{"id":36664,"date":"2012-03-31T22:07:31","date_gmt":"2012-03-31T22:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=36664"},"modified":"2012-04-03T22:14:15","modified_gmt":"2012-04-03T22:14:15","slug":"on-her-majestys-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/on-her-majestys-service\/","title":{"rendered":"On Her Majesty\u2019s Service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Westminster Insider &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/on-her-majestys-service\/the-houses-of-parliament-london_web\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-36665\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-36665\" title=\"The-Houses-of-Parliament--London_web\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/The-Houses-of-Parliament-London_web-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/The-Houses-of-Parliament-London_web-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/The-Houses-of-Parliament-London_web-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>Foreign &amp; Commonwealth Office (FCO) mandarins \u00a0play the long game, and, as a matter of policy doctrine believe credible domestic inquiries of war crimes and crimes against humanity provide more durable solutions than those externally imposed. For this reason, and, the improbability of securing a majority in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for a resolution establishing an independent international inquiry that they continue to press for the implementation of the \u201cconstructive\u201d recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Report (LLRC). This is despite being scathing about Sri Lanka\u2019s wanton failure to investigate human rights violations and acknowledging it plays a game of \u201cbrinkmanship\u201d in managing its international relations.<\/p>\n<p>According to a senior official \u201cThe challenge now is to try to get the Sri Lankan Government to put as much effort into implementation of the LLRC recommendations as they did into trying to defeat the resolution\u201d. Experienced Sri Lanka watchers may call this misplaced faith. However, in the hard-nosed pursuit of British interests they will use every tool in their inventory to achieve their objectives. And, in Sri Lanka\u2019s case a key element to this is the implementation of the LLRC\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>Canada\u2019s threat to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be hosted by Sri Lanka in 2013 has been overt. The UKs position is veiled and is illustrated by the answer to a question in the House of Lords from the former leader of the Liberal Democrats Lord Steel of Aikwood, i.e.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo ask Her Majesty&#8217;s Government whether, in the light of the television programme \u2018Sri Lanka&#8217;s Killing Fields\u2019 broadcast on 14 March concerning the treatment of Tamils, they will oppose Sri Lanka being host to the scheduled Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Minister of State, FCO (Lord Howell of Guildford):<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce again, Channel 4 has brought to international attention important and disturbing evidence to support allegations of grave abuses in Sri Lanka. The UK will urge the United Nations Human Rights Council to pass a resolution which calls on Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and meet its international obligations to investigate allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.<\/p>\n<p>The UK believes that the host of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting should uphold the Commonwealth values of good governance and respect for human rights. We will look to Sri Lanka to demonstrate its commitment to these values, both now, and in the run up to 2013. A key part of this will be to address longstanding issues around accountability and reconciliation after the war\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>You can draw your own conclusions on the message that lies between the lines.<\/p>\n<p>The resolution that was passed in Geneva was driven by the United States. It is not obvious that this was the preferred route of the FCO. However, when the Hon. Alistair Burt, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the FCO chose to extend Her Majesty\u2019s Government\u2019s support to it at the Westminster Hall debate on Sri Lanka held prior to the 19<sup>th<\/sup> session of the UNHRC, every sinew of FCO muscle was exercised in ensuring it was carried successfully.\u00a0 In the words of a senior FCO mandarin \u201cThis was a genuinely significant achievement for the US, requiring support from many quarters. Our contribution required a huge and sustained lobbying effort across the FCO network of posts to secure support for the resolution. We now need to focus on implementation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The resolution has a ticking clock embedded in it and Sri Lanka\u2019s compliance will be measured against this. If its policy makers fail to satisfy its conditions by drawing \u201ca comprehensive action plan detailing the steps that the Government has taken and will take to implement the recommendations made in the Commission\u2019s report\u201d look forward to a busy \u201cHuman Rights Council at its twenty-second session\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, all this was done at a point in the electoral cycle where the impact of political activism on policy outcomes is at its lowest ebb; that is, early in the life of a parliament. Unlike in Sri Lanka, FCO ministers do not indulge in the habit of overruling the advice they receive from their mandarins. Although, the propensity to do so increases once we cross the mid-term of one.<\/p>\n<p>There now exists a view among all mainstream parties in the United Kingdom that, barring colossal political blundering, the time of securing outright majorities in the House of Commons through generic campaigns has elapsed; and, that they now need to engage with \u2018vote blocs\u2019. British Tamils constitute the largest single issue vote bloc in southern England. While, ministers would have been cognisant of their sentiments in determining FCO policy with respect to Sri Lanka this year; they will yield to their call for an independent international inquiry next year if Sri Lanka fails to \u201cexpeditiously as possible&#8230;address alleged violations of international law\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Of course the above analysis is silent on FCO ministers taking principled positions on matters of policy. However, the incumbent coalition government is deeply wedded to libertarian values \u2013just ask Colonel Gaddafi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":36665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>On Her Majesty\u2019s Service - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/on-her-majestys-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Her Majesty\u2019s Service - 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