Minister Samarasinghe says Sri Lanka’s Opposition to the Resolution was a fight on a matter of Principle
Posted on March 13th, 2014
Media Release Sri Lanka MissionGeneva.
Minister of Plantation Industries and Special Envoy of the President on Human Rights, Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe has said Sri Lanka’s opposition to the Resolution being moved by the US, UK and a few other countries against Sri Lanka was a fight on a matter of principle and that Sri Lanka would not compromise on it. Noting that what is happening to Sri Lanka today, could happen to any other NAM country tomorrow, Minister Samarasinghe called upon all Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states to continue to show solidarity with Sri Lanka.
Minister Samarasinghe made these observations when he addressed the Permanent Representatives and delegates of the cross regional Non-Aligned Group in Geneva, on the sidelines of the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council today (13th March 2014). Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ravinatha Aryasinha was also associated with the Minister at this briefing.
The Minister who had earlier this week addressed the Asia –Pacific Regional Group of Member and Observer States and the Latin American Group of Countries at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, said Sri Lanka over the years was a country that had continued to engage with the international community and needed no Resolutions encouraging it to do so. He said on this occasion too Sri Lanka was briefing that various groups and has been proactive and shared information in a transparent manner.
Recalling the challenges faced by the country in the aftermath of the conflict, Minister Samarasinghe pointed out that Sri Lanka looked after the internally displaced persons of around 300,000 taking care of their every need, leading to their resettlement after the completion of de-mining in their native habitats. The Minister also said that Sri Lanka has rehabilitated around 12,000 ex-combatants and former child soldiers have been reunited with their families while others have been provided with tertiary education, all within the space of under five years.
Briefing the cross regional Non-Aligned Group, Minister Samarasinghe also said that the Government of Sri Lanka had undertaken massive reconstruction of the former war ravaged areas and has invested heavily in its economic and infrastructure development. Having done all this, the Minister said, the Government was looking at also accounting to its own population. He said a Commission of Inquiry on Missing Persons had been appointed and census was in the process of being carried out to ascertain the number of people killed during the conflict.
He underlined the commitment of the Government of Sri Lanka to achieve comprehensive reconciliation. It was in order to achieve this objective, the Minister said, that Sri Lanka was requesting the cooperation of the international community, especially the western nations which have a large number of Sri Lankans domiciled in their countries, for their cooperation.
He also recalled the visit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Sri Lanka in August 2013 and the subsequent visit of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of the Internally Displaced Persons in December 2013. The Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants is due to visit Sri Lanka in May 2014 while the Special Rapporteur on Education has also been invited.
The Minister said that while Sri Lanka has continued to demonstrate its cooperation with the UN and the international community through its bilateral and multilateral engagements, it was disappointing to note that the country had been singled out through this Resolution. The Minister added that the country has its own domestic mechanisms to reach reconciliation and has continued to show progress and constructive engagement.
Minister Samarasinghe, together with Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva, the Leader of the House and Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management, is due to address the African Group as well as the Group of Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) next week.
Sri Lanka Mission
Geneva.
13March 2014
March 14th, 2014 at 10:56 am
Well stated, Minister Samarasinghe !
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Referring to Lanka’s main problems :
The TNA has to accept that the North is part of Lanka, is dependent totally on Lanka for their needs, and that geographically and economically the North was, is, and will be part of Lanka. Till then, we have to see them as “non-cooperative”.
The TNA has to accept Democratic norms. Are they a Democratic political party ? Are they a National minded political party ? NO ! It appears to us to be political party sunk in the narrow depths of ‘I, me and myself’ being Tamil only. Yet, they are first to yowl for help from the rest of Lanka when things go awry for them due to Caste/poverty binds. When the Army goes in to quell troubles there, they are first to yell ‘genocide of Tamils’ ! Watch it with the TNA – their methods are are diabolic !
At least, they ought to allow the earlier residents (Sinhala & Muslim) to return to the North, if they so wish, and ensure their safety.
Till they widen their outlook, the TNA is in trouble with the rest of Lanka. The same goes for other ethnic and religious groups.
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Something is very wrong with the way governance is set up in Lanka. The methods of governance are set up for the country to lose through over competition & take over, and not conducive to co-operation among the different ethnic and religious groups. We are set up to squabble and quarrel for the rest of our lives. And this of course ensures that foreign countries can have a field day at our expense. The ‘divide & rule’ principle set up by the British Empire is very much alive through misuse of Democratic norms.
To go on repeating the same experiment and expect a different result is insanity, said Einstein. That is why Lanka, from time to time, seems like a ‘pisang kotuwa’ !!
We have to have a National Government as well as only National political parties. Otherwise, we are sunk in a quagmire of infighting forever.
What is a National Govt. ?
(extracts from the net with a few additions)
A national government is the government at the nation-state level. It is the political organisation that maintains control of a nation. A national government is also known as the central government.
A national government is coalition government with members of all parties in the legislature. A national government; a national unity government or a national union government is usually formed during a crisis, during a time of war or other national emergency.
In the United Kingdom the term National Government refers to a coalition of some or all major political parties. In a historical sense it usually refers primarily to the governments of Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain which held office from 1931 until 1940. Today such governments are referred to as coalition governments.
What is National level government?
The government that takes care of things that need to be done state wise.
Question : What Types of Services Do States Provide to the National Government?
Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution describes the national government’s obligations to the states. These obligations include protecting the states from foreign and domestic threats.
March 14th, 2014 at 12:55 pm
Why do we keep shooting ourselves in the foot?
Balendran Jeyakumari and her 13 year old daughter Vithushaini were arrested in the northern Kilinochchi district Thursday night after hundreds of military and police held them house-bound for hours.
Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said Jeyakumari was arrested for harboring a criminal who he says was hiding at her home and shot at officers during a raid.
Jeyakumari had been vocal in calling for the release of her 15-year-old son, a child recruit of the Tamil Tiger rebels whom she had handed to the military as fighting ended in 2009. Both the mother and daughter have been in the forefront of protests demanding details of war missing and were prominently featured in media photographs and videos including when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the country last year.
Jeyakumari is also a leader in mobilizing families of missing persons in her neighborhood.
The Govt published a photograph of her son in the front cover of a Government booklet distributed to the international community depicting the release of rehabilitated rebel fighters. He was not released, however, and his whereabouts are unknown.
March 14th, 2014 at 6:21 pm
Micro,
When will the “LTTE” recruit Balendran Jeyakumari and her 13 year old daughter Vithushaini?
That should do it.
Hope they will not bite the cyanide capsule!!!