Politicized process will only impede reconciliation and engagement with UN body, Sri Lanka warns

Sri Lanka,

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Sri Lanka today warned the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that the politicized agenda of the proposed resolution will only impede the delicate balance of the ongoing process of reconciliation in the country, as well as the constructive engagement Sri Lanka has continued to maintain with the Council.


Addressing the Council following the presentation of the Report of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) by the High Commissioner Navi Pillay at Wednesday's session of the UNHRC, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to UN in Geneva and the leader of the Sri Lankan delegation Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha said the government rejects the resolution proposed by the United States.

He said the government has consistently and with good reason rejected previous resolutions on Sri Lanka proposed by the U.S. which have emanated from a politicized process and mandate, and without the consent of the country concerned and will reject this resolution as well.

The envoy remarked that rather than encourage and support the ongoing reconciliation process in the country, as well as the constructive engagement Sri Lanka continues to maintain with the Council, it is ironic that the draft resolution being mooted by some members of the UNHRC is reflective of the same partisan politicized agenda through its request to the OHCHR to undertake a "comprehensive independent investigation".

The Sri Lankan envoy criticized that the Council spearheaded by political motivations is continually paying a disproportionate attention to Sri Lanka.

"It is in the light of this misplaced attitude, that we are neither able to comprehend nor agree to action in this Council, which fails to acknowledge, let alone appreciate, the consolidation of peace and the very tangible process Sri Lanka has made in reconciliation," the envoy said.

He warned that the assistance to an independent t investigation by third party 'experts' whose mandate and credentials are far from clear, and the deliberate exclusion of a significant portion of the conflict with the Tamil Tiger terrorists from the period under investigation by introducing a particular time frame of seven year before the end of the war, would be precedent setting and prejudicial to the interests of all member and observer states of the UNHRC in the future.