{"id":116797,"date":"2013-12-15T11:58:58","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T06:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=116797"},"modified":"2013-12-22T01:48:25","modified_gmt":"2013-12-21T20:18:25","slug":"uk-and-us-should-keep-up-the-pressure-on-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/uk-and-us-should-keep-up-the-pressure-on-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"UK And US Should Keep Up The Pressure On Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Veluppillai Thangavelu<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Veluppillai<\/a>

Veluppillai Thangavelu<\/p><\/div>\n

Countries normally\u00a0compete with one another to host international conferences to polish their\u00a0image and standing.\u00a0 Olympics\u00a0is one example. Publicity for such events\u00a0brings in tourists, investments and trade.<\/p>\n

The Commonwealth Conference of Heads of Governments (CHOGM<\/span><\/a>) also serves the same purpose. The\u00a0CHOGM\u00a0\u00a0 held in Colombo last\u00a0November was\u00a0preceded by the Commonwealth People\u2019s Forum, the Commonwealth Youth Forum, and the Commonwealth Business Forum. Several hundred\u00a0delegates attended the Business Forum\u00a0that attracted global media coverage.\u00a0 A\u00a0high profile Business Forum was led by British Prime Minister David Cameron<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka by hosting this biennial conference in Colombo must have calculated that\u00a0 it will provide an opportunity to improve \u00a0the tarnished image of the country, especially\u00a0 accusations\u00a0 regarding\u00a0 wide spread human rights\u00a0 violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity, lack of media\u00a0 freedom, subversion of\u00a0 the judiciary, undermining\u00a0 of rule of law etc.<\/p>\n

Government\u00a0spent millions of dollars\u00a0on\u00a0extensive beautification of the city. More than 50 brand new bullet-proof S400 Mercedes Benz cars\u00a0were imported for the summit. A\u00a0large fleet of brand new Nissan Teanas, Toyota Corollas, 100 forty-one-seater luxury buses and 60 Land Rover Defender jeeps were also\u00a0imported. A few days to the summit, a shiny new 26 kilometre expressway\u00a0costing\u00a0\u00a0 1.8 billion rupees or 14 million US dollars per kilometre, amongst the most expensive in the world, was declared opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a>. Where all the finance did\u00a0came from?\u00a0 Like the other mega projects, it\u00a0was mostly financed by a loan from China whose terms are unknown. No wonder\u00a0Sri Lanka\u2019s public debt has risen alarmingly\u00a0to Rs. 3 trillion or nearly 80 per cent of GDP.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, the hosting of the CHOGM spending several billions resulted in a near total public relations disaster, its human rights record coming under intense scrutiny by the international media. The\u00a0 \u00a0meticulously crafted \u00a0 efforts to\u00a0ensure the right image is conveyed\u00a0have backfired. Normally these biannual meetings are not controversial and ends unnoticed and unsung.<\/p>\n

To begin with Prime Minister Stephen Harper<\/span><\/a> kept his word by boycotting the CHOGM and sending only a low profile delegation headed by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for External Affairs Deepak Obhrai. After much agonizing Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh<\/span><\/a> too skipped the conference at the last minute. \u00a0 He succumbed to the intense pressure from Thamil Nadu\u00a0government and political parties of all hues to boycott the CHOGM.\u00a0 The boycott by India took the shine away from the CHOGM and it was a total disappointment and a\u00a0bitter pill for Sri Lanka to swallow. Added to Sri Lanka’s woes,\u00a0Mauritius\u00a0Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam announced\u00a0that he will be boycott\u00a0the conference.<\/p>\n

In this back ground, only\u00a027 out of\u00a0 \u00a053\u00a0Heads\u00a0of Government attended the meeting. Of the 19 countries in the African continent, only\u00a07 attended.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More than the host country the Commonwealth\u2019s showpiece event was a disaster for the parent organisation.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka’s war crimes dominated the commonwealth summit.\u00a0 There were calls for international investigations\u00a0over Sri Lanka’s\u00a0war crimes<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the CHOGM took place in Colombo all eyes were on Jaffna. Delegations from many countries visited the North and met the newly elected Chief Minister of the Northern Province<\/span><\/a> and a cross section of the common people. \u00a0 There was heavy presence\u00a0of\u00a0western media, including\u00a0the Channel 4 crew headed by Callum Macrae<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Director\u00a0of the\u00a0documentary film Killing Fields of Sri Lanka featuring devastating video evidence of horrific war crimes. A panicked government to stem the flow\u00a0halted all\u00a0air flights to Jaffna though denied subsequently.<\/p>\n

When the Channel 4 crew went by train to Jaffna, there was a government inspired demonstration at the Anuradhapura railway station. The train they travelled was stopped and they were forced to return to Colombo.\u00a0 The Police trotted the lame excuse that they cannot provide security to the Channel 4 crew. This incident only helped to confirm the\u00a0lack of media freedom and the poor\u00a0law and order\u00a0situation\u00a0in Sri Lanka. Why the government treated the Channel 4 crew so shabbily after promising that anyone can\u00a0visit any place\u00a0they like remains a mystery. Due to further harassment by the Immigration Department\u00a0officials the Channel 4 crew cuts short their visit and took flight home. Macrae vowed that\u00a0he will not be intimated from carrying\u00a0out his duties as a director by Sri Lankan authorities. Callum Macrae\u00a0has become a\u00a0household name among Diaspora Thamils.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly the Sri Lankan<\/b>\u00a0law enforcement forces continued<\/b> a campaign of harassment not only of the media but also human rights activists\u00a0while the CHOGM was in sessions.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0youthful British Prime Minister David Cameron easily stole the limelight at the CHOGM. He had a hectic schedule, but\u00a0still managed to fly to Jaffna after the opening ceremony to get a first hand knowledge of what was going on behind the cadjan fence. His visit is the first by a world leader to\u00a0the Thamil-dominated north since independence in 1948. He met Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran along with TNA leader R.Sampanthan<\/span><\/a> and M.A.Sumanthiran<\/span><\/a>, MP.\u00a0 He visited Uthayan newspaper office and\u00a0later the Sabapathy Pillai\u00a0refugee camp in the outskirts of Jaffna, described by the government as a “welfare village”.\u00a0 There were around 150 families living\u00a0in a tangle of bamboo and corrugated-iron huts\u00a0since they were displaced in 1990 army offensive. David Cameron was\u00a0mobbed by the people\u00a0and was seen getting in and\u00a0out of\u00a0dilapidated huts holding hands with the dishevelled refugees. It was a moving scene reminiscent of refugees in Haiti\u00a0or Somalia.<\/p>\n

At Uthayan newspaper office David Cameron saw the bullet ridden walls and the burnt out printing press during an attack by the intelligence wing of the army. At 4.00 pm on\u00a0April 13, this year, masked men on motorbikes smashed their way into a room where that day\u2019s newspaper was still rolling off the presses. Bullets were fired, but the seven staff present escaped unharmed. The printing press was set alight, and today remains out of action. There were 6 attacks this year alone and\u00a0Uthayan newspaper has lost\u00a0six\u00a0staff members to\u00a0masked paramilitary gangs sent by the government since 2005. One is still missing. The paper’s editor has lived in his office for seven years after attempts on his life by armed goons.<\/p>\n

About his historical visit to the North, David Cameron tweeted \u201cI’m the first leader to go to the north of Sri Lanka since 1948. I want to shine a light on chilling events there first hand and Political leaders in the north of Sri Lanka tell me they are glad I’ve come to help highlight what is happening here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government claims there are no missing persons and all those LTTE cadres who surrendered have been released after rehabilitation. And all IDPs have been resettled in their homes. But David Cameron\u00a0was confronted by up to 200 mainly female Thamil demonstrators brandishing photographs of their missing relatives\u00a0opposite the Jaffna library. The wailing\u00a0men and women broke the police cordon to get closer to him.\u00a0 The pathetic pleas of the demonstrators\u00a0exposed the lies trotted out by the government. A\u00a0frustrated\u00a0government\u00a0accused David Cameron of breaching protocol on his visit to the country.<\/p>\n

Mahinda Rajapakse has been infuriated by\u00a0David Cameron\u2019s warning that he will\u00a0push for an international probe in the form of resolution through the\u00a0UN bodies. “Let me be very clear, if an investigation is not completed by March, then I will use our position on the UN HRC to work with the UN Human Rights Commission and call for a full, credible and independent international inquiry,” Mr Cameron stated in Colombo.<\/p>\n

Backing the call already made by UN human rights chief Navi Pillay<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0 David Cameron said that, if no credible domestic investigations are carried out by March next year, there should be an international inquiry. \u00a0Navi Pillay during her\u00a0visit to Sri Lanka in August this year\u00a0issued a hard-hitting statement where she expressed deep concern \u201cthat Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction.”<\/p>\n

The British Foreign Secretary William Hague met rights activists in Colombo\u00a0in a sign of\u00a0his government’s\u00a0determination to keep the issue alive. \u201cWe cannot and will not turn a blind eye to the abuses which occur whether they are about freedom of expression, impunity for disappearances or sexual violence, freedom from torture and the lack of accountability\u201d Hague said after his meetings in Colombo.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Parliamentary Secretary to the Foreign Minister Deepak Obhrai said the decision to allow Colombo to stage such a gathering was akin to \u201caccommodating evil\u201d.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0the summit David Cameron\u00a0continued his\u00a0pressure on the Sri Lankan government that he will press for an international inquiry into war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan army.\u00a0 He said that the Sri Lankan government is now under more pressure than a week ago or months ago regarding the alleged human rights violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not think that anyone can be in any doubt that they are under more pressure today than they were a week ago, or a month ago, because of the international attention that has been shone on these issues\u2014they know that the world will be watching. One only has to watch President Rajapaksa\u2019s press conference, which was dominated by questions about human rights and inquiries into what happened at the end of the war, to see that there is pressure today that there was not a week ago,\u201d Cameron told British Parliament on\u00a0 18th December.<\/p>\n

However, sources suggest that Cameron made little headway with Rajapaksa during an hour-long meeting\u00a0with him in Colombo on 15th November, 2013. They described the exchange as robust and animated, with Rajapaksa acknowledging problems in his country but arguing that they needed time to\u00a0sort out.<\/p>\n

During the encounter, Cameron\u00a0brought up attacks on Christians and Muslims, the murder of British national Khuram Shaikh, the killing of journalists and seizure of land. He\u00a0also mentioned a Channel 4 documentary about atrocities allegedly committed by state forces in the last months of the war, containing images verified by the UN.<\/p>\n

President Mahinda Rajapaksa fends off the allegations and suggested that Cameron was using the visit to win favour with the Thamil community in the UK.<\/p>\n

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has reminded the Commonwealth that Sri Lanka has a poor rights record when it comes to real accountability, and said the international community must continue to monitor Sri Lanka on its message to mark Human Rights Day which falls on December 10th.\u00a0 \u201cPrevious commissions and investigations have been plagued by government interference and failed to achieve meaningful results and are mostly seen as a government ploy to delay effective criminal investigations. Sri Lanka\u2019s Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) failed to fix responsibility for war crimes and its recommendations remain largely unimplemented,\u201d the CHRI said in its statement.<\/p>\n

The Amnesty International was more blunt. In a report issued on November 17 by \u00a0Steve Crawshaw, Director of the Office of the Secretary General at AI lambasted the Sri Lankan government for breaking promises. He said \u201cThe international community must keep up pressure on the Sri Lankan government to address its human rights crisis in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka may well regret having hosted the Commonwealth summit which has proved a PR disaster for the government. Most of the focus has rightly been on the country\u2019s appalling human rights record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge for the international community is now to keep up the pressure on the Sri Lankan government. Those responsible for past violations, including war crimes, must be held accountable and ongoing human rights violations stopped irrespective of rank – victims and survivors must see justice done. The past week has provided clear examples of the government\u2019s repressive tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Union Parliament has passed a resolution stating that the United Nations should initiate an international investigation into allegations of violations of international humanitarian law, if Sri Lanka fails to start one itself, before March 2014. The resolution further called for ” an independent and credible investigation into alleged violations by March 2014, and considers that otherwise the UN should initiate an international investigation”.<\/p>\n

The resolution also “notes with concern”, the presence of Sri Lankan armed forces in the island’s former conflict areas, adding that it was “leading to human rights violations including land grabbing… and worrying numbers of reported sexual assaults”. It also referred to the killings of 5 youth in Trincomalee in 2006 and the massacre of 17 Tamil aid workers for the French Charity ACF, who recently blamed<\/span><\/a> the killings on government forces.<\/p>\n

However, Sri Lanka\u2019s Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters that the government alone will decide which recommendations will be implemented and by when. Sri Lankan government has already rejected\u00a0UNHCR Commissioner’s report issued after her visit to Sri Lanka in August saying it is not bound by the report.<\/p>\n

A more encouraging news comes from US diplomatic sources. In the face of political dilly dallying and official contempt for UN resolutions by Sri Lanka, US propose to impose economic sanctions against Sri Lanka. A resolution to that effect is to be tabled before the US Congress after the Geneva human rights conference in March, 2014. <\/b><\/p>\n

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime remains stubborn, defiant, immovable and far removed from forging genuine post-conflict healing and reconciliation. While taking credit for holding the NPC elections, the government is placing road blocks against smooth functioning of the council. The NPC has passed a resolution for the removal of the military governor and replacement with a civilian.<\/p>\n

The demolition of partially damaged houses in the area acquired by the army, including Hindu temples has created rift\u00a0and friction between\u00a0the government and the NPC.\u00a0 This is at a time more than 2000 petitioners are claiming legal ownership of\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0land in Valikamam North. The land grab makes a mockery of\u00a0the call for post-war\u00a0reconciliation by the international community.<\/p>\n

CHOGM leaders issued a communiqu\u00e9 agreeing to cooperate on a number of issues, including poverty reduction, trade and youth affairs. The communiqu\u00e9\u00a0welcomed the adoption of the historic Commonwealth Charter in December 2012 and its signature by the Head of the Commonwealth on Commonwealth Day in March 2013. They reiterated their commitment to respect, protect and promote the core values set out in the Charter.<\/p>\n

In that context, they noted that the people of the Commonwealth, through the Charter, had emphasised the importance of democracy; human rights; international peace and security; tolerance, respect and understanding; freedom of expression; separation of powers; rule of law; good governance; sustainable development; protecting the environment; access to health, education, food and shelter; gender equality; young people; the needs of small and vulnerable states; and the role of civil society. Heads emphasised that these values were interlinked and mutually reinforcing. <\/b><\/p>\n

These are laudable and welcome principles, but how the CHOGM hopes to follow them under the chairmanship of Mahinda Rajapaksa who is facing accusations\u00a0a\u00a0violator of human rights and\u00a0rule of\u00a0law and above all a war criminal.<\/p>\n

The CHOGM\u00a0in Colombo\u00a0will be remembered more for\u00a0the acrimonious debate over Sri Lanka’s abysmal human rights record during and after the war. The year \u00a0 2014 will be make or break year for the Sri Lankan government. It has only two choices, comply fully with UN sponsored resolution calling for war crimes investigation, an independent judiciary, respect for rule of law and genuine reconciliation\u00a0between people or face an international investigation. .<\/p>\n

The international community must stand united in its efforts to keep up the \u00a0pressure on \u00a0Sri Lanka to fully comply with UNHCR resolution and to live up to the core principles and values of the Commonwealth.\u00a0\u00a0 Until now,\u00a0the international community has proved unwilling to use political and economic\u00a0leverages to promote real peace and reconciliation in\u00a0Sri Lanka. There\u00a0is too much at stake, for too many,\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0 the international community\u00a0should not fail to\u00a0hold\u00a0\u00a0 Sri Lanka accountable on human rights issues and other fundamental freedoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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