by-m.s.m.ayub
[ Daily Mirror ]
The focus of Tamil media has shifted from people entrapped in the one time LTTE held areas in Mullaitivu to the people in camps which are called welfare camps by the Government and detention camps by the anti-government elements. Tamil media or for that matter the Tamil politicians do not seem to place much emphasis after the physical decimation of the LTTE on the political solution to the ethnic problem that was once much talked about.
However, this surely does not mean that the politically conscious Tamils consider that the political solution they were fighting for is no more needed with the defeat of the Tigers. They seem to be nervous to speak about matters that would upset the euphoric psyche of the southern people. Occasionally some Tamil politicians are being heard meekly grumbling over the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Government to find a political solution to the ethnic problem. Otherwise Tamil media and politicians are obsessed now with the situation in the camps where the people displaced from all over the Wanni are housed.
It is clear that the Government cannot and would not hold them in camps forever or at least for years. Once the infrastructure including electricity and water supply is restored, roads, paddy fields, vegetable plots, surroundings of schools and houses, lakes and irrigation canals are cleared of landmines and booby traps and also once the houses damaged and destroyed by the war are repaired or rebuilt, people have to be resettled. Authorities might take steps to screen these internally displaced people (IDP) for possible LTTE cadres and sympathizers in the meantime.
Irrespective of the fact where these people live, in camps or in their original places, people would tend to talk politics and concentrate on the lethargy in the state machinery and again will begin to paint things in ethnic colours, once they begin to bury the harrowing memories of cruelty and the barbarity of the war. Even if the ordinary people do not want to see things in ethnic colours politicians in the South as well as in the North would show the things to them in such colours. Then again Tamil politicians will cry for political solutions and go on pilgrimages to Chennai, Delhi and Western capitals.
Under the present circumstances where the euphoria over the war victory coupled with majoritarian triumphalism reigns, the people in the North as well as the South, no one would dare to press the Government hard for a political solution since it would earn the wrath of the majority. But the question is what is the government going to do in this regard? One may argue that there is no need for a political solution or for that matter a pacification process now that the LTTE has been crushed, their leaders have been killed, every inch under their writ has been recaptured by the troops and the vast arsenal the outfit possessed has been confiscated by the state.
Also one may argue that even if the LTTE or any other Tamil group resumes another rebellion, it can be crushed as the LTTE, the most ruthless and powerful terrorist outfit in the world according to some analysts was decimated and that therefore, there is no point in wasting time and energy in finding political solutions to the Tamil grievances.
There have been controversies over many Tamil demands, but some of their demands such as the right to work in their own language are uncontestable. Those are the rights that cannot be given by any other community. They are birth rights of communities. Talking about giving rights to another community is itself a term soaked with racism. Any community can plunder rights of other communities if they have power, but no community can offer rights as the rights are natural. Only thing other communities can do is to recognize them and act accordingly. Likewise what the Tamils (not some of the Tamil parties) expect the rulers and the other communities is not to give them their rights, but to recognize them.
No one for the moment denies that the Government troops would crush any powerful or ruthless insurgency as they did in respect of the LTTE. But the important question one may pose in response to that is whether we should create a situation which can in turn present a bloody insurrection for us to test our military prowess destroying thousands of lives and property worth billions in the decades to come. Some form of reconciliatory process therefore must be in place to avert a re-emergence of ethnic animosities and recurrence of bloodshed. You may call this a political solution while another may treat it as a corrective measure. Even the stance of the JVP that is dead against the political solutions and devolution of power is that bringing about equality among communities would solve the current problem. It is an admission that there are inequalities among communities and the need for corrective measures.
However, the “universally” accepted term for the remedy for the Sri Lankan ethnic issue seems to be political solution or more specifically the devolution of power. The UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon, the Japanese special envoy Yasushi Akashi and various foreign leaders have been referring to a political solution to the ethnic problem during their recent visits to Sri Lanka. Indian leaders too are invariably calling for political solutions.
Government’s stance in this regard is extremely vague. President Mahinda Rajapaksa while addressing the nation to announce the defeat of the LTTE said in parliament on May 19 that, “it is necessary that the political solutions they need should be brought closer to them faster than any country or government in the world would bring.” This manifests that he has understood the need of corrective measures to the mishandling of issues by the past governments.
Also the joint communiqué issued by the Sri Lankan Government and the United Nations at the end of the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon’s visit to Sri Lanka last month said that “President Rajapaksa and the Secretary-General agreed that addressing the aspirations and grievances of all communities and working towards a lasting political solution was fundamental to ensuring long-term socio-economic development.”
However, Government does not seem to have a concrete programme to evolve any political solution other than the over dragged APRC process. On the other hand parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa a close ally of the Government ridiculed APRC Chairman Professor Tissa Vitharana openly claiming that President Rajapaksa had found fault with Vitharana for mentioning about the political solution at a meeting held to pay tribute to the security forces. This casts doubts on the credibility of the government.
Even if we agree on the need for a political solution, it is high time for the experts to survey whether devolution of power is the only structural setup that can ensure the rights of the various communities, since Sri Lanka has already experimented the system for the past twenty years.
However, taking into account the mood of the southern people, the degree of pressure on the Government for political solution and the confusion in the country over what the lasting solution should be, it is surmisable that the status quo in respect of political solution would be the same for some years to come.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Aid gets into Sri Lanka camps, few people get out: U.N.
[ Reuters ]
By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA (Reuters) - Humanitarian aid is getting into Sri Lanka's war displacement camps, but very few of the 280,000 people they house are being allowed out, the top United Nations aid official said on Friday.
U.N. emergency relief coordinator John Holmes said survivors of the brutal civil war that Colombo declared over in May needed to be permitted to resume normal lives in order to ease tensions in the country's northeast.
Aid vehicles carrying food, health and other supplies are now gaining access to the camps which were closed to trucks in the first days after the 25-year fighting stopped, Holmes told a news conference in Geneva.
"We do have pretty much full access to those camps at the moment," he said, noting that problems with overcrowding and inadequate water and sanitation facilities with the onset of disease-spreading monsoon rains were gradually being overcome.
"What is more worrying is the nature of the camps themselves. They could be described as internment camps in some respects, in the sense that people are not allowed to move freely in and out of them for the moment," Holmes continued.
Sri Lanka has said it is in control of the refugee situation and blasted Western governments for their attempts at the United Nations to shine a light on reported transgressions during and after its war against the separatist Tamil Tigers.
Sri Lanka's government has said it aims to have 80 percent of the population back to their villages of origin by the end of the year, and will work to give ethnic Tamils a strong political voice in the majority Sinhalese nation.
Holmes said United Nations officials are "discussing in a very intensive way with the government" ways to buoy the welfare of people in the camps and to help them get home quickly.
Such issues he said "are crucial, not only for the sake of the people in the camps, but also for the sake of the future political reconciliation which absolutely needs to happen."
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA (Reuters) - Humanitarian aid is getting into Sri Lanka's war displacement camps, but very few of the 280,000 people they house are being allowed out, the top United Nations aid official said on Friday.
U.N. emergency relief coordinator John Holmes said survivors of the brutal civil war that Colombo declared over in May needed to be permitted to resume normal lives in order to ease tensions in the country's northeast.
Aid vehicles carrying food, health and other supplies are now gaining access to the camps which were closed to trucks in the first days after the 25-year fighting stopped, Holmes told a news conference in Geneva.
"We do have pretty much full access to those camps at the moment," he said, noting that problems with overcrowding and inadequate water and sanitation facilities with the onset of disease-spreading monsoon rains were gradually being overcome.
"What is more worrying is the nature of the camps themselves. They could be described as internment camps in some respects, in the sense that people are not allowed to move freely in and out of them for the moment," Holmes continued.
Sri Lanka has said it is in control of the refugee situation and blasted Western governments for their attempts at the United Nations to shine a light on reported transgressions during and after its war against the separatist Tamil Tigers.
Sri Lanka's government has said it aims to have 80 percent of the population back to their villages of origin by the end of the year, and will work to give ethnic Tamils a strong political voice in the majority Sinhalese nation.
Holmes said United Nations officials are "discussing in a very intensive way with the government" ways to buoy the welfare of people in the camps and to help them get home quickly.
Such issues he said "are crucial, not only for the sake of the people in the camps, but also for the sake of the future political reconciliation which absolutely needs to happen."
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
China Crosses the Rubicon
[ Kosovo Times ][ Jun 19 17:30 GMT ]
This article is published honoring the exchange between members of the Project Syndicate network. "The Kosovo Times" is a member of the "Project Syndicate" network.By Wen LiaoLONDON – For two decades, Chinese diplomacy has been guided by the concept of the country’s “peaceful rise.” Today, however, China needs a new strategic doctrine, because the most remarkable aspect of Sri Lanka’s recent victory over the Tamil Tigers is not its overwhelming nature, but the fact that China provided President Mahinda Rajapaska with both the military supplies and diplomatic cover he needed to prosecute the war.Without that Chinese backing, Rajapaska’s government would have had neither the wherewithal nor the will to ignore world opinion in its offensive against the Tigers. So, not only has China become central to every aspect of the global financial and economic system, it has now demonstrated its strategic effectiveness in a region traditionally outside its orbit. On Sri Lanka’s beachfront battlefields, China’s “peaceful rise” was completed.What will this change mean in practice in the world’s hot spots like North Korea, Pakistan, and Central Asia?Before the global financial crisis hit, China benefited mightily from the long boom along its eastern and southern rim, with only Burma and North Korea causing instability. China’s west and south, however, have become sources of increasing worry.Given economic insecurity within China in the wake of the financial crisis and global recession, China’s government finds insecurity in neighbouring territories more threatening than ever. Stabilizing its neighbourhood is one reason why China embraces the six-party talks with North Korea, has become a big investor in Pakistan (while exploring ways to cooperate with President Barack Obama’s special representative, Richard Holbrooke), signed on to a joint Asia/Europe summit declaration calling for the release from detention of Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung Suu Kyi, and intervened to help end Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war.The calculus behind China’s emerging national security strategy is simple. Without peace and prosperity around China's long borders, there can be no peace, prosperity, and unity at home. China’s intervention in Sri Lanka, and its visibly mounting displeasure with the North Korean and Burmese regimes, suggests that this calculus has quietly become central to the government’s thinking.For example, though China said little in public about Russia’s invasion and dismemberment of Georgia last summer, Russia is making a strategic mistake if it equates China’s public silence with tacit acquiescence in the Kremlin’s claim to “privileged” influence in the post-Soviet countries to China’s west.Proof of China’s displeasure was first seen at the 2008 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (a regional grouping that includes former Soviet countries that share borders with China and Russia). Russian President Dmitri Medvedev pushed the SCO to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But the SCO balked. The group’s Central Asian members – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – would not have stood up to the Kremlin without China’s support.At this year’s just-concluded SCO summit, the pattern continued. The brief appearance of Iran’s disputed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have gained all the headlines, but China’s announcement of a $10 billion fund to support the budgets of financially distressed ex-Soviet states, which followed hard on a $3 billion investment in Turkmenistan and a $10 billion investment in Kazakhstan, provides more evidence that China now wants to shape events across Eurasia.Vladimir Putin famously described the break-up of the Soviet Union as the greatest geo-political catastrophe of the twentieth century. From China’s standpoint, however, the Soviet collapse was the greatest strategic gain imaginable. At a stroke, the empire that had gobbled up Chinese territories for centuries vanished. The Soviet military threat – once so severe that Chairman Mao invited President Richard Nixon to China to change the Cold War balance of power – was eliminated. China’s new assertiveness suggests that it will not allow Russia to forge a de facto Soviet Reunion and thus undo the post-Cold War settlement, under which China’s economy flourished and security increased.So far, China’s rulers have regarded emerging strategic competition with India, Japan, Russia, and the United States as a jostling for influence in Central and South Asia. China’s strategic imperatives in this competition are twofold: to ensure that no rival acquires a dangerous “privileged influence” in any of its border regions; and to promote stability so that trade, and the sea lanes through which it passes (hence China’s interest in Sri Lanka and in combating Somali pirates), is protected.In the 1990s, China sought to mask its “peaceful rise” behind a policy of “smile diplomacy” designed to make certain that its neighbours did not fear it. China lowered trade barriers and offered soft loans and investments to help its southern neighbours. Today, China’s government seeks to shape the diplomatic agenda in order to increase China’s options while constricting those of potential adversaries. Instead of remaining diplomatically aloof, China is forging more relationships with its neighbours than any of its rivals. This informal web is being engineered not only to keep its rivals from coalescing or gaining privileged influence, but also to restrain the actions of China’s local partners so as to dampen tension anywhere it might flare up.China’s newfound assertiveness, rather than creating fear, should be seen as establishing the necessary conditions for comprehensive negotiations about the very basis of peaceful coexistence and stability in Asia: respect for all sides’ vital interests. In recent years, such an approach ran counter to America’s foreign-policy predisposition of favouring universalist doctrines over a careful balancing of national interests. With the Obama administration embracing realism as its diplomatic lodestar, China may have found a willing interlocutor. Wen Liao is Chairwoman of Longford Advisors, a political, economic, and business consultancy.
This article is published honoring the exchange between members of the Project Syndicate network. "The Kosovo Times" is a member of the "Project Syndicate" network.By Wen LiaoLONDON – For two decades, Chinese diplomacy has been guided by the concept of the country’s “peaceful rise.” Today, however, China needs a new strategic doctrine, because the most remarkable aspect of Sri Lanka’s recent victory over the Tamil Tigers is not its overwhelming nature, but the fact that China provided President Mahinda Rajapaska with both the military supplies and diplomatic cover he needed to prosecute the war.Without that Chinese backing, Rajapaska’s government would have had neither the wherewithal nor the will to ignore world opinion in its offensive against the Tigers. So, not only has China become central to every aspect of the global financial and economic system, it has now demonstrated its strategic effectiveness in a region traditionally outside its orbit. On Sri Lanka’s beachfront battlefields, China’s “peaceful rise” was completed.What will this change mean in practice in the world’s hot spots like North Korea, Pakistan, and Central Asia?Before the global financial crisis hit, China benefited mightily from the long boom along its eastern and southern rim, with only Burma and North Korea causing instability. China’s west and south, however, have become sources of increasing worry.Given economic insecurity within China in the wake of the financial crisis and global recession, China’s government finds insecurity in neighbouring territories more threatening than ever. Stabilizing its neighbourhood is one reason why China embraces the six-party talks with North Korea, has become a big investor in Pakistan (while exploring ways to cooperate with President Barack Obama’s special representative, Richard Holbrooke), signed on to a joint Asia/Europe summit declaration calling for the release from detention of Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung Suu Kyi, and intervened to help end Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war.The calculus behind China’s emerging national security strategy is simple. Without peace and prosperity around China's long borders, there can be no peace, prosperity, and unity at home. China’s intervention in Sri Lanka, and its visibly mounting displeasure with the North Korean and Burmese regimes, suggests that this calculus has quietly become central to the government’s thinking.For example, though China said little in public about Russia’s invasion and dismemberment of Georgia last summer, Russia is making a strategic mistake if it equates China’s public silence with tacit acquiescence in the Kremlin’s claim to “privileged” influence in the post-Soviet countries to China’s west.Proof of China’s displeasure was first seen at the 2008 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (a regional grouping that includes former Soviet countries that share borders with China and Russia). Russian President Dmitri Medvedev pushed the SCO to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But the SCO balked. The group’s Central Asian members – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – would not have stood up to the Kremlin without China’s support.At this year’s just-concluded SCO summit, the pattern continued. The brief appearance of Iran’s disputed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have gained all the headlines, but China’s announcement of a $10 billion fund to support the budgets of financially distressed ex-Soviet states, which followed hard on a $3 billion investment in Turkmenistan and a $10 billion investment in Kazakhstan, provides more evidence that China now wants to shape events across Eurasia.Vladimir Putin famously described the break-up of the Soviet Union as the greatest geo-political catastrophe of the twentieth century. From China’s standpoint, however, the Soviet collapse was the greatest strategic gain imaginable. At a stroke, the empire that had gobbled up Chinese territories for centuries vanished. The Soviet military threat – once so severe that Chairman Mao invited President Richard Nixon to China to change the Cold War balance of power – was eliminated. China’s new assertiveness suggests that it will not allow Russia to forge a de facto Soviet Reunion and thus undo the post-Cold War settlement, under which China’s economy flourished and security increased.So far, China’s rulers have regarded emerging strategic competition with India, Japan, Russia, and the United States as a jostling for influence in Central and South Asia. China’s strategic imperatives in this competition are twofold: to ensure that no rival acquires a dangerous “privileged influence” in any of its border regions; and to promote stability so that trade, and the sea lanes through which it passes (hence China’s interest in Sri Lanka and in combating Somali pirates), is protected.In the 1990s, China sought to mask its “peaceful rise” behind a policy of “smile diplomacy” designed to make certain that its neighbours did not fear it. China lowered trade barriers and offered soft loans and investments to help its southern neighbours. Today, China’s government seeks to shape the diplomatic agenda in order to increase China’s options while constricting those of potential adversaries. Instead of remaining diplomatically aloof, China is forging more relationships with its neighbours than any of its rivals. This informal web is being engineered not only to keep its rivals from coalescing or gaining privileged influence, but also to restrain the actions of China’s local partners so as to dampen tension anywhere it might flare up.China’s newfound assertiveness, rather than creating fear, should be seen as establishing the necessary conditions for comprehensive negotiations about the very basis of peaceful coexistence and stability in Asia: respect for all sides’ vital interests. In recent years, such an approach ran counter to America’s foreign-policy predisposition of favouring universalist doctrines over a careful balancing of national interests. With the Obama administration embracing realism as its diplomatic lodestar, China may have found a willing interlocutor. Wen Liao is Chairwoman of Longford Advisors, a political, economic, and business consultancy.
Holding leaders accountable helps prevent and resolve conflicts
By Joseph Derr
Rotary International News -- 19 June 2009
Accountability and telling it like it is are critical components of building peace, said Jan Egeland, director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Egeland was the UN secretary-general's special adviser for conflict prevention and resolution from 2006 to 2008.
At the second Rotary World Peace Symposium in Birmingham, England, on 19 June, Egeland discussed what he has learned during his career of more than 30 years in humanitarian relief and conflict resolution, which included participating in secret negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to produce the Oslo Accord of 1993.
As a peace negotiator, said Egeland, it's important to hold leaders accountable for their action or inaction. "We have to speak the truth. I have tried to say it as I saw it."
He also observed that "we're making progress, thanks to the good work of Rotary and hundreds of other good, nongovernmental movements." For example, when the December 2004 tsunami hit Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia, the response was highly coordinated and effective, he said. "We have succeeded more often than we've failed, and we've shown that we can do remarkable things when we work together."
Egeland said he feels optimistic knowing that a new generation of peacemakers coming out of Rotary's peace programs will have unparalleled knowledge, technology, and training to do the much-needed work.
"What he said about accountability is crucial," said Rebecca Gasca, a Rotaractor and 2003-04 Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar. "Not only is it at the leadership level that we have to hold each other accountable, but also at the grassroots level. I think there is a place for Rotary in both regards."
Ahamed Imthiaz Ismail, a member of the Rotary Club of Colombo Mid Town, Western Province, Sri Lanka, has mentored three Foundation Scholars and is involved in humanitarian land mine action and the resettlement of internally displaced people in his country. "His presentation was based on real-life experiences, and it had diverse views that you could relate to different circumstances and situations," said Ismail.
"I thought it was really inspiring to hear positive things and put a number of current conflicts in perspective," said Zélie Pollon, a Rotary World Peace Fellow from Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, who graduated from Rotary's professional development program at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand and will enter the University of Bradford in a few months. "In tandem, it's also good to be reminded of the things we're not focusing on that we can do."
Rotary International News -- 19 June 2009
Accountability and telling it like it is are critical components of building peace, said Jan Egeland, director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Egeland was the UN secretary-general's special adviser for conflict prevention and resolution from 2006 to 2008.
At the second Rotary World Peace Symposium in Birmingham, England, on 19 June, Egeland discussed what he has learned during his career of more than 30 years in humanitarian relief and conflict resolution, which included participating in secret negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to produce the Oslo Accord of 1993.
As a peace negotiator, said Egeland, it's important to hold leaders accountable for their action or inaction. "We have to speak the truth. I have tried to say it as I saw it."
He also observed that "we're making progress, thanks to the good work of Rotary and hundreds of other good, nongovernmental movements." For example, when the December 2004 tsunami hit Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia, the response was highly coordinated and effective, he said. "We have succeeded more often than we've failed, and we've shown that we can do remarkable things when we work together."
Egeland said he feels optimistic knowing that a new generation of peacemakers coming out of Rotary's peace programs will have unparalleled knowledge, technology, and training to do the much-needed work.
"What he said about accountability is crucial," said Rebecca Gasca, a Rotaractor and 2003-04 Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar. "Not only is it at the leadership level that we have to hold each other accountable, but also at the grassroots level. I think there is a place for Rotary in both regards."
Ahamed Imthiaz Ismail, a member of the Rotary Club of Colombo Mid Town, Western Province, Sri Lanka, has mentored three Foundation Scholars and is involved in humanitarian land mine action and the resettlement of internally displaced people in his country. "His presentation was based on real-life experiences, and it had diverse views that you could relate to different circumstances and situations," said Ismail.
"I thought it was really inspiring to hear positive things and put a number of current conflicts in perspective," said Zélie Pollon, a Rotary World Peace Fellow from Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, who graduated from Rotary's professional development program at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand and will enter the University of Bradford in a few months. "In tandem, it's also good to be reminded of the things we're not focusing on that we can do."
U.S. takes seat at U.N. rights forum, urges unity
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States on Friday took up its seat for the first time on the U.N. Human Rights Council, vowing to be a strong advocate for people worldwide who suffer abuse and persecution.
In a policy shift, the Obama administration sought and last month won an elected seat at the 47-member Council, which the previous government had shunned over what it called its "rather pathetic record" and frequent scrutiny of U.S. ally Israel.
Washington said it would use its new voting power at the three-year-old body "to be a tireless defender of courageous individuals across the globe who work, often at great personal risk, on behalf of the rights of others."
"For our part, the United States hopes to reinforce the ability of this Council to speak with one voice about situations that are an affront to human dignity," Mark Storella, charge d'affaires at the U.S. diplomatic mission to the United Nations in Geneva, said in a speech.
The Human Rights Council was set up in 2006 to replace the discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which critics said allowed China and other countries to escape scrutiny for years while often singling out Israel for censure.
But even in the new forum, African and Islamic countries have often voted together as a majority bloc, with the backing of China, Cuba and Russia, whose own records are regularly denounced by leading activist groups.
The Council has also slowly eliminated the U.N. human rights monitors assigned to particular countries over the past three years, dropping watchdogs for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, Belarus and Liberia.
On Thursday, the Geneva-based body decided in a narrow vote to keep an investigator in Sudan for another year, overcoming calls from African states to stop monitoring the country whose six-year Darfur conflict has killed an estimated 300,000 people.
The United States played a key behind-the-scenes role in negotiating the text ultimately adopted, diplomats said.
Storella said Washington wanted to ensure that violations are confronted with more unity in the Council's regular reviews of all 192 U.N. member states, as well as in emergency sessions looking at acute crises.
(Editing by Laura MacInnis and Elizabeth Fullerton)
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States on Friday took up its seat for the first time on the U.N. Human Rights Council, vowing to be a strong advocate for people worldwide who suffer abuse and persecution.
In a policy shift, the Obama administration sought and last month won an elected seat at the 47-member Council, which the previous government had shunned over what it called its "rather pathetic record" and frequent scrutiny of U.S. ally Israel.
Washington said it would use its new voting power at the three-year-old body "to be a tireless defender of courageous individuals across the globe who work, often at great personal risk, on behalf of the rights of others."
"For our part, the United States hopes to reinforce the ability of this Council to speak with one voice about situations that are an affront to human dignity," Mark Storella, charge d'affaires at the U.S. diplomatic mission to the United Nations in Geneva, said in a speech.
The Human Rights Council was set up in 2006 to replace the discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which critics said allowed China and other countries to escape scrutiny for years while often singling out Israel for censure.
But even in the new forum, African and Islamic countries have often voted together as a majority bloc, with the backing of China, Cuba and Russia, whose own records are regularly denounced by leading activist groups.
The Council has also slowly eliminated the U.N. human rights monitors assigned to particular countries over the past three years, dropping watchdogs for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, Belarus and Liberia.
On Thursday, the Geneva-based body decided in a narrow vote to keep an investigator in Sudan for another year, overcoming calls from African states to stop monitoring the country whose six-year Darfur conflict has killed an estimated 300,000 people.
The United States played a key behind-the-scenes role in negotiating the text ultimately adopted, diplomats said.
Storella said Washington wanted to ensure that violations are confronted with more unity in the Council's regular reviews of all 192 U.N. member states, as well as in emergency sessions looking at acute crises.
(Editing by Laura MacInnis and Elizabeth Fullerton)
Sri Lankan judiciary undermines the law
[ UPI ][ Jun 19 14:36 GMT ]
Sri Lanka has one of the worst policing systems in the world. Allegations of corruption and the use of torture are so frequent that the highest officers in the police force have admitted the crisis in the system. Former attorney generals have also publicly acknowledged the crisis facing the policing system. When an ordinary citizen complains against errant officers and the state exerts its full force to defend the alleged perpetrators, it puts the credibility of the whole exercise at stake. This decision of the Attorney General's Department should be subject to public debate, as it is a clear threat to the protection of their rights. [ full story]
Sri Lanka has one of the worst policing systems in the world. Allegations of corruption and the use of torture are so frequent that the highest officers in the police force have admitted the crisis in the system. Former attorney generals have also publicly acknowledged the crisis facing the policing system. When an ordinary citizen complains against errant officers and the state exerts its full force to defend the alleged perpetrators, it puts the credibility of the whole exercise at stake. This decision of the Attorney General's Department should be subject to public debate, as it is a clear threat to the protection of their rights. [ full story]
Abuses In Sri Lanka Worry Human Rights Groups
[ NPR ][ Jun 19 11:29 GMT ]
It's been a month since the civil war ended in Sri Lanka. Government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels, who they fought for nearly three decades. Tensions remain high on the island, and human rights activists say they're worried about the future of democracy in Sri Lanka. [ full story]
It's been a month since the civil war ended in Sri Lanka. Government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels, who they fought for nearly three decades. Tensions remain high on the island, and human rights activists say they're worried about the future of democracy in Sri Lanka. [ full story]
Persuade Lanka to allow unloading of aid ship, Karunanidhi tells SM Krishna
[ DNA ][ Jun 19 11:39 GMT ]
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today asked external affairs minister SM Krishna to prevail upon Sri Lanka to allow the unloading of a ship carrying relief material sent by overseas Tamil diaspora for displaced people in the island nation.
The vessel, the MV Captain Ali, which set sail from Britain on April 20, is currently anchored outside Chennai port after it was turned away by the Lankan Navy on June 9, after it was detained for several days. According to the Lankan Navy, the ship was turned away on the ground that it violated internationally accepted formalitiesfollowed by merchant ships seeking to enter Lankan waters, and that it did not conform to the International Ships Port Facility Security code.
In a letter to Krishna, Karunanidhi said the ship carrying humanitarian aid collected by Tamils in Europe for displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka was turned away by the island nation's Navy. It is carrying about 884 tonnes of food, medicine and other relief material. "I consider it appropriate and timely as well as critical for the government of India to intervene at this juncture and persuade the government of Sri Lanka to allow unloading of the relief materials sent through the vessel," the Tamil Nadu chief minister said.
Karunanidhi said he was deputing state minister for Higher Education, K Ponmudi, to meet Krishna and take up the matter with him, adding that the Sri Lankan government might be requested to consider unloading and distributing the relief material under the supervision of international agencies like the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"I am confident that this intervention on purely humanitarian ground and based on several international precedents will go a long way in helping the internallydisplaced Tamils now housed in makeshift camps," Karunanidhi said in a letter released to the media in Chennai.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today asked external affairs minister SM Krishna to prevail upon Sri Lanka to allow the unloading of a ship carrying relief material sent by overseas Tamil diaspora for displaced people in the island nation.
The vessel, the MV Captain Ali, which set sail from Britain on April 20, is currently anchored outside Chennai port after it was turned away by the Lankan Navy on June 9, after it was detained for several days. According to the Lankan Navy, the ship was turned away on the ground that it violated internationally accepted formalitiesfollowed by merchant ships seeking to enter Lankan waters, and that it did not conform to the International Ships Port Facility Security code.
In a letter to Krishna, Karunanidhi said the ship carrying humanitarian aid collected by Tamils in Europe for displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka was turned away by the island nation's Navy. It is carrying about 884 tonnes of food, medicine and other relief material. "I consider it appropriate and timely as well as critical for the government of India to intervene at this juncture and persuade the government of Sri Lanka to allow unloading of the relief materials sent through the vessel," the Tamil Nadu chief minister said.
Karunanidhi said he was deputing state minister for Higher Education, K Ponmudi, to meet Krishna and take up the matter with him, adding that the Sri Lankan government might be requested to consider unloading and distributing the relief material under the supervision of international agencies like the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"I am confident that this intervention on purely humanitarian ground and based on several international precedents will go a long way in helping the internallydisplaced Tamils now housed in makeshift camps," Karunanidhi said in a letter released to the media in Chennai.
UN's Ban Says Sri Lanka Was Not Initially In His Speech, As UNDP Goes Off the Record on Sexual Violence
[ InnerCity Press ][ Jun 19 10:35 GMT ]
Less than 24 hours after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was protested as "covering up genocide in Sri Lanka" by a crowd in front of Manhattan's St. Regis Hotel where he received a humanitarian award, Inner City Press at the June 18 noon briefing asked Ban's spokesperson if he'd changed his acceptance speech because of the protest. Ms. Montas replied that "it was going to be in his speech, but he put it in front when he saw the demonstration and he was sensitive to the issues they were raising." [ full story]
Less than 24 hours after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was protested as "covering up genocide in Sri Lanka" by a crowd in front of Manhattan's St. Regis Hotel where he received a humanitarian award, Inner City Press at the June 18 noon briefing asked Ban's spokesperson if he'd changed his acceptance speech because of the protest. Ms. Montas replied that "it was going to be in his speech, but he put it in front when he saw the demonstration and he was sensitive to the issues they were raising." [ full story]
Two UN staff reported missing in Vavuniyaa
[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 09:32 GMT]
A Tamil staff of United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and another Tamil staff of the UNHCR, both attached to the UN offices in Vavuniyaa have been reported missing for the past 3 days, civil sources in Vavuniyaa said. The UNOPS worker reported missing was known as Saunthi and the other was named Charles, according to the sources that alleged the abductions were carried out by the Sri Lankan Military Intelligence operatives at Temple Road in Kurumankaadu.
Full details of the missing UN staff are awaited.
A Tamil staff of United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and another Tamil staff of the UNHCR, both attached to the UN offices in Vavuniyaa have been reported missing for the past 3 days, civil sources in Vavuniyaa said. The UNOPS worker reported missing was known as Saunthi and the other was named Charles, according to the sources that alleged the abductions were carried out by the Sri Lankan Military Intelligence operatives at Temple Road in Kurumankaadu.
Full details of the missing UN staff are awaited.
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