Human rights battle with US to be pursued

In a growing diplomatic row between Sri Lanka and the United States, the Government wants to pursue the controversy over the US human rights report on Sri Lanka despite Washington’s insistence that it stands by the report’s contents. The Government will submit a detailed report to the US Embassy in Colombo, Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said yesterday.

“We have called for reports from the various Government stakeholders who have been commented upon in the US report,” he told The Sunday Times. On Friday, Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama summoned US Ambassador Robert O’ Blake to “express Sri Lanka’s serious concerns about the recently released US State Department’s 2007 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Sri Lanka.” The Foreign Ministry in a statement said the report “presents a distorted view of the actual situation in Sri Lanka” and is “unfortunately a litany of unsubstantiated allegations, innuendo and vituperative exaggerations.”

Within minutes of this statement being issued, US Embassy said in a press release that “the US Government stands by the report.” The embassy said, “Our goal in the annual, Congressionally-mandated Reports on Human Rights Practices, which are issued for 196 countries, is always to be fair and objective. We welcome information from governments and other parties to correct what are perceived to be inaccuracies. We look forward to continued dialogue with the Government to address human rights concerns.”

Hard on the heels of the Foreign Ministry statement, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights issued an even lengthier statement. It said the US report contains “numerous inaccuracies and paints a lopsided picture of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.”

Minister Samarasinghe acknowledged that there were problems and issues that needed to be addressed on human rights. He said the government was taking steps to correct them. “What we want is a balanced view of what is happening here. Give us credit for the positive things we are doing,” he urged.

Mr. Samarasinghe led the Sri Lanka delegation to the UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva where several countries criticized the Government’s human rights record.