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‘My successor will have a friendlier environment’
“I saw, in front of my eyes, Sri Lankans turning a page and starting a process of transformation,” outgoing UN Resident Coordinator Subinay Nandy said in an interview this week.
Pic by Anuradha Bandara
On the one hand, it was a transformation, Mr. Nandy described, reflecting upon the change in administration that took place last year.
“But on the other hand, it was resetting things and going back to the old Sri Lanka, the glorified Sri Lanka that the whole international community looked upon for tremendous social progresses,” he said.
Mr. Nandy left Sri Lanka yesterday after completing four years and eight months as Resident Coordinator. He takes up a new position in the UN Department of Political Affairs in New York for the Asia Pacific Region. His replacement is yet to be named.
There was a “challenging institutional environment” during the first three years of his tenure in Sri Lanka, Mr. Nandy said, diplomatically. But the situation now was “significantly better”.
His successor will have “a friendlier environment, a Government which wants to use United Nations support and a Government that is committed to all its obligations”.
The United Nations system has helped in the resettlement of more than 700,000 people over the last six years.
This was a rewarding experience, Mr. Nandy said: “Our particular contribution has been, not only to help then go back, but to help Government efforts to clear the area of mines, help them get access to their documentation and help them restore their livelihoods.”
But the UN also fought constantly on issues of protection of rights and dignity, so that people had their rightful choices. This bred tremendous satisfaction.
But there were also challenges linked to it. “In most of the resettlement processes, the physical side of moving people could be easily done,” Mr. Nandy explained. “But when you resettle people, there are certain agreed frameworks. For example, not many of them were able to go to their own lands.
You cannot just offer them another land. It has to be voluntary.”
“So we constantly negotiated this with the Government, the military authorities, with the defence establishment and that was challenging,” he continued. “Some would say that our job is essentially to help and offer humanitarian support.
But we as United Nations had also to ensure their rights were protected, not violated. Combining those two sides of the story and making our counterparts understand that this was also part of the solution was often challenging because many would say, ‘This is our country and we decide how to do it’.
President Maithripala Sirisena, in his first speech, affirmed his belief in and commitment to adhere and respect to all international norms and standards as well as respect all international commitments Sri Lanka has made.
“It was a tremendously rewarding experience to see that there was a change in the narrative of the Government of the country,” he smiled.
Sri Lanka must evolve and devise its own road map for reconciliation. In any society, reconciliation was a complex and comprehensive process.
“You can learn from other experiences but each and every society deals with reconciliation with its own specifics, its own uniqueness,” Mr. Nandy said. Everyone should understand that there cannot be a blueprint.”
In the past, after the end of the war, the narrative was that heavy investment in infrastructure will bring people together. But it has been proven that reconciliation has to start with trusting each other, being able to share a common platform, common truths and so on.
“We believe that was not happening enough, nor was there enough effort in the past years,” Mr. Nandy asserted. “But we saw a sea change here.”
“My experience is that trust would not come overnight,” he continued. “You have to start from small steps and look for more structural processes. We believe that the release of land was a good step to enhance confidence of the families in conflict affected areas.
The withdrawal of military from civilian functions was another good step that helped enhance or increase confidence. The discussion around the release of political prisoners, those who were detained without any charges for years, also instills confidence.”
“There had been quite a few demands for a civilian Governor (for the North) and that was done in one of the first few months,” he said. “I believe that quite a number of good steps were taken to instill confidence in the immediate term but the challenge will remain that in longer term.”
A judicial mechanism will be essential. Sri Lanka has made a commitment to create a judicial mechanism that meets international standards and enjoys the confidence of victims.
This was important, not for outsiders, but for Sri Lankans. Government leaders have acknowledged this in their statements.
“We do understand that there are dilemmas,” he accepted. “We are working very closely, as much as possible, to bring technical support, advisory support for the Government to look at different options. We look forward to continuing to help in those areas.”
Mr. Nandy declined to comment directly on reports of tensions between his office and Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran.
“As a representative of the Secretary-General in a country, I think it’s not incumbent upon me to make a comment about any conduct of a politician or political leader,” he said. “Our job is essentially to be part of the solution.”
“As I leave this country, I wish we had a more productive relationship with the Northern Provincial Council and the leadership,” he did add. “It has not happened for many different reasons.
I do understand that the political constraints that they may be under, which we probably do not experience in this way. But I wish them the very, very best.”
“It is very important that the polity remains united, now that you have started a process of new constitution-making,” he emphasised. “The Tamil community is a very important constituency.
They have to have common messages. We are very encouraged to see the spirit of collaboration and of finding a common solution from the Leader of the Opposition, his people and the leadership around him.”
“We hope that will be the way forward in terms of constructive engagement,” he said. “I do understand that there will be political imperatives for different groups.”
The UN would like to continue the work it has been doing on “constructive political engagement, constructive developmental engagement, and constructive engagement to protect people’s rights and dignities”.
On human rights, Sri Lanka is showing positive intents towards observing norms, standards and commitments. “You can see it in all areas,” Mr. Nandy said. “I think Sri Lanka has moved in the last one year,” he explained. “We have seen that significant steps have been taken.”
For instance, the country opened itself up to a visit by the Working Group on Disappearances. “There were certain tough messages coming out,” he affirmed. “But Sri Lanka is showing the courage to deal with the issues, not necessarily to hide it under anything.
In December, the Government signed up to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances and the UN is in discussions to draft supporting legislation.
“It used to be taboo to discuss these things,” he said. “I think there is clearly significant progress. Many people can tell you what is not there.
I, from my long association here, see the new processes unfolding. More importantly, these are backed by very serious commitment by the senior leadership of the country.”