{"id":69771,"date":"2013-01-15T23:02:25","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T23:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=69771"},"modified":"2013-01-19T00:30:35","modified_gmt":"2013-01-19T00:30:35","slug":"rajapaksas-crimes-and-complicity-of-the-international-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rajapaksas-crimes-and-complicity-of-the-international-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Rajapaksa\u2019s Crimes And Complicity Of The International Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kumbakarna<\/a><\/span> –<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/p><\/div>\n

Rajapakse<\/a><\/span>\u2019s \u00a0illegal impeachment by Parliament of the Chief Justice<\/a><\/span>, against the ruling of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal , and his subsequent campaign of intimidation and violence have brought Sri Lanka to a more new low. The truth of course is that it is a continuation of a process that has been in the making over many years, and could have been easily foreseen by anyone —- except by the so called International Community, especially the hypocritical UN, Western democracies , India and Japan, who did not want to see it coming , because they would then have had to acknowledge their own \u00a0\u201caccountability\u201d for Sri Lanka\u2019s descent into a failed \u00a0terror state and into genocide. And the worst is yet to come.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the courage and commitment to justice now displayed by judges of the Supreme Court and High Court, and the expressions of support for them, especially from the legal community and political and civic leaders crossing ethnic divisions, give reason for hope in the otherwise dismal Sri Lankan landscape.<\/p>\n

It is now a matter of absolute urgency , and at a minimum an act of self preservation, for the leaders of the protest movement against the illegal impeachment of the chief justice , especially the organizations \u00a0of the legal profession, like the Lawyers Collective, to send a public letter to leaders of the International Community, especially the UN Secretary General, UN high Commissioner for Human Rights and President Obama, holding them to account for their support for Rajapakse — despite credible allegations of his serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, subversion of democracy , rule of law, human rights and national reconciliation in contradiction of his solemn commitments to the UN Secretary General and the UN Human Rights Council ( UNHRC) \u00a0in May 2009— and requesting them to \u00a0support \u00a0an \u00a0independent international investigation of Rajapakse Government\u2019s actions during and after the war. President Obama bears a special responsibility, not least because key members \u00a0of the top \u00a0Government leadership \u00a0responsible for the alleged violations are either US citizens or Permanent Residents.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The protest leaders cannot be easily dismissed by the International Community (IC) as proxy for the dead LTTE<\/a><\/span>. This is not to excuse the responsibility of the LTTE for their huge blunders , crimes against civilians, and their misguided role in helping elect Rajapaksa, which Mr. Sampanthan<\/a><\/span> has courageously acknowledged.<\/p>\n

This is now an opportunity for all everyone involved — \u00a0including the international community — to seriously and honestly acknowledge and redress their mistakes \u00a0— and to bring those responsible to justice There is a general consensus that the Rajapaksas will not participate in such an effort, and that their promises are meaningless. Therefore the initiative must come from the Sinhala polity, and more importantly and urgently from the so called International Community \u00a0in accordance with their responsibilities under international human rights and humanitarian law. The IC has been \u00a0complicit\u00a0 \u00a0in Rajapksa\u2019s crimes without accountability, not only in the final months of the war, but also for years before and after ward \u2013 in the latter instance even after the LTTE had been decisively vanquished.<\/p>\n

The Rajapksas have reacted \u00a0to the protests against the illegal impeachment of the chief justice\u00a0 with their characteristic \u00a0brutality. They will use every means possible \u00a0\u00a0to retain their authoritarian hold on power, through the usual\u00a0 mix of terror, guile,\u00a0 barefaced lies, corruption\u00a0 and patronage , while\u00a0 maintaining a false\u00a0 fa\u00e7ade of a democracy\u00a0 and its trappings\u00a0 to fool the\u00a0 International Community.<\/p>\n

What better example of their success does one need \u00a0than the\u00a0 spectacle of Catholic Cardinal Malcom Ranjith<\/a><\/span>\u00a0 singing the praise of Gotabhaya<\/a><\/span>, the executioner in chief of \u00a0thousands of Tamils in his \u00a0own flock, at a public meeting in Mannar to announce the forced expropriation of land\u00a0 belonging to impoverished and cast out \u00a0Tamil Catholic villagers. It was not too long ago when the same Cardinal appearing before the LLRC, cautioned \u00a0\u00a0the Rajapksa government \u00a0against \u201cmass colonization\u201d\u00a0 and forced \u201cchange in the ethnic ratio of the Northern and Eastern Provinces\u201d. Clearly the Rajapksas have the ability to perform miracles even with a Prince of St Peter\u2019s Church !<\/p>\n

Complicit International Community (IC)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The truth, which has not been recognized\u00a0 in\u00a0 current commentaries, \u00a0is that the Rajapakses\u2019 \u00a0success\u00a0 so far has been due\u00a0 \u00a0not only\u00a0 to their total \u00a0control of all \u00a0internal\u00a0 levers \u00a0of power \u00a0untrammeled\u00a0 by \u00a0considerations\u00a0 such as \u00a0of rule of law, the Constitution\u00a0 and natural justice, but also, perhaps even more importantly, to \u00a0the \u00a0support \u00a0and protection \u00a0provided\u00a0 by \u00a0the so called International Community, even after the demise of the LTTE.<\/p>\n

The following quote from the former foreign minister of Australia sums\u00a0 up the\u00a0 failure of the\u00a0 IC.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the worst atrocity crime stories of recent decades has barely registered in the world\u2019s collective conscience. We remember and acknowledge the shame of Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. We agonize about the failure to halt the atrocities being committed almost daily in Syria. But, at least until now, the world has paid almost no attention to war crimes and crimes against humanity comparable in their savagery to any of these: the killing fields Sri Lanka in 2009\u201d — Gareth Evans\u2014 Remembering Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing fields\u201d -October 26, 2012.Project Syndicate<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In fact, \u00a0comprehensive\u00a0 evidence of \u00a0Rajapaksas\u2019 \u00a0war and other \u00a0crimes and \u00a0\u00a0IC\u2019s complicity \u00a0is readily \u00a0\u00a0available \u00a0in the reports of the UN Panel of Experts on Accountability, the UN Internal Review of UN Actions in Sri Lanka, and in the WikiLeak<\/a><\/span> US embassy cables compiled by \u00a0in the Colombo Telegraph and other sources.<\/p>\n

It is\u00a0 now also \u00a0\u00a0imperative \u00a0that\u00a0\u00a0 commentators\u00a0 and activists\u00a0 of the standing of Dr. Saravanamuttu<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0 Tisaranee Gunasekara<\/a><\/span> and others\u00a0 s use these sources\u00a0\u00a0 to draw public attention\u00a0 to\u00a0 Rajapksa\u2019s crimes and\u00a0 to\u00a0 the complicit actions of the IC , especially those \u00a0governments with democratic credentials , and ask them\u00a0\u00a0 to take\u00a0 urgent\u00a0 and specific remedial \u00a0actions \u00a0on Sri Lanka during the forthcoming meeting of the UN Human Rights Council<\/a><\/span>, \u00a0as they have done in all other recent cases of mass atrocities against civilians<\/p>\n

Perhaps those in Colombo Telegraph who have been compiling the WikiLeak cables \u00a0will do a serious analysis of them. It will be an important complement to the UN\u2019s internal \u00a0review of UN actions in Sri Lanka which exposed the concurrent failures of the UN. Such a study \u00a0will \u00a0also doubtless reveal\u00a0 the malign role played \u00a0particularly by Mr. Robert Blake<\/a><\/span> as \u00a0the pivotal figure in US policy on Sri Lanka, as Ambassador and as Assistant Secretary\u00a0 for South Asia, for\u00a0 almost \u00a0the entire eight year period of \u00a0the Rajapaksa presidency to date. Accountability never had a chance.<\/p>\n

The UN Internal review \u00a0has spelled out in detail the grave and deliberate failures of the UN, (including senior officials close to the Secretary General)\u00a0 \u00a0and its Member States to protect \u201chundreds of thousands of civilians and in contradiction with the principles and responsibilities adopted by Member States and the Secretariat, agencies and programs.\u201d \u00a0 The UN review Panel has also noted that the UN\u2019s failures in Sri Lanka reflected effective control exercised\u00a0 over UN actions\u00a0 by major Member States, including their \u00a0overriding concern \u00a0to avoid any mention of potential \u00a0war crimes and other violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the Sri Lankan Government.<\/p>\n

This would not be \u00a0news as far\u00a0 as China and Russia are concerned, but the same pattern has been followed by other countries with democratic credentials \u00a0in other contexts as well, \u00a0, as is evident\u00a0 from\u00a0 \u00a0wikileak \u00a0US \u00a0cables, \u00a0\u00a0past\u00a0 statements by the Co Chairs, and infrequent public statements by US officials, — \u00a0at least since 2006 when Rajapakses \u00a0assumed \u00a0control of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Anyone who needs convincing\u00a0 should\u00a0 read\u00a0 at least Mr.Blake\u2019s \u00a0horrific WikiLeak cable of May 18, 2007, (WikiLeaks – US embassy cable (18 May 2007) : Sri Lankan government accused of complicity in human rights abuses<\/a>\u00a0 The Guardian ) about grave\u00a0 crimes committed\u00a0 with impunity and with the complicity of the Defense Secretary ,\u00a0 against civilians in the North East , including systematic use of sexual abuse and rape. Blake\u2019s cables during the months long\u00a0 massacre of civilians in 2009, show that the \u00a0\u00a0Sri Lanka Co- Chairs deliberately chose not to make public, even at the UN,\u00a0 their knowledge, including satellite imagery, of the ongoing massacre of Tamil civilians and the repeatedly failed promises of the Rajapaksa \u00a0Government \u00a0that heavy weapons will not be used and that an adequate supply of food and medicines would be delivered.<\/p>\n

The International community was complicit in Rajapksa’s crimes not only during the war but also in the four years after,\u00a0 \u00a0in his flagrant failure to meet his commitments to the international Community in May 2009 on accountability , human rights, democracy, rule of law and reconciliation, \u00a0resulting in serious and ever widening violations with \u00a0impunity and consequent destruction of democratic institutions, rule of law , and of judicial independence, inevitably leading to the present crisis. Unfortunately, IC’s \u00a0complicity was helped by the Sinhala polity’s silence, as long as the victims of \u00a0Rajapaksa’s genocidal policies were the Tamil or Muslim minorities.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, therefore, the\u00a0 Rajapkses \u00a0have been emboldened to present\u00a0 a so called \u201c Action Plan\u201d \u00a0to UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) , which, as noted by the Center for Policy Alternatives and the International crisis Group,\u00a0 make \u00a0clear that the Government\u00a0 has \u00a0no intention of taking credible and concrete actions to enforce accountability for the alleged war crimes or to implement the recommendations of the LLRC<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

If the IC, and especially the US, is to retain any shred of credibility of their own, they must, in the context of the forthcoming meeting of the UNHRC,\u00a0 finally and firmly establish \u00a0an appropriate international process to make the Government accountable for its alleged crimes, and to implement its commitments made to IC in May 2009 as well as the \u00a0LLRC\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n

The reality is that what happens next will depend\u00a0 almost entirely\u00a0 on what the US does to redress\u00a0 the damage \u00a0it has \u00a0done \u00a0to Sri Lanka through its \u00a0complicit relationship with the Rajapakse\u00a0 Government. The Rajapakses, \u00a0for all their bluster,\u00a0 have\u00a0 a healthy concern\u00a0 about \u00a0what the US could do to them\u00a0 if it really wanted to, \u00a0having given them more than enough rope to hang\u00a0 themselves — especially with Gotabhaya and Basil Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span> \u00a0being \u00a0either\u00a0 US citizens\u00a0 or Permanent Residents. They\u00a0 also\u00a0 know too well that\u00a0 the \u00a0US war Crimes Office almost certainly\u00a0 has heavy dossiers on them and\u00a0 others in the Sri Lankan Government and military.<\/p>\n

It is \u00a0now long past time for the US to do the right thing and bring the\u00a0 the Rajapakses to\u00a0 justice , taking into account \u00a0\u00a0Sri Lankan pleas for relief from\u00a0 Rajapaksa\u2019s\u00a0 failed terror state, and in\u00a0 accordance with US responsibilities\u00a0 under\u00a0 US law and international human rights and humanitarian law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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