Strengthen our hands: Mangala tells UN
- Expresses willingness to use UN probe report in domestic process to investigate HR abuses
- Thanks council for agreeing to Govt. request not to formally discuss Lanka at current session
- Urges Sri Lankan Diaspora communities, international community to trust Govt. bona fides
- Four member team from Colombo, Washington, travel to Geneva for opening session
- Mangala meets Zeid on sidelines of session in Geneva
By Dharisha Bastians reporting from Geneva
Delivering the least combative speech the UN Human Rights Council has heard from a Sri Lankan official in years, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday assured the international community that his Government was sincere about reconciliation and accountability and expressed willingness to incorporate the findings of the UN probe report in a domestic mechanism to address allegations of major rights abuses during the war.
Addressing the high level segment of the UNHRC 28th Session in the Swiss city of Geneva last afternoon, the country’s top diplomat told a packed chamber that the election of President Maithripala Sirisena on 8 January offered Sri Lanka an unprecedented opportunity to fulfill human rights objectives and work on achieving reconciliation.
Before his address, Minister Samaraweera also participated in the ongoing #idefend campaign organised by the Delegation of the European Union to the UN in Geneva, in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the permanent missions of Brazil, South Korea and Tunisia, supporting civil society voices standing up against discrimination and prejudice and for human rights.
“The end of terrorism in May 2009 during the previous administration, though not without cost, was a necessity without which the restoration of human rights and equitable and sustainable development of the nation could not be achieved. However, with the Government at the time choosing to operate with a sense of impunity and a triumphalist approach, opportunities for reconciliation and restoration of human rights suffered,” the Foreign Minister told the UN, in a candid speech.
Minister Samaraweera asserted that the Government was firm in the belief that the journey of reconciliation and accountability is one that the people of Sri Lanka must embark upon on their own. “We do possess the competence, the skills, and the human resources required for this purpose. But we recognise that in this journey there is much that we can draw from the experience of others in the international community. We 
have much to gain from their advice, technical support and assistance,” the Minister said, in a marked reversal of previous Government positions articulated at the UN these past four years.
The Minister explained that discussions were already underway to look at ways and means of expanding the scope of human rights in line with internationally accepted standards.
“This includes examining incidents identified by these commissions as serious violations of human rights which warrant further investigations and a criminal justice response. The content of the Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka too can be taken into account by domestic investigative and judicial mechanisms which we are in the process of setting up,” the Minister said.
He added that the Government had already begun discussions regarding the nature of local mechanisms that should be put in place for this purpose including amendments to existing laws.
Delivering a report on progress achieved on the reconciliation front since assuming office 48 days ago, Minister Samaraweera said that the Government had passed witness protection legislation that had been delayed for five years, appointed civilian governors to the formerly embattled provinces of the North and East, decided to release 1000 acres of land seized by the military in the North and lifted bans on foreigners travelling to the Northern Province.
Minister Samaraweera, who arrived in Geneva from an official visit to Beijing late last week, told the Council that the new Sri Lankan Government had achieved much in its first 48 days in office. “There are many more hurdles to overcome including bureaucratic bottlenecks, entrenched attitudes resulting from the practices of the previous regime and extremist elements that attempt to derail the Government’s initiatives especially in the lead-up to the upcoming Parliamentary election,” he explained.
“I assure this Council that the political will and commitment required for this purpose has not diminished in any way,” the Minister asserted.
Strained ties
Setting the tone for ‘resetting’ relations with the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with whom the previous Government had a thorny and tense relationship, Samaraweera acknowledged that Sri Lanka had moved away from a cooperative approach with the international community over the last few years and called it an ‘aberration’.
“It was not in keeping with our nation’s interests or with our nation’s character and personality,” the Minister said. The Sri Lankan Government has had running battles with UN officials since 2012, when the first resolution was adopted at the Human Rights Council, with senior ministers flaying UN high commissioners for bias and unprofessionalism during their speeches.
Minister Samaraweera thanked the High Commissioner and the President of the Council for agreeing to the Government’s request not to discuss the Sri Lankan situation formally during the present session of the UNHRC.
He reiterated an invitation extended to UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances to Sri Lanka. “The Government has invited Pablo de Greiff, the Special Rapporteur on truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence to visit Sri Lanka for consultations. He has proposed to visit us at the end of this month,” the Minister added.
He called for support from Sri Lanka’s international partners and assistance from the donor community for resettlement processes underway in the island. In conclusion, the Foreign Minister also reached out to Sri Lankans living overseas.
“I urge this Council, the High Commissioner, our bilateral partners, international organisations and also the Sri Lankan Diaspora, all who wish our country to succeed, to trust us, have faith in us, support us and strengthen our hand,” the Minister urged.
Hardline sections of the Tamil Diaspora has expressed fury with a series of protests over the deferral of the UN probe report on Sri Lanka by six months, seen as a major victory for the new Government.
Minister Samaraweera was scheduled to meet with the UN High Commissioner Zeid in Geneva for talks last evening.
A four-member team travelled to Geneva to represent Sri Lanka at the opening meeting of the UNHRC 28th Session, including Minister Samaraweera, Ambassador to Washington Prasad Kariyawasam, Director General UN Division, Maheshini Kolonne and Deputy Solicitor General Yasantha Kodagoda.
Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha will lead the Sri Lankan delegation for the remainder of the session which ends on 27 March.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also attended the UNHRC opening session and addressed the high-level segment yesterday.
| Kerry hails UNHRC role in Sri Lanka
US Secretary of State John Kerry upheld the ‘indispensable’ role played by the UN Human Rights Council in Sri Lanka, as the 28th Session of the main rights body opened in this Swiss city yesterday. |
“Eventually – not always overnight, but eventually – that pressure often translates into the kind of change that saves lives and expands freedom,” the US Secretary of State noted during his remarks during the morning session.
