Harmonizing with Tamil diaspora befits President Rajapaksa’s much stated goal of an indigenous political solution
by Jehan Perera
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has reaffirmed his determination to appoint a panel of experts to advise him on Sri Lanka’s adherence to its international obligations pertaining to human rights. This has evoked a predictably negative response from the Sri Lankan government and, indeed, the more nationalist sections of civil society, whose position was that the elimination of the LTTE was necessary even at high cost for the restoration of normalcy in the country.
The government’s consistent position on this issue has been that whatever happened during the period of the war with the LTTE, and subsequently, is an internal matter. The government has also been very critical of those international and local organizations that have called for investigations into the allegations of human rights violations, with the local ones feeling more under threat than their international counterparts.
The biggest concern for the government in regard to the calls for such investigations is the charge of war crimes that allegedly took place in the last phase of the war. Such a charge can conceivably target the highest political authorities who had responsibility over the military. The President of Sudan has suffered this fate. He has been indicted for alleged war crimes in that country’s civil war. As a result President Bashir has had to limit his movements abroad for fear he might be arrested in a country that decides to cooperate with the International Criminal Court and its enforcement mechanisms. The reach of international law has become so unpredictable that high level Israeli government officials now find themselves compelled to restrict their international movements.
The danger for the Sri Lankan government leadership is that unless the issue of human rights violations and possible war crimes is effectively resolved it will continue to haunt them. International human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have become strong critics of the government’s human rights record. They have been in existence for several decades and are likely to continue to be in existence for several more decades to come. They have a mandate to investigate and prevent human rights violations worldwide. Once they believe that they have a case they are not likely to drop it, as it is part of their mandate and rationale for existence.
The government also faces another problem from beyond its borders that is unlikely to go away on its own. This is the more than one million strong Tamil diaspora, which is a very well organized and powerful lobby group. During the early years of the war, in the 1980s and 1990s, they were a formidable lobbying group for the LTTE and for its cause of a separate Tamil state. This changed with the September 11 terror attack in 2001 in the United States, which turned the international community against those who employed terrorist means to achieve their political ends. However, the elimination of the LTTE and the end of terrorism in Sri Lanka can once again strengthen the hand of the Tamil diaspora to lobby against Sri Lanka in the countries where they are now living.
The existence of international human rights organizations and the Tamil diaspora means that the pressure on the Sri Lankan government with regard to the human rights situation will not go away. The government may choose to ignore, denounce or resist this pressure, but the pressure will remain. The indications now are that the pressure will increase rather than decrease. The manner in which the UN appears to be standing its ground with regard to establishing an expert panel on Sri Lanka is an indication of this growing pressure. This will also embolden activists amongst the Tamil diaspora to increase their own lobbying efforts which give them a purpose that is larger than merely earning a mundane living abroad.
In this context, the swift mobilization of the Non Aligned Movement to oppose the UN decision to appoint an expert panel would have come as a welcome gesture of solidarity to the Sri Lankan government. In a letter to Mr Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary of the Non Aligned Movement which represents more than seventy countries said that the appointment of a panel of experts to monitor a member state was in contravention of the mandate of the UN. The strongly worded content of this letter was reminiscent of the equally strong statements that made last year in Geneva at the meeting of the UN’s Human Rights Council. The attempt by a section of that Council to pass a resolution critical of Sri Lanka and calling for an investigative mechanism to be set up was defeated by the majority of members.
The swift mobilization of the Non Aligned Movement, and last year of the majority of countries in the UN’s Human Rights Council, is a testimony to the diplomatic capacities of the Sri Lankan government. Many in the Non Aligned Movement would remember Sri Lanka’s successful hosting of the Non Aligned Conference in 1975, which took place in the newly constructed Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, a gift from China. Even today these countries see a need to keep together to resist international initiatives against some of their members that could be used to set a precedent and be used against them also in the future.
One of the strongest statements made after Sri Lanka’s victory at the UN’s Human Rights Council last year was the one made by the Indian representative. His statement was extremely critical of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navaneethan Pillay’s actions, which he described as overstepping the UN’s mandate by probing the affairs of a member state. Much the same sentiment can be seen in the statement of the Non Aligned Movement in opposing the UN Secretary General’s special measures to assess the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.
One of the reasons for Indian and other third world activism to keep the UN and other international bodies from intervening in Sri Lanka against the government’s wishes is not difficult to see. These countries have their own concerns that a course of interventionist action taken against Sri Lanka could also set a precedent against them in the near or distant future. For instance, Indian has for many years been resisting international efforts to mediate or engage in fact finding missions in Kashmir, where a high level of human rights violations has been reported. Other states of the Non Aligned Movement would also be having similar concerns, as they battle ethnic movements for autonomy and secession and have to endure a high level of human rights violations in doing so.
But with the international pressures for intervention mounting on Sri Lanka, it would be judicious if the government were to adopt a problem-solving approach that would take the concerns of the international community into account while safeguarding Sri Lanka’s own sovereignty and national interests. Accordingly, the Sri Lankan government can consider putting in place a credible investigation mechanism of its own to look into what happened in the past. This could be a fact finding commission accompanied by a truth and reconciliation process. It may be possible to reveal the truth of what happened, and the context in which those situations arose, where disclosure and not punishment is the goal. Such a process can distinguish between acts that primarily had a military motivation behind them, as against those in which a criminal motivation predominated.
The second component of the problem-solving approach would be to implement a political solution to the ethnic conflict. Even now the basic framework for such a framework exists in the form of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which is an outcome of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord of 1987. The Provincial Councils that have been established in term of that law are now well accepted by the general population who are now quite familiar with the Provincial Councils. Strengthening the Provincial Council system so that they will serve the people of the south and west, in addition to the north and east, could become the foundation of a political solution to the ethnic conflict. It could be used to address the unmet needs of the Tamil-speaking minorities of the north and east, without unduly upsetting the Sinhalese ethnic majority that the hand of Tamil separation is being strengthened.
I was in Calcutta last week to attend an international conference on the rights of minorities where Justice Rajinder Sachar, who was the chairperson of the high powered committee appointed by the Prime Minister in 2005 to investigate into the situation of Muslim and other minorities, delivered the concluding lecture. In discussion he suggested to me that India could reconcile the Tamil diaspora to working alongside the Sri Lankan government and civil society if justice was done to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. There are multiple advantages of working closely with India to fashion a solution to the ethnic conflict, and harmonizing with the Tamil diaspora is only one of them. Another important advantage would be to draw on India’s extensive knowledge on schemes of political autonomy and non-territorial autonomy which is has pioneered, and which can be considered as indigenous to Asia. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s much stated goal of an indigenous political solution may not be too far off if pursued with the requisite zeal. ~ dailymirror.lk ~
14 Comments
"the Sri Lankan government can consider putting in place a credible investigation mechanism of its own to look into what happened in the past. This could be a fact finding commission accompanied by a truth and reconciliation process"
This something that Sri Lanka sorely needs, but there is no indication that the government is even thinking about such a process. The 'home grown solution' has been alluded to with ad infinitum, but no substance has been forthcoming.
One can only hope that this situation will change after the parliamentary elections are concluded and the government is forced to concentrate on substantive issues for a change!
The mobilization of the Non Aligned Movement, and last year of the majority of countries in the UN’s Human Rights Council, is a testimony not of the diplomatic capacities of the Sri Lankan government but of the goodwill and reputation for democracy and human rights accumulated over decades.
If we continue to follow the current path of impunity and intolerance we may find ourselves isolated in time to come. Present confrontation with the Secretary General of the UN is not a good sign and a harbinger of future problems in international relations.
I am afraid the author has fallen into the trap set by the separatists. The Diaspora has not changed its agenda of a mono ethnic enclave despite window dressing it as ‘the rights of the minorities’. The fact remains the political dynamics in Sri Lanka have changed and an indigenous solution is the only one available.
Sri Lanka will utilise the ‘Non Aligned Movement’ to its advantage. Sri Lanka’s diplomatic skill is legendary in thwarting any such investigations into war crimes by the United Nations. The indigenous solution will enter via a new constitution post the general election and this will take the ‘wind out the sails’ of the Diaspora. Mahinda Rajapakse is a master politician well versed in the Machiavellian International political arts and is eons ahead of the vociferous Diaspora. The imposed Indian solution of provincial politics will also be eventually replaced with the passage of time as it is based on an Indian model, forced on Sri Lanka by Rajiv Gandhi, and is totally unsuitable for a small country like Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka will not surrender its sovereignty to the United Nations. An internal inquiry into the conduct of the war as the author suggests will render any such inquiry by the United Nation unnecessary. China and Russia armed with the veto will back Sri Lanka all the way as will India for its own geo-political reasons.
These countries will also support Sri Lanka against any charges from the International Criminal Court at the ‘security council’ by their veto. In addition, the Court has no jurisdiction in respect of a state which is not a party to the Rome Treaty except where there is a referral by the Security Council, or the state concerned voluntarily accepts such jurisdiction. Sri Lanka together with the USA, Russia, India, China and Israel are not party to the Rome treaty.
The UN was created developed by West(mostly EU,US)to safeguard their foreign interests while attack the countries who dont act as they say. Thats the role Mr.Ban (a US puppet like Mr Anan)is trying to do right now.His shameless efforts will undoubtedly fail, which will further deteriorate the already tarnished image of the organisation as an impartial one.All the paned he will name undoubtedly be consist of ex-diplomats from US,EU who openly supported LTTE. While their boys have turned Iraq, Afganistan and Israel into killing feilds, they are trying to determine how the last of LTTE leaders died.Poor fellows.We should have put them on trial and ask why did you kill innocent children,men,womes in the name of Elaam! wake up! Mr.Moon.You are naked!Big time!
We have been going round in many circles crisscrossing each other for more than six decades.
If we draw a bottomline of ''equality, freedom and human rights for all'', we can solve the problem easily. We have yet to have a political will to have the bottomline.
''these countries see a need to keep together to resist international initiatives against some of their members'' must change into
a situation where these countries help each other conform to internationally accepted norms which are the same for any human being, in the Southern hemisphere or in the Northern Hemisphere, in the East or the West.
It may be a bitter pill for a short while but better for the planet as a whole in the long run.
Instead these countries are behaving like adolescents concentrating on the pleasure of today forgetting the tomorrow, peril not only themselves, peril for the whole planet too.
Harmonising requires spiritual sensitivity.
Do Sri Lankans have a sensitised conscience or do they call evil as good and good as evil?
Right believing results in right living.
When a man lives with an evil conscience, his mind becomes defiled to the extent of justifying injustice and cruelty to another man.
On the other hand, a convicting conscience, makes a man not to engage in injustice, cruelty, murder, bloodshed, unkindness and corruption.
The conscience of a good man is thus like a "radar". It directs his path correctly.
When a man has a reprobate mind, his "radar" of conscience does not work and he always will think and engage in evil. His heart is hardened.
Truth does not lodge in His heart.
All the Sinhalese. regardless of their religion, must test their consci,nce and put their "radar" to work, if they desire reconciliation with Tamils and peace in the island.
If one believes in God as his creator and provider, he should go to Him and ask God humbly to put the "radar" to work.
How about the other way around diaspora hamonize with the precident.
.
Toooo late Mr. Perera.
When Prabhakaran decided to make Mahinda as the President of Srilanka, he had a vision.
He know that power hungry Rajapakse's are the best choice to deliver Tamil Eelam.
:-)
Jehan,
1976 NAM in Cbo did not bring much credit to Mrs.B locally because one of the reasons she was thrown out in a few months (1977) was in this Conference - when some of the most famous world leaders visited us and our people wanted to see them - Mrs B's Govt ordered our people out of the roads and confined them in-doors. I lived not far away from the BMICH and was under virtual house-arrest. Only her Govt, her relatives and friends hobknobbed with the dignitaries.
You are right. One of the reasons why NAM took the SL issue with the UN is because many of the leading countries have skeletons in their cup-boards (HR, denial of freedom and worse charges) and have no intention of opening a can of worms in their home ground. You will notice even China is now diluting her stand on the Iranian issue in the inspections - although China gets much of her oil from Ahmadinejad's rogue regime.
As to a local Inquiry,I think we burnt our boats in that Inquiry of the Trinco Pre-University youth's deaths. A way out is only something like the International Crisis Group. Even the Eminent Persons Group may do (Justice Bhagwati had cordial relations with MR's Govt but pulled out tired of the excesses and the culture of impunity here)
Justice Sachar's idea may work. The Tamil diaspora is not as LTTE-controlled as it is made to believe here. Non-partisan analysts estimate the core LTTE presence in the diaspora to be than 10%. MR/GoSL should go out to gather their cooperation and support. KP and friends would have given vital data and possibly divulged who should be reached and convinced to work with GoSL. I believe they will respond positively. In fact in the past few months many from Canada, USA, Europe, Australia have come and met the President (the hardcore LTTErs are calling them "traitors" and the like in their blogs. But this is to be expected) This is an indication there is much space to work on. This avenue should be pursued vigorously while, simultaneously, Tamils in the NEP must be shown increasing evidence their areas are being chosen for immediate development and employment-opportunities visible.
ISS
Still dancing to the wrong tune?
*** The government also faces another problem from beyond its borders that is unlikely to go away on its own. This is the more than one million strong Tamil diaspora, which is a very well organized and powerful lobby group. ****
LOL! Dear Jehan,
Are you talking about the Same 1 MILLION TERROR SUPPORTING DIASPORA that were unable to get ONE SINGLE COUNTRY to step in and intervene the DESTRUCTION of their LTTE TERRORIST MASTERS?
The TAMIL TERRORIST DIASPORA HAVE HAD THEIR LEADERSHIP DECAPITATED. they will Splinter and Fracture at best... most Tamils will give up their BOGUS ASSERTIONS of GENOCIDE and visit back this Christmas Season to Jaffna and most probably buy land there. The Rest of those donkeys who think they can still fight Sri Lanka and revive the LTTE are merely going to learn the hard way when we start carrying our some ISRAELI MOSSAD Style Hits on their Top Leadership who think they are Safe from us and free to preach their TERRORIST AGENDA against our country.
KP already learned this lesson. I assure you Rudrakumaran is Next.
Davinda
Sir you are watching too many spy movies you are also giving too much credit for the victory of the government forces time will tell how the whole world cooperated to defeat the LTTE to show the Talban they can do that to them too but the SL government gave an assurance to the whole world that they will have a solution for the Tamil problem so THAT IT WILL NOT GO BACK TO WAR.
People like you are the problem you guys want to shout at the top of your voice to show you are more Singhalese than the rest of the singhalese you should take a D.N.A test to realize who you are I know I am a Tamil and I am proud of it but do you know who you are ? according to me you are a singlese speaking Tamil.
Nathen
Nathen
*** I am a Tamil and I am proud of it but do you know who you are ? ***
Really Nathen? What is a TAMIL? Last I checked Tamil is ONLY a Language... Your GENES are not PURE and are certainly not a SINGLE RACE, but a MIXTURE of SOUTH INDIAN RACES which have a high Percent of DRAVIDIAN in them... so ASK YOURSELF the Same question Nathen. What exactly are YOU proud of? Because All I can see is a Bunch of MIXED MUTTS trying to rally around a common Ethnic IDENTITY and touting SUPREMACY over the rest of us and yet if you look ant the SORRY and PATHETIC state of affairs your So-called PURE and SUPERIOUR Ethnic group is ... I'd really not be so Proud right now...
And to answer your question of whom I am... I AM A SRI LANKAN.