredit the work done. no government will only concentrate 100% in one sector. there are many challenges in the south itself. government while need to keep the functional economy and the voting base happy. some kind of development too taking place in the NE,though there are anti government movements. i believe more could be done if the elected members of the NE community try to be aligned with the government rather than go against it due to the pressure from Tamilnadu and diaspora. it will further corner the poor tamil people living in NE for many years to come.
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jansee / March 16, 2014
Halt:
There is a fundamental difference in the infrastructure construction in the South and North. In the South, it is get kickbacks and votes. In the North, it is also kickbacks and to place large Sinhala numbers to change the demography in the North. You have admitted that even the labour office used are not Tamils. Of course, as you can see, the common thread underlying both is “kickbacks”. If there is no pressure from Tamilnadu and the diaspora, I doubt that even the NPC would be standing today.
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Bensen Burner / March 14, 2014
What does he mean by principles?. He is addressing an international gathering as if he talking to his backward constituency in Sri Lanka . What has this to do with the NAM? Bensen
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F. N. Stein / March 14, 2014
Looks like the Joint-Captain of the SL team, from Jumbo size earlier to a few kitchen hacks, manages to holler only from the sidelines. These yelps are duly conveyed in bold headlines by the docile State media here – aptly dubbed the kept-press. Our bigger fight in Geneva is
not between GoSL and Navi Pillay’s team but with our two non-performing
Cabinet Ministers whose biggest battle is to get the right to lead.
Oh! Sri Lanka, what small men you are fated to get to dare big battles
on her fair name.
Frank N. Stein
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mike / March 14, 2014
CT – JAW-BREAKING NEWS!
“Government to reject US resolution even if adopted” – Minister Dinesh GOOnawardena. So what are all the Sri Lankan jokers doing in Geneva??
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Philip / March 15, 2014
Remember this?: Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said “soldiers saved all Tamil civilians trapped inside the war zone without shedding a drop of blood”. PTI | May 18, 2009, 10.32AM IST
And this: “I can assure you that we have not jeopardised civilians who are in the vicinity of the safe zone and we will continue to observe that principle of safeguarding civilians.” Al Jazeera 30 Jan 2009 13:48 GMT
Name any Tamil civilian who was in the ‘Safe Zone’ who agrees with you, Minister. Five years is enough. It’s time for Truth and Justice; reconciliation will follow. Sri Lanka, sadly, can’t help itself. International community can. The citizens of the civilised world will then take the UN seriously.
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Sundra Pandian / March 15, 2014
Though Samarasinghe is speaking in Geneva, it is
more a case of addressing a public rally in
Colombo. He is competing with G.L. Peiris to draw
the attention of those in Colombo. How vain can
these politicians be?
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Kumara Welivita / March 19, 2014
The only principle for Mahinda Samarasinghe is to promote
himself. At the 2012 sessions, he boasted that India would
vote in favour of Sri Lanka. The news spread and there
were protests in Tamil Nadu. What he said came to be untrue
of just BS.
At the 2013 sessions, he mounted a scathing personal attack
on Navi Pillai. Many countries came to the defence of
Pillai and he looked an ass.
Where is the principle? All the posturing by him and G.L. Peiris
is an attempt by one to out do the other and show President
MR they are the best.
And they are doing it beautifully through news releases from
Geneva. They are all cardboard heroes but when it comes to a vote
at the Human Rights Council, Sri Lanka will be the villain.
The egos of Samarasinghe and Peiris is costing the Government
and the country dearly. Is anyone worried?
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