Sri Lanka Statement On March 27 at the UNHRC

8/12/2019 Sri Lanka Statement On March 27 at the UNHRC

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amounts to an infringement of state so!ereignty and re0udgment of the

outcome of domestic rocesses.

/hus, the draft resolution before this Council, if adoted will not only constitute

a serious breach of )nternational Law, but create a dangerous recedent in the

conduct of international relations within the established global order of

so!ereign States and could ose a gra!e threat to the so!ereignty and

indeendence of Member States of the (nited *ations, which is enshrined in

the (* Charter.

Mr. President,

/he determination and comulsion of the roonents of the draft resolution to

consistently act against the interests of the Sri Lankan eole desite the

1o!ernment"s demonstration of continued rogress in the reconciliation

rocess, as well as its commitment to cooeration with the (* is a matter of

serious concern for my 1o!ernment. Singling out Sri Lanka for

disroortionate and undue attention in this Council, where such action is

unwarranted, is a !iolation of the basic rinciles which guide engagement

among states.

Mr. President,

/he draft resolution has also shifted the arametres of the current draft from

re!ious resolutions '2$% and %%$', to incororate new issues which essentially

remain at the le!el of general allegations, both unsubstantiated and

uncorroborated. /his is e!ident in the change in title itself, which now has the

addition of 3human rights", resumably with a !iew to e-anding the scoe of

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the resolution from the ast to the resent and the future, with no rationale to do

so and in order to the ser!e the !ested interests of a few. Such arbitrary shifting

of arametres is unaccetable.

Mr. President,

)n terms of content, the draft resolution is highly intrusi!e and oliticised, and

does not gi!e due regard or recognition to significant rogress made by Sri

Lanka in different asects of the reconciliation rocess, or to the domestic

mechanisms underway. /here is e!en distortion of secific e!ents, such as the

incident in 4eliweriya which is roected as an attack against unarmed

rotestors when the High Commissioner"s Reort itself roects it differently,

and has acknowledged that the rotest 3had turned !iolent". /here is also no

basis for the erroneous reference to election0related !iolence and intimidation in

relation to the *orthern Pro!incial Council, gi!en the ositi!e reorts on the

conduct of the election filed by international election obser!ers. /he outcome

of the election itself which resulted in the /amil *ational Alliance 5/*A6 arty

garnering 789 of the !ote is testimony to its democratic conduct.

/here are also allegations in the draft to 3se-ual and gender based !iolence",

reorts of intimidation and retaliation of ci!il society, !iolence against religious

minorities, which are not substantiated by a!ailable facts or statistics. Secificfactual information refuting such allegations was ro!ided by the 1o!ernment

in its :Comments; to the High Commissioner"s Reort, where it was also

ointed out that there is no secific information ro!ided in her Reort to

substantiate such allegations. Sri Lanka has


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Council sessions in 1ene!a including the current session. /he Council also

witnessed their acti!e articiation in informal negotiations on the draft

resolution. Similarly, in all reorted incidents on laces of worshi of all four

religions, the 1o!ernment has taken romt action to in!estigate such incidents

and take udicial action. /he 1o!ernment has not condoned any of these

incidents or attacks at any oint as is demonstrated through e!idence.

/he roonents of the resolution ha!e chosen not to recognise that the *ational

Plan of Action 5*PoA6 for the imlementation of the recommendations of the

LLRC has been formulated to address comrehensi!ely the recommendations

contained in the LLRC Reort. /he *PoA is sufficiently broad in scoe, and

also fle-ible in addressing issues as deemed necessary and rele!ant. /he

reuest to further broaden the scoe of the LLRC *PoA to adeuately address

all elements of the LLRC Reort is therefore being made without adeuate

analysis of the contours of the *PoA.

Mr. President,

/he #raft resolution is also artisan in making a

secial reference to the *orthern Pro!incial Council when in effect the

'=th Amendment accords a constitutionally enoined arity of status

to all ro!incial councils. /his >erati!e Paragrah is also inconsistent with thePreambular Paragrah which reaffirms that all Sri Lankans are entitled to the

full enoyment of their rights regardless of religion, belief or ethnicity, thus

highlighting the contradictions inherent to the draft.

/oday in Sri Lanka, the elected reresentati!es of the /amil eole ha!e a !oice

not only at the Centre but also at the ro!incial le!el, the /*A being the

go!erning arty in the *orthern Pro!incial Council. /he !ery fact that elections

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/he draft resolution in its key >erati!e Paragrah !ests the >ffice of the High

Commissioner for Human Rights with an in!estigati!e mandate in !iolation of

the HRC resolution 8$%&' and the )B ackage. )n addition to not ha!ing the

mandate to conduct an in!estigation, the >HCHR also does not ha!e the

caacity or the resources to do so. /his >erati!e Paragrah also contains lack

of clarity in reference to 3rele!ant e-erts", thus deceti!ely oening the door to

third arty elements in the guise of an in!estigation by the >HCHR. /he

reference to an international in!estigation mechanism is clear though crafted in

ambiguous language which could be oen to interretation. /he budgetary

imlications in the imlementation of the mechanism en!isaged in the draft

resolution are also of interest, considering that mandated acti!ities need to be

carried out through the regular budget. Secificity of mandated acti!ity is

therefore a rereuisite with regard to the budget. Additionally, this >erati!e

Paragrah which reuests the >HCHR to conduct an indeendent in!estigation

is mutually inconsistent with >erati!e Paragrah % which calls uon the

1o!ernment of Sri Lanka to conduct an indeendent and credible in!estigation

into alleged !iolations. /his again shows u the inherent contradictions

contained in this draft.

Mr. President,

By a deliberate failure to secify a time eriod in >erati!e Paragrah '8 5b6,

the draft resolution may confine its ambit between %88% and %882, by adotinga narrower interretation of the eriod co!ered by the LLRC, thus comletely

e-cluding the atrocities and !iolations of international human rights and

international humanitarian law committed by the L//@ rior to %88%. /hough

the mandate of the LLRC refers to a eriod between %' +ebruary %88% and '2

May %882, it may be noted that the Commission in its Reort states, that the

facts and circumstances which led to the failure of the Cease +ire Agreement

oerationali


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of the Reort. /he Commission recognierati!e

Paragrah '8 5b6 of the draft resolution as it is resently constituted is structured

in such a artisan manner as to e-clude the alleged atrocities committed o!er

the entire duration of the conflict.

Mr. President,

/his !iolation of established methods of work of the Council, as well as the

deliberate lack of clarity of language in key >erati!e Paragrahs set a

dangerous recedent with wider rele!ance to all member and obser!er states of

this Council. )f the Council is to maintain its credibility, it is incumbent uon

all members to take note of such rocedural irregularities and halt their

continuation through the clear reection of resolutions such as this.

/he traectory that has emerged with regard to action on Sri Lanka in the

Council reflects the reconcei!ed, olitici


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and their legitimate asirations with regard to eace and reconciliation. )t is

recisely for this reason Mr. President, that the rescriti!e solutions ad!ocated

in this draft resolution, would be unsustainable and olitically untenable.

)t is in this conte-t that we are disaointed to obser!e that a key imerati!e

dri!ing this resolution is not genuine concern for the welfare of the Sri Lankan

eole but electoral comulsions of some States at the behest of certain e-treme

elements with links to the L//@. Such biases and e-treme ideologies ignore the

ground realities, the legitimate asirations of the Sri Lankan eole, and

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on the best interests of the eole of Sri Lanka, and is a home grown rocess.

Let me assure the Council that Sri Lanka will remain steadfast in its consistent

osition of cooeration with the international community and the (nited

*ations.

Mr. President,

/he 1o!ernment of Sri Lanka therefore wishes to submit that the draft

resolution before this Council today erodes the so!ereignty of the eole of Sri

Lanka and the core !alues of the (* Charter, the (ni!ersal #eclaration on

Human Rights and the basic rinciles of law that ostulate euality among all

eole. ) therefore reuest members of the Council to reect this resolution by a

!ote.

/hank you.

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Sri Lanka Statement On March 27 at the UNHRC

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Transcript of Sri Lanka Statement On March 27 at the UNHRC