The Sri Lankan government scored a victory at the UNHRC, yesterday, as the expanded draft resolution, co-sponsored by Sri Lanka, was adopted with 29 votes in favour.
“The decisive victory at this crucial time, just 10 days after the end of the war, sends a very positive message, as it shows the endorsement of the international community of Sri Lanka’s efforts to resolve the humanitarian challenges in the aftermath of the conflict,” said Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe.
The original draft co-sponsored by Sri Lanka, titled: “Assistance to Sri Lanka in the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,” was expanded from 17 paragraphs to 29 paragraphs in order to promote consensus among UNHRC members.
The resolution highlights Sri Lanka’s continued commitment towards the resettlement of IDPs and the rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers and ex-combatants within a national framework, and its commitment to an inclusive political solution to ensure sustainable peace.
However, twelve countries, including the EU, Mexico, Japan and Chile, voted against the resolution, while 6 countries abstained.
Dayan Jayathilaka, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the UN, in Geneva, said that this expanded resolution provided “the best synthesis of the sentiments of the Human Rights Council.”
“This resolution is not a hurrah for Sri Lanka, it is a sober document. It is a bridge between Sri Lanka and the world, and between Sri Lanka’s present and its future,” he said; adding that, “it sought to represent the maximum possible consensus. We have sought to make this the highest common denominator of the concerns of the Council with regard to Sri Lanka.”
The opposing countries, which included members of the EU, Japan, Mexico and Chile, among others, expressed reservations about several limitations in the adopted resolution.“This expanded resolution fails to call on the government of Sri Lanka to have an effective and independent inquiry into the violation of human rights and international humanitarian laws, nor does it address the problems faced by human rights defenders and journalists due to the lack of freedom of expression. It does not address the need for unhindered access to humanitarian agencies to the displaced and does not include a follow-up by the Council or a mechanism for the UN High Commissioner’s office for Human Rights to independently monitor the human rights situation in Sri Lanka,” said the German envoy to the UNHRC, speaking on behalf of the EU members.
In the meantime, Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry Secretary Prof. Rajiva Wijesinghe raised the need for international humanitarian agencies to work in collaboration with local NGOs.
“We need to build our own capacity and we intend to do so, we would welcome the assistance of the UN but we would monitor and make sure that is not a cascading effect of people who are making money from us,” he said.
“We want NGOs who bring aid -- and many have done a wonderful job -- but we also don’t want people sitting around and begging for the crumbs from the rich man’s table that should go our poor citizens,” he said.
Members of the non-aligned movement (excepting Chile) the African group and the Organization of Islamic Countries alleged that the move to call a special UN Human Rights Council session on Sri Lanka showed the double standards of the West when probing human rights violations.
“We hope that the UNHRC would also put equal emphasis to other conflicts in Asia or the Middle East, where the US army drone hit 2% of their targets with a rate of 98% of collateral losses,” said the Algerian Envoy to the UNHRC.
“This showed that this special session was distorted by double standards which hinder its universality,” he added.
UNhRC expresses concerns over overcrowding in IDP camps
The envoy of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed concerns about the impact of overcrowding in the 41 camps for the 300,000 internally displaced at the special session on Sri Lanka at the second plenary session of the UN Human rights Council (UNHRC).
“We calls upon the government to maintain the civilian nature of the sites and to ensure that law and order are maintained by the civilian Police,” the UNHCR envoy said. The UN High Commission for Refugees also urged for a timeline for the restoration of the freedom of movement for those detained in IDP camps, to establish a time bound screening policy for former combatants and to place them in facilities separate from civilians.
The UNHCR welcomed the governments move to allow 1,500 internally displaced who were either above the age of 60 or who had special needs to move out of camps.However, it urged the government to widen the criteria that allowed IDPs to be released from camps.
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