Opinion:

Sinister elements try their best to discredit Government

By K.M.H.C.B. Kulatunga

Needless to say the LTTE rump, certain INGOs and a handful of Western politicians are making a big effort for a regime change in Sri Lanka. From the day the news of an early presidential election was predicted in the media, the coffers of certain NGOs have been overflowing.

The UNHCR in session (file photo)

Having failed to challenge the strong Sri Lanka leadership which has maintained a clear cut foreign policy, giving utmost importance to the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, these sinister elements have made every effort to discredit the Government in the eyes of the international community.

Even after the change of leadership, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has continued to adopt the same stance against Sri Lanka for obvious reasons. It is pity that the UNHRC continues to be a platform for the stronger nations in the West to intimidate and meddle in internal matters of smaller nations in the guise of protecting human rights. At the same time, the UNHRC appears to be a toothless tiger against the gross human rights violations of the US-led NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Statement

Unfortunately, some of the local opportunistic and racial politicians in the Opposition too have joined the bandwagon to fulfill the goals of the LTTE rump and some Western politicians.

A day after the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a statement berating Sri Lanka and unfairly accusing the country of obstructing investigations, Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneshwaran made a similar statement. Wigneshwaran and his Tamil National Alliance (TNA) cohorts were in cahoots with those who distributed blank forms to be signed at the bottom, promising financial inducements to the signatories. The forms were to be filled later with concocted war crimes charges.

The TNA connection to the plot became crystal clear after what Wigneshwaran had said in Chennai - that the Government was arresting and intimidating those collecting evidence for the international investigation into its actions as it's "primary aim was to let no evidence leave the shores.'

This well calculated charge was aimed at the Government with renewed vigour since the TNA has been implicated squarely in the blank forms fiasco.

Crucial time

Delivering a lecture organised by People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) in Chennai, Wigneshwaran contended that the Lankan executive was 'emboldened by the series of decisions made by the Supreme Court in supporting bills and constitutional amendments and holding with the executive in the fundamental rights' cases.' He made many more charges amounting to contempt of court.

The NPC Chief Minister's remark comes at a crucial time when the Government has categorically rejected the investigation established by the UNHRC is not tantamount to concealing information. The Government has steadfastly maintained that it owes to the country's dignity not to subject its people to an investigation that does not conform to even the minimum requisites of justice and fair play. This position has been overwhelmingly endorsed by the Parliament.

It is a principled position which the Government chose to take that was supported by many countries in the Council, according to Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha.

Sovereign nation

In a hard-hitting response to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra'adf Al Hussein, Ambassador Aryasinghe has said that the contents of the news UNHRC release undoubtedly confirms the double standards being applied by the OHCHR vis-a-vis Sri Lanka.

"This type of action on your part would regrettably constrain constructive engagement which the Government of Sri Lanka has consistently sought to pursue," he was quoted as saying.

It is regrettable that a news release should have been issued on this matter attributed personally to the UNHRC questioning the integrity of a government of a sovereign nation which has been a member of the United Nations since 1955. Sri Lanka has contributed consistently to the United Nations system in numerous capacities by taking a lead in norm setting processes including the Law of the Sea Conference, disarmament and human rights.

Hence, it is unfortunate that the UNHRC news release has been issued without making any attempt to understand the context or content apparent from the media release of the Ministry of External Affairs dated November 5, 2014. In fact, the OHCHR has been inept in comprehending for reasons best known to it that the thrust of the concerns expressed by the government of Sri Lanka related to the flawed procedure of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL).

The government of Sri Lanka, its departments and agencies made no attempt whatsoever to prevent bona fide witnesses from submitting information to the investigation team. Neither was any attempt made to deter and intimidate individuals from submitting evidence. The submissions that the Investigation would have received by now would stand to prove this fact.

Meanwhile, the conduct of the OHCHR representatives in Sri Lanka too has been highly questionable. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) must answer the questions on whether it had distributed forms along with offers of monetary compensation for detailing war crimes charges against Sri Lanka or not.

War crimes

In his criticism of Sri Lanka and his statement that the Government has obstructed the so called investigation he has at no point denied the allegations that the OHCHR distributed forms with the promise of monetary compensation for detailing war crimes charges against Sri Lanka.

The UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein has issued a strongly-worded response to two recent allegations made by the Government - first, that the Panel investigating Sri Lanka (OISL) has made available war crimes complaint-forms to prospective signatories in the North and East; second, that the OHCHR and/or OISL had offered monetary compensation for testimony about war crimes.

The High Commissioner, in the aforementioned response, says, inter alia, "This continuing campaign of distortion and disinformation about the investigation, as well as the insidious attempts to prevent possible bonafide witnesses from submitting information to the investigating team, is an affront to the United Nations Human Rights Council, which mandated the investigation....Since the end of the conflict in 2009, Sri Lanka has continued to obstruct any independent investigation despite the persistent, compelling and widespread allegations that possible serious international crimes were committed by both sides during the conflict in Sri Lanka." The High Commissioner only needs to answer two questions;

(1) Did the OHCHR or OISL at any time make available complaint forms to prospective signatories in the North and East?

(2) Did the OHCHR or OISL at any time make arrangements for monetary compensation to be paid for such signatures and/or testimony?

Answers

If the OHCHR or OISL did not do either of the aforesaid, the High Commissioner is in the best position to say so. Unfortunately, nowhere in his statement does he expressly deny the Government's allegations. Instead, he accuses the Government of "distortion and disinformation," and "insidious attempts" against bona fide acts.

The UN High Commissioner on Human Rights must answer those questions clearly and directly.

Based on the answers to these questions, the public is fully capable of drawing the necessary inferences to decide whether the Government is guilty of "distortion and disinformation," "insidious" tactics, and so on, or whether in fact it is the OHCHR that is guilty of such things.

As Ambassador Aryasinha has said, Sri Lanka stands ready to share its experience in comprehensive demining as a 'best practice' with countries which are facing similar challenges. Noting that Sri Lanka's continuing progress in demining has been achieved by telescoping what according to some estimates was to take 15 - 20 years, into one of five - seven years duration, he said this was not only a rewarding experience for our people as they now move about freely across the country, but also a positive lesson for other conflict affected countries, where nationally owned and nationally driven programs could achieve their intended purposes, if the necessary political commitment, resolve and pragmatic vision is put in place".

Weapons

Aryasinha made these observations when he addressed the 16th Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the use of Mines, Booby-Traps and other Devices of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) last Wednesday at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons came as a result of an increased international realisation that the effects caused by certain conventional weapons may be excessively injurious and indiscriminate. The Convention and its Protocols together manifest a clear intention and commitment of the Contracting Parties to address this challenge effectively, through the adoption of national programs and measures.

The Government successfully embarked on an extremely difficult challenge of demining an area of approximately 5,000 square kilometers of land initially estimated to be contaminated with mines, out of which approximately 2,064 square kilometers were confirmed as hazardous areas.

The scale of the problem Sri Lanka faced in demining can be clearly seen from the number of mines and other devices unearthed and neutralised during the demining process. Over 1,128,336 explosive devices (1,712- anti tank, 615,669-anti personal and 510,955 UXOs) have been recovered as at September 2014.

Seventy five percent of the demining work had been allocated to the Sri Lanka Army, which was the largest single area assigned to any of the parties involved in demining and included most of the densely mined regions.

Out of the total confirmed hazardous area, 96.2% has already been cleared and only 78.8 square kilometers of territory remains to be cleared. It is expected that these areas too will be completely cleared in the near future.

Thanks to the efficient and effective demining process and also to the infrastructure development in the former terrorist battlefield, the Government was able to resettle a total of 510,710 persons (153,837 families) out of nearly 767,748 IDPs (226,824 families), in the Northern Province and 257,038 persons (72,987 families) in the Eastern Province.

While focusing on the operationalisation of the Amended Protocol II and considering matters arising from the annual reports presented by High Contracting Parties, it is imperative that special attention is paid to the development of technologies which could protect civilians.

Similarly, it is important that concerted efforts be taken to create greater awareness among the public about indiscriminate effects of mines, booby traps and other devices. It may also be timely to look into effective cooperation to ensure the well-being of victims in a more coordinated manner.

The UNHRC should look into all these notable feats since the defeat of terrorism and the efforts made by the Government to strengthen national reconciliation.