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Stage set for David vs. Goliath battle in Geneva

February 25, 2012, 7:23 pmBy Shamindra Ferdinando in Geneva

The stage is now set for an excruciating David vs. Goliath style battle at the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) with the US alleging that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission had failed to address accountability issues in the wake of Sri Lanka’s triumph over LTTE terrorism. Sri Lanka defeated the LTTE on May 19, 2009 on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon in the Wanni.

The US, EU and a leading EU member state, UK are spearheading the campaign in which influential international human rights watchdogs and the LTTE rump are involved. The US-led group is exerting pressure on those countries not willing to vote against the resolution to either abstain or absent themselves. The US move prompted the Sri Lankan delegation to urge member states to consider their position on merit, though being asked to undermine Sri Lanka. External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris Friday said that the proposed resolution has nothing to do with well being of Sri Lanka. Instead it was an intrusive move on the part of some to avenge the defeat of the LTTE. Responding to a query by The Sunday Island, Leader of the House, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the ongoing campaign targeting the country’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva, and discussions in UK parliament over accountability issues in Sri Lanka were all part of the overall strategy in the run-up to the UNHRC sessions begining on Monday. (Feb. 27). The 19th sessions will continue till March 23. LTTE activists are expected to launch a protest campaign to coincide with the inauguration of the sessions tomorrow. The Office of Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, Ms. Tamara Kumanayakam, told The Sunday Island that LTTE activists had been summoned to Geneva in support of the US-EU-UK led campaign. The forthcoming LTTE protest could be the biggest in the region since the defeat of terrorism, mission sources said. The HRC consists of five regional groups - African States (Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Djibouti, Libya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda), Latin American and Caribbean states - Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay), Asian states - Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, the Maldives, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Thailand), Western Europe and other states (Austria, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, United States) and Eastern European states (Russia, Rumania, Czech Republic, Poland and Moldova). The US is expected to move the proposed resolution during the course of the sessions. During bilateral and multilateral discussions here over the past couple of days, those promoting the anti-Sri Lanka resolution asserted that the failure on the part of Sri Lanka to address accountability issues could lead to violence in the future. While emphasizing the need to address grievances and concerns of the Sri Lankan Tamil community, the US led group said the international community had a moral obligation to intervene. Prof. Peiris during bilateral and multilateral talks with member states of the UN body pointed out that the US claim of moral obligation on the part of the international community seemed hollow due to what was going in Iraq and Afghanistan and other countries since the launch of global war on terror over a decade ago. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva on Friday explained to UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navanethem Pillay, a South African, how the US-led strategy was going to derail the national reconciliation process. Undue external pressure would cause unrest and political turmoil, Minister de Silva warned, while accusing the UNHRC of being selective in its concern on the issue of accountability. He didn’t mince his words when he stressed that UNHRC’s concern on the execution of unarmed Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, by the US had been restricted to a mere statement to the media. Minister Peiris, too, pointed at several meetings the hypocrisy of the US and the British with regard to human rights. He warned that countries would lose their faith on UNHRC process if an influential section of the international community was allowed to manipulate the organization to advance its political strategies.