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Rajapakshe hits out at SL’s foreign policy and foreign service following UNHRC vote
View(s):Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe yesterday blamed what he called a non-existent robust foreign policy and an inefficient foreign service for years which culminated in the international community losing faith in the country and passing numerous resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
He spoke to the Sunday Times in the aftermath of a strong resolution against Sri Lanka’s human rights record sponsored by the West was passed with 20 in favour, 20 abstentions and 7 against.
The Minister who went to Geneva for the opening sessions on the debate on the resolution against Sri Lanka and sat behind Foreign Minister Ali Sabry as he spoke said that as a result of such failures, the government is today facing challenges in the form of an external evidence-gathering mechanism created by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to document alleged human rights violations and potential travel bans against senior officers of the armed forces that defeated a terrorist group, the LTTE.
“We tried to negotiate with many countries explaining the developments on things we have already committed to with regard to replacing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, Office of Reparations and Office of Missing Persons (OMP) etc,” Minister Rajapakshe said.
On Thursday, Sri Lanka rejected resolution A/HRC/51/L.1 (Rev.1) titled “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka” tabled by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Malawi, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and the United States, which was adopted by a vote at UNHRC in Geneva.
In support of Sri Lanka’s position opposing the resolution, the delegation of Pakistan called for a vote. Twenty countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Finland, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland and the Republic of Korea voted in favour of the resolution. Seven countries- Bolivia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela voted against the resolution and 20 countries abstained on the vote.
Operative Paragraphs (OP) 8 of the Resolution seeks to continue the work initiated in last year’s resolution which created capacity within the Office of the High Commissioner to collect, consolidate, analyse and preserve information to support judicial and other proceedings.
Minister Rajapakshe also noted that Sri Lankan Foreign Service has become inefficient with politically affiliated and loyal people being appointed to key positions where many don’t have the capabilities to defend the interests of the country in the global arena.
” There were many MPs from the House of Commons in the UK who expressed opinions against Sri Lanka in the past based on the versions given by Tamil diaspora elements, not a single Sri Lankan diplomat sought a meeting with those MPs to present our case,” Minister said.
(Please visit political column for a detailed analysis of the UNHRC vote).
| GTF welcomes resolution against SL The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) has welcomed the resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC sessions, saying it was passed with minimal opposition among member countries. GTF noted that several countries which would have traditionally voted against such a resolution recognised the criticality of the Sri Lankan situation and decided to abstain. The GTF in a statement said that unlike previous years when the outcome at the UNHRC was eagerly sought mainly by the Tamil community, the interests and expectations this year were much more widespread. “GTF believes this convergence of concerns, fears and apprehensions offer hope for all the people of Sri Lanka to come together as equal citizens and communities.”
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| China outsmarts the West; Russia left with only a few friendsChina managed to outvote the United States and the West at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week 19-17 with 11 abstentions among the 47 voting countries when a UN report of alleged crimes against Chinese minorities came up for discussion. According to an AFP report, a “bombshell United Nations report” into China’s Xinjiang region, published on August 31, found torture allegations were credible and cited possible crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. Western countries sought to put the situation before the UN’s top rights body by seeking a debate on the report. The US and its allies were testing the water with a first-ever draft council decision targeting China by raising the issue at a low-key level. But in a moment of high drama in Geneva on Thursday, the stand-off ended in council members voting against debating the report. The sore defeat for Western nations laid bare the strength of China’s diplomatic leverage and the frailties of their own. On Tuesday, the UN General Assembly in New York will elect 14 new members to serve from 2023 to 2025. Meanwhile, on Friday, the Human Rights Council adopted its first-ever resolution on Russia’s domestic rights situation, appointing a special rapporteur to monitor abuses. Seventeen countries voted ‘yes’, six said ‘no’ and 24 abstained. Experts said the two votes showed the clear difference in diplomatic clout between China and Russia — two of the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council — with Moscow down to a handful of reliable friends following its invasion of Ukraine. |
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