The ’great relief’ President Rajapaksa has gained from entrusting responsibilities to Premier Wickremesinghe is being used to ensure a “trouble free” period ahead when he plans to retire in two years. An area of much concern for him has remained the resolutions at the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. The shoddy handling of issues there both by the Foreign Ministry in Colombo and the Sri Lanka Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva has aggravated the situation with the last resolution calling upon member countries to resort to universal jurisdiction to deal with instances of human rights violations. Most damagingly external evidence gathering project has been initiated.
Incidentally, a few errors crept into references to the resolutions in last week’s reportage. The resolution 46/1 (Promoting reconciliation, accountability, and human rights in Sri Lanka) was passed in March 2021 and not in March 2020 as reported. Also, the reference of the resolution concerned was 46/1 and not 41/6 as reported.
President Rajapaksa’s plans vis-à-vis the UNHRC surfaced when Foreign Minister, G.L. Peiris, appeared in Geneva early this week. It was for the Council’s 50th sessions where there was no discussion on Sri Lanka. On such occasions, the usual practice has been for Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva to make a statement and the need for a Foreign Minister to be present does not arise. Even other countries follow the same practice. However, Peiris flew to Singapore for the Shangri La Asian Security conference and from there to Geneva.
He took the opportunity of making a speech last Monday at the 50th regular sessions. He was oblivious to the fact that it was the SLPP government, under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, (where he had been a cabinet minister), which removed independent institutions functioning under Parliament and vested more powers in the President. He also had a big hand in drafting the 20th Amendment that brought about the change. He now claimed: “We are actively engaged in evolving an all-party consensus regarding the need for the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, to consolidate seminal democratic values enshrined in Parliament, independent institutions and salutary checks and balances on the powers of the Executive.”
He added, “On the important aspect of the economy, to stabilize the situation and provide essentials for our people, we are formulating concrete measures which are expected to lead to an IMF supported programme. In moving forward, we are in dialogue with all stakeholders including domestic and international partners. We are putting together a coherent structure to place our economy back on a sustainable growth path and to provide for necessities such as food, fertiliser, energy, and medicines. The current situation and future reform measures have a potentially adverse impact on the lives and livelihoods of the poor and the vulnerable. In agreement, therefore, with the emphatic remarks by the distinguished High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, earlier this morning, Sri Lanka is firmly committed to targeted social protection measures to mitigate these consequences. We certainly recognize, as a core belief, that human rights are indivisible, interconnected, and interdependent.
“Over the past years, including at the 49th Session in March this year, we have interacted with the Council in addressing a series of issues raised in relation to Sri Lanka. Today, as we seek to redress grievances and issues in a broader social context, it is both compelling and challenging to demonstrate further tangible progress on post-conflict consolidation through domestic processes. We will continue to do so by active engagement with this Council.”
A Geneva-based diplomat who is familiar with details of meetings FM Peiris held including selective bilaterals over three days summed up the visit. “The whole reason the minister seems to have made the effort of travelling to Geneva, when Sri Lanka was not even on the agenda, was to indicate formally to the core-group of countries, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and other relevant member states, that Sri Lanka may be willing to negotiate the text of any future resolutions. This is particularly in September when the 51st sessions will be held. It is now known that a tough resolution will be placed before that session and will cover several new developments. That would include attacks on protestors, intimidation of journalists, declaration of emergency, intimidation of peaceful protestors by military personnel, as well as the counter attacks on the properties of parliamentarians. Further it could refer to the breakdown of rule of law, weakening of democracy and the selective nature of the police actions that followed the violence of May 9 and the lack of will from the Government to proceed with the investigation with vigour and conviction.”
The call for resort to universal jurisdiction has also been a cause for concern. That proviso makes violators liable for arrest in the countries which exercise universal jurisdiction to face charges under their laws. For example, it could apply, if there are accusations and if Gotabaya Rajapaksa chooses to return to the United States where he has a home in Los Angeles. An attempt to negotiate provisions in a future resolution, however, has not been successful.
The next day (Tuesday) after FM Peiris’s speech, the core group Canada, Germany, Malawi, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued a statement in Geneva. They said: “We recognise the significant challenges that Sri Lanka has been facing over recent months, causing great hardship for the Sri Lankan people.
“We note that protesters, have exercised their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of expression in recent months. We are deeply concerned by violent attacks on peaceful protestors and subsequent violence against government-aligned politicians and supporters. Those responsible for this violence must be held to account. We stress the crucial importance of upholding democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, and maintaining independent institutions. We also urge the Sri Lankan authorities to address long-standing impunity and corruption and underline the need for good governance and sound economic policies. Our concerns over surveillance and intimidation of civil society persist and we stress the importance of protecting civil society space.
“The Core Group calls on Sri Lanka to cooperate with the High Commissioner and her Office and is ready to support Sri Lanka on the implementation of HRC resolution 46/1.” The reference and the call to implement HRC resolution 46/1, it can be seen, rules out FM Peiris’ moves to negotiate the upcoming resolution. He also said in his speech that “The list of designated individuals, groups, and entities under the United Nations Regulation No. 1 of 2012 is being reviewed. As of now 318 individuals and four entitles are proposed to be delisted. This is a continuing exercise.”
The Sunday Times learnt that the four organizations to be delisted are the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), British Tamils Forum (BTF), Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) and the Global Tamil Forum (GTF). The spokesperson for the most effective of these organisations, Suren Surendiran of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) took to the twitter to demand “why and on what basis these four organisations and 318 persons were proscribed in the first place.” He demanded an apology for the proscription “for this baseless proscription as you delist” tagging President Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne and other relevant bodies.