MEA slams US Embassy statement on cancellation of scribe training

• Govt. says Embassy had chosen to ignore official response from Govt. on disruption of workshop in Colombo
• Basis for US funding training programs for specific geographic region and one ethnic group unclear: MEA

A growing spat between the Government and the US Embassy in Colombo appeared to deepen yesterday, with the Ministry of External Affairs slamming a statement from the Mission expressing concern about media freedom in Sri Lanka.
In a statement issued to the media yesterday, the MEA said the US Embassy statement on 28 July had referred to incidents surrounding the cancellation of a training organised for Jaffna-based journalists, funded by the US Government through the Rights Now Collective.
“The basis for such training programs to be funded through the US Embassy is unclear, particularly when the target group has been limited to one geographical region and ethnic group,” the Government said in its response to the Embassy statement.
The MEA noted that it was unfortunate that the US Embassy had chosen to “ignore responses provided by the Government” following queries raised over the weekend by US Government officials, in a spirit of reciprocal engagement, both in Colombo and Washington DC.
“The ‘circumstances surrounding the cancellation’ of the event according to the statement, appear to be the protest that reportedly took place against the conduct of the workshop, which has been denounced by the US Embassy. It is noteworthy that the rights of these protestors to the freedom of assembly and expression are being inappropriately questioned by the Embassy, which further on in the same statement refers to these principles in the context of ‘those who interfere with both freedom of speech and freedom of assembly’,” the Government said, after unruly protests disrupted the third protest organised by a civil society movement since May this year.
The MEA observed that the US Embassy appeared to be selectively upholding these fundamental principles in Sri Lanka, depending on who is exercising the right, whereas such protests have been taking place all over the world, including in the USA, and on numerous occasions organised by extremist elements against the Sri Lankan State.
“Given the sensitivities involved when the country is going through a sensitive process of national reconciliation, restrictively targeting a specific group of people from a particular community or region can lead to a perpetuation of mistrust among communities, seriously hampering reconciliation efforts,” the MEA statement continued.
The Ministry said that if the Embassy had expressed concern about the reports of intimidation of media personnel the Ministry would have expected the sharing of specific details of such intimidation and harassment in the spirit of constructive engagement, “without making judgmental statements based on erroneous and biased information”. (DB)