‘US resolution, intrusive and politicised’
Rejecting
it as ‘intrusive and politicised,’ Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative
to UN in Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha said the US sponsored draft
resolution that is currently being circulated among members, ‘clearly
contravenes the accepted principles of conduct in the Human Rights
Council’.
At an informal meeting called by the US on Friday to discuss the
draft resolution on Sri Lanka which is to be tabled towards the end of
the session, Aryasinha warned the member states that this action was
‘precedent setting, and could in the medium-to-long term have an adverse
effect on all developing countries’.
“I express hope, that the US government and possible co-sponsors of
the resolution, would do nothing to endanger the delicate reconciliation
process ongoing in Sri Lanka, as well as the constructive engagement Sri
Lanka is presently pursuing with the United Nations, the Human Rights
Council, the High Commissioner and the Office of the High Commissioner
of Human Rights (OHCHR), as well as our bilateral partners,” he said in
a statement.
He said Sri Lanka took part in the informal meeting since it valued
the interest taken by member states and other stakeholders in the HRC on
Sri Lanka, but what is being perpetrated there is a political process
contrary to the principles of cooperation.
Referring to the report of the OHCHR sanctioned by the US resolution
of March 2012, the Ambassador said ‘the High Commissioner has gone
beyond her mandate in making recommendations which are arbitrary, highly
intrusive and of a politicised nature.’
In support of his stance he pointed out that she has not given due
recognition to the ongoing reconciliation process, implementation of the
LLRC action plan, the end of a 30 year long terrorism and averting a
human catastrophe.
He said contrary to what was made to believe by the US the draft was
far from a procedural resolution and did not have nexus to the earlier
resolution. He said it was intent on singling out countries for ‘naming
and shaming’.
Earlier Ambassador Aryasinha met the US Ambassador Donahoe and
conveyed to him that Sri Lanka rejected entirely the premise the
resolution is based on.
The Lankan PR stressed that his country was open for constructive
engagement with parties seeking ‘respectful dialogue’ on reconciliation.
The US resolution is to be tabled on March 21. |