Appeal to UNHRC to reject draft resolution against Sri Lanka
Sri Lankans around the world urged the United Nations Human Rights
Council (UNHRC) to reject the proposed draft Resolution (HRC-25)
directed against Sri Lanka.
World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka issuing a press release said,
"The draft resolution is in contravention of the basic principles of the
UNHRC as enunciated in its 'Charter,' including the principles of
"universality, impartiality, objectivity, non-selectivity and
constructive international dialogue," along with the norms of fair play
and justice.
The draft Resolution raises concerns with respect to two sets of
issues: first, a purported increase in human rights violations in the
country; and second, a lack of progress with regard to accountability,
i.e. a lack of credible investigations into violations of humanitarian
rights laws allegedly committed during the last stages of the war.
With regard to the issue of human rights violations, the UNHRC has an
established mechanism to take up such matters - namely the Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) and therefore there is no justification for a
country- specific resolution.
With respect to the issue of accountability, the High Commissioner's
report of 24 February 2014 (A/HRC/25/23) that is intended to be the
basis of any Resolution adopted in the present sessions, cites two
sources of allegations regarding the issue of alleged violations of
humanitarian law: The Secretary General's Panel of Experts (POE) Report
of March 2011, and the Channel 4 videos.
The POE and Channel 4 videos have not at any stage been tabled
officially before the Council and Sri Lanka has had no opportunity to
respond to them before the Council. Thus, the credibility of these two
sources has never been tested. This is a serious violation of procedural
fairness.
Furthermore, with respect to the POE, there are allegations that
sample letters generated by Tamil Diaspora elements and sent online to
the Panel comprise a part of the evidence on which the Panel reached its
conclusions with regard to alleged violations of humanitarian law; that
satellite photos used by the Panel were manipulated; and that data on
humanitarian aid sent to the conflict zone by the Government of Sri
Lanka was deliberately under-reported.
With respect to the Channel 4 videos, the latest allegations against
them involve claims that witnesses used in the videos are "fully paid-up
members of the Tamil Tigers." These allegations are of so serious a
nature that they deserve to be investigated.
The draft Resolution (HRC-25) in its recommendations, requests the
High Commissioner, inter alia, "to investigate alleged violations of
abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka."
It should be noted that the UNHRC can avail itself of the UPR mechanism
to address these concerns, because the UPR mechanism is specifically
designed to ensure compliance with the principles of the UNHRC's
'Charter.'
The UN General Assembly Resolution 60/251 that set up the Human
Rights Council does not mandate, the Office of the High Commissioner to
engage in any investigation, leave alone "lead" an investigation into HR
violations.
Assigning such a mandate would be in violation of the UN Charter and
would furthermore set a dangerous precedent.
The Resolution should be rejected for these reasons.
We represent organizations and individuals in many countries.
Standing in solidarity with the great majority of people in Sri Lanka
and others who are of view that the UNHRC in pursuing country-specific
resolutions against Sri Lanka is exceeding its mandate and thereby
facilitating an erosion of international law, we urge the United Nations
to advise the Human Rights Council to reject the draft Resolution
(HRC-25), the press release stated.
- PMU
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