New expectations

Biswal's visit opens new chapter in US-SL relations and the promise of a collaborative resolution in Geneva:

by Manjula Fernando

In what is seen as a major shift in stance, the US last week expressed its desire to help Sri Lanka overcome the Geneva challenge with a collaborative resolution and hinted that more benefits in the economic front would ensue if the country fell in line with its agenda.

During a press briefing in Colombo, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affair, Nisha Biswal, who was on her third visit to Sri Lanka this year, made no bones about what the US expected of the new government.

She said the new resolution the US Government intends to move at the UNHRC September sessions, would show Sri Lanka the way forward in addressing accountability issues.

"The US announced on Monday in Geneva that it will be offering a resolution in the September sessions of the Human Rights Council. We have also expressed that it will be a resolution, which we hope to offer collaboratively, working with the government of Sri Lanka and other key stake holders," she said.

A US resolution moved in March 2014, mandated a report on Sri Lanka by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which was to be tabled during the March 2015 sessions. However, the report titled 'Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka' was granted a onetime deferral by the High Commissioner in view of the new government in office.

Biswal said once this report is made available to them, they will be drafting the new resolution in collaboration with Sri Lanka and other stake holders including the 'core group' on Sri Lanka.

In Lanka's interest

Tom Malinowski, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, who accompanied Biswal to Sri Lanka, speaking on the domestic process, which the US intends supporting, said it would be very much in Sri Lanka's interest to maintain the trust and confidence of the international community, because it would give the space and time for the government to do things the right way.

The two senior officials who arrived in Sri Lanka on Tuesday (August 25) met President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on the same day, before meeting with a group from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) led by R. Sampanthan and Northern Chief Minister, C. V. Wigneswaran on Wednesday (26). The TNA, which had been quite vociferous demands for an international mechanism to probe war crimes allegations, was far from pleased with the US Government's decision to deviate from its original position and work collaboratively with Sri Lanka on the human rights front. Commenting on the reasons for the change of course, Biswal said, "We have recognised that there is a different opportunity that exists today, a different landscape to advance reconciliation."

A toning down of stance from obduracy to amelioration was all too visible in the statements made by Biswal and Malinowski, who conveyed the US Government's belief of a more durable outcome if there was a strong and credible domestic process to bring communities together.

This was a repeat of the message the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, had conveyed to the government during his visit to Sri Lanka in May.

Address difficult issues

Malinowski however, cautioned that the new resolution did not mean things were going to be easy, and urged the government to address difficult issues. Assuring that the US and the international community were not going to walk away from the issue in September, he said that despite tremendous amount of progress nothing would be judged on the basis of promises.

Claiming that their commitment to stay involved is based on a desire to see results, he pointed out that many important constituencies were looking at the outcome of the Geneva process.

The domestic process initiated by the former government was a non-event for the visiting US envoys. Official sources said the dignitaries neither met the members of the Paranagama Commission on missing persons nor did they receive a copy of their final report on the North and East disappearances, which is tipped to be handed over to the President shortly.

The report was earlier expected to be tabled at the September sessions of the Human Rights Council, as evidence of progress in the domestic mechanism. But the Sri Lankan Government had discussed new measures taken to address concerns regarding alleged human rights violations.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera following a ninety minute discussion with the visiting US senior officials told the media the US officials had welcomed government plans to address accountability issues through independent domestic mechanisms. Speaking of the economic rewards, Biswal said the US would be supportive of Sri Lanka's endeavour to take its rightful place on the economic stage. She said if economic governance and political governance were conducive, there would be increasing interest in US businesses to investing in SL, for its strategic location.