U.N. to issue Sri Lanka war crimes report demanding justice

[Godman]

Ok. Why do you think Robert O'blake came to SL with David Miliband in the eve of the final battle with LTTE? (Just to offer congratulations maybe?)

They can come anytime! The US even allowed the IMF to give a really big package of aid to SL during the last time of the war! They could have easily stopped it and pressured the country to stop teh war if they ever wanted

How could've it being stopped just because we had better leadership and a diplomatic service?

So what is the purpose of UN investigation on war crimes and genocide if we had a better leadership and a diplomatic service to stop it?



Why you think it's delusional? Can't it possibly happen? I dunno you maybe seeing a beautiful dream that SL is in no harms way. I can just pity you.

I pity you for your blind devotion to MR and even being ready to use the country and sell patriotism to defend him.
Others don't live in dream worlds like you and follow leaders who put the country right in front of harms way

First you talk really stupid and delusional views without facts and then scream for facts and after that talk about opinions which doesn't have anything to do with facts. You can keep seeing your daydreams of US and EU helping the LTTE for no logical reason and your MR riding a white horse saving the country and defeating all the conspiracies.

As Gibbs said there is no use in talking to you, you are just saying the same things all over again.
Have a nice dream about US wanting to create an eelam just because they want an ally

 

[HeinzG]

They can come anytime! The US even allowed the IMF to give a really big package of aid to SL during the last time of the war! They could have easily stopped it and pressured the country to stop teh war if they ever wanted

They were holding the loan AFAIK during 2008. Maybe they allowed it in the end knowing we won't stop for nothing.

I pity you for your blind devotion to MR and even being ready to use the country and sell patriotism to defend him.
Others don't live in dream worlds like you and follow leaders who put the country right in front of harms way

First you talk really stupid and delusional views without facts and then scream for facts and after that talk about opinions which doesn't have anything to do with facts. You can keep seeing your daydreams of US and EU helping the LTTE for no logical reason and your MR riding a white horse saving the country and defeating all the conspiracies.

As Gibbs said there is no use in talking to you, you are just saying the same things all over again.
Have a nice dream about US wanting to create an eelam just because they want an ally

Well if I'm delusional about US help creating a separate Eelam and there is no logical reason to destabilize SL I'm wonder what is the logical reason that US is helping SL gov. against separatism. When in the past they openly defended the Norway backed peace process.

 

[Gibbs]

Sri Lanka rejects international war crimes probe - Channel NewsAsia

Sri Lanka's prime minister on Tuesday (Sep 22) rejected a UN call for international involvement in an investigation into alleged war crimes.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's prime minister on Tuesday (Sep 22) rejected a UN call for international involvement in an investigation into alleged war crimes.

Ranil Wickremesinghe said talks were under way to establish a credible domestic mechanism to investigate abuses during the decades-long conflict with Tamil separatist rebels that ended in May 2009.

"There is nothing to be got from abroad," Wickremesinghe said, after a damning UN report recommended Colombo allow international experts to assist its domestic investigation.

"The media says hybrid (inquiry), but it is not hybrid," said Wickremesinghe, after UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein asked the government to establish "a hybrid special court, integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators".

Members of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority say they do not trust a local inquiry to reach the truth about the conflict, in which more than 100,000 people died. It ended in 2009 with the defeat of rebels who had waged a long fight for a separate homeland for the Tamils.

President Maithripala Sirisena's new government has vowed to punish war criminals, in contrast to his hawkish predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse who had insisted that not a single civilian was killed by troops under his command.

Sri Lanka became an international pariah after repeatedly resisting calls for a credible probe into the horrendous crimes, including the killing of at least 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of the war.

But in a major shift Washington last month announced it would support Colombo's plans for a domestic inquiry, which is also supported by neighbouring India.

When Sirisena came to power in January - backed strongly by the Tamils - he promised to restore human rights and the rule of law as well as mend fences with regional power India and the West.

His government has proposed a series of new measures to promote reconciliation and accountability after accusing the previous administration of breaking promises to deliver justice.

Wickremesinghe said he expected the United States to move a resolution at the ongoing UN rights council sessions backing his administration. "Discussions are going on in Geneva so I don't want to talk about it, but we hope the US will bring a consensus resolution on Sri Lanka," he said.

The new government announced last week that it would set up a South African-style truth commission, a war reparations office and a commission on missing people.

- AFP/ec

 

[Gibbs]

Consensus to be Key for India's Support -The New Indian Express

EW DELHI: With Sri Lanka rejecting the US draft resolution on human rights violations and war crimes in the Island nation, it is reliably learnt that India will support a resolution, which has the ‘widest possible consensus.’

“India will support anything which is not divisive, which has the widest possible consensus,” sources told Express.

When asked if it meant that India will support a resolution with which the Maithripala Sirisena government was comfortable, sources said that if Colombo agreed to a text, then it would mean that there was consensus with countries like even China and Russia also coming on board.

When Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on September 15 in Delhi, there was a discussion on developments in Geneva. “He (Wickremesinghe) told our PM that Sri Lanka does not want a resolution that is prescriptive,” said sources familiar with the talks.

At that time the initial draft had not been circulated, but Wickremesinghe’s language was echoed in the language used by Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Geneva, Ravintha Aryasinha, who bluntly rejected the draft tabled by the US. He termed the first draft as being ‘repetitive, judgmental and prescriptive’ and not in ‘spirit of reconciliation.’

India is not yet actively involved in proposing text changes, as many more drafts are expected before the finalized text is tabled on September 30. “We usually get deeply involved in the last days of the process,” sources added.

The report of the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sri Lanka released on September 17, had called for setting up ‘hybrid courts’, but that too has not gone down well with Sri Lanka. The draft had called ‘On the Sri Lankan government” to involve “International investigators, prosecutors and Judges in Sri Lanka’s justice process” to investigate war crimes. While the draft was not using the term ‘Hybrid Court’ as suggested by the UNHRC, the interpretation was being made on the same lines.

According to sources, ‘Hybrid Court’ does not necessarily mean an international mechanism, especially if it is one the lines of being chaired by a Sri Lankan judge and the majority in the bench are Sri Lankans. Sri Lanka have said that they are willing to take “assistance” from international partners including the office of the Human Rights Commissioner for its mechanism.

Besides the suggestion of ‘Hybrid court,’ Lanka had also objection to monitoring of the investigation by OHCHR, setting up an office of OHCHR in Colombo and “criminalization of past acts”.

In March 2014, India had abstained from voting on a resolution sponsored by the US that called for a comprehensive international probe describing it as “counterproductive” and “impractical”. It was the first time that India had abstained in three years - having voted in favour of resolutions in UNHRC in 2012 and 2013, which indicted Sri Lanka.

Intl Probe into Tamil Killings Sought

Chennai: The MDMK, VCK, Thamizhar Vazhvurimai Katchi and other Tamil outfits on Monday held protest demonstrations and rail blockades urging India to table a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council for an international criminal probe into the genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils following the findings of a UN rights and war crimes enquiry panel. The protests coincided with the demonstration in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva held by the Tamil diaspora from several European nations including Britain, Germany, France and Switzerland. MDMK and VCK held demonstrations throughout the State, while the Thamizh Vazhvurimai Katchi tried to block trains at several places.

 

[Godman]

@Gibbs , you should read. this this guy is a veteran diplomat and writes Foreign Policy related articles in various news sites

Need of the hour: Rebuilding Sri Lanka’s image professionally
Need of the hour: Rebuilding Sri Lanka’s image professionally - See more at: Need of the hour: Rebuilding Sri Lanka’s image professionally ::: Dailymirror.lk ::: Breaking News
2015-09-22 00:27:03
0
840
1 0 0 0 1 Google +0

Sri Lanka unjustifiably retained US PR and lobbying firms in the post-2009 period at a massive cost to the country. This stands out as a gigantic fraud considering that the war had ended and there was no need for such expensive PR exercises.

What this exercise also reveals is that Sri Lanka’s Embassy in Washington DC with no communications plans or effective strategies in place, had miserably failed to project and protect the image of the country.
The Embassy was staffed with incompetent relatives and friends of the former regime, and had no competent professionals, who understood image building and countering misinformation.


" The Presidential election of January 2015 began a new chapter in our international relations. However, Sri Lanka is yet to seize the opportunity to get the message across to the world, through media. This is particularly true of the US where no positive editorials or columns have been published on the changes in the country."

Greedy eyes were looking on this evolving scenario, and like scavenging vultures, swooped on the opportunity to make millions.

During the war, in the face of an intense misinformation campaign overseas by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), it was only the late Minister Lakshman Kadiragamar who realised the importance of projecting a positive image of the country and countering the misinformation campaign of the LTTE.

He selected media professionals to handle communications in selected embassies, as he believed “Media better understand the media”.

He knew that the media properly handled through strategic communications plans and effective messaging, can play a pivotal role in changing perceptions in society. This fundamental truth is at the core of image rebuilding.

The Presidential election of January 2015 began a new chapter in our international relations. However, Sri Lanka is yet to seize the opportunity to get the message across to the world, through media. This is particularly true of the US where no positive editorials or columns have been published on the changes in the country.


"We need the services of a competent Media and PR person to handle media relations"


Well, these things don’t happen automatically. Professional image builders understand that media has to be cultivated. In the US it is equally important to cover Congress, the Senate and the State Department, and other influential and opinion-making institutions. Sadly, these functions too are neglected because the so called ‘Ministers’ in the Embassy have no insightful understanding of their job functions.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would understand this situation better than his colleagues, for he has visited the US many times and also related to Congress and the media, and knows the value of positive media attention in engaging policymakers.

A look at the Sri Lanka Embassy website shows there are only Chiefs and no Indians. Everybody is a ‘Minister’.
One person is Political and Media Minister!

How is one person able to properly handle two such vital subjects?
This is probably why media has not been given the prominence it needs. The designation of Minister is only given to a very senior Diplomat. There is no justification to staff the Embassy with incompetent ‘Ministers’ who are obviously making no impact, but incurring major expenses, as the position of ‘Minister’ carries a high salary along with many perks.

We need the services of a competent Media and PR person to handle media relations, media advocacy and strategic communications. Time is of the essence and we need to rev up our media efforts to rebuild Sri Lanka’s image in the US - which is vital for our development efforts in the coming days.

We would need the services of a person with extensive experience and skill to make a success of rebuilding the country’s image; not these clueless US companies who are merely taking us to the cleaners, making big bucks at the expense of Sri Lanka’s taxpayers.

Sri Lanka’s Embassies need staff familiar with, and a passion for communications work. This is a vital area of work for Diplomatic Missions in strategically important countries, where we need to build mutually beneficial relationships with organizations and the public.

The fervent hope of all who care for Sri Lanka’s international image is that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Samaraweera will give this matter serious consideration and appoint competent people to our Missions for effective Media and PR work that will rebuild our tarnished image.

- See more at: Need of the hour: Rebuilding Sri Lanka’s image professionally ::: Dailymirror.lk ::: Breaking News

 

[HeinzG]

During the war, in the face of an intense misinformation campaign overseas by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), it was only the late Minister Lakshman Kadiragamar who realised the importance of projecting a positive image of the country and countering the misinformation campaign of the LTTE.

He selected media professionals to handle communications in selected embassies, as he believed “Media better understand the media”.

He knew that the media properly handled through strategic communications plans and effective messaging, can play a pivotal role in changing perceptions in society. This fundamental truth is at the core of image rebuilding.

It is worth note that even during the tenure of Mr. Kadiragamar, he could not stop LTTE activities in the Western countries. Nor his "statesmanship" could make anything worth while to the country in terms of national security. It went from bad to worse.

So the point here is that Tamil separatist agenda won't suffer a dime even though we had the world's best statesman. Nor the PR campaign would work though it might if we focus on the history of the conflict rather than any other BS.

 

[Hindustani78]

A file photo of Tamil National Alliance leader, R. Sampanthan.

TNA hails U.S.-backed resolution on Sri Lanka - The Hindu
Updated: September 29, 2015 23:15 IST

"This is perhaps the best possible resolution that could have been achieved at the UNHRC", says TNA leader R. Sampanthan.
The draft resolution on Sri Lanka tabled at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by the U.S. and other countries has addressed the main issues of accountability and reconciliation, according to the Tamil National Alliance leader, R. Sampanthan.

The involvement of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence counsel, prosecutors and investigators would give the judicial process “much greater degree of credibility”, the TNA chief told The Hindu on Tuesday. “You can’t blame the people who are sceptical [of the domestic judicial process] because the previous experiences were quite bad.”

The references in the resolution to the need to evolve an acceptable political solution and the proposed review of implementation of the resolution at the 32nd and 34th sessions of the UNHRC are “welcome features”, he said.

“This is perhaps the best possible resolution that could have been achieved at the UNHRC on the basis of a consensus.” Mr. Sampanthan also recalled that resolutions on Sri Lanka were adopted at the UNHRC during 2012-2014 through voting.

Asked whether he was confident of the full implementation of the resolution, the TNA leader said that a “honest implementation will become inevitable,” against the context of “a resolution based on consensus.” He urged all to join together to make sure that the resolution was “honestly implemented in the interests of the whole country and all people living in the country.”

Emphasising that an early settlement to the Tamil question should be found by next year, he said it must be “reasonable, workable and durable.” “Our people must feel that they have a new future where they honestly think that they belong to this country and this country belongs to them.”

Tamil groups insist on hybrid mechanism to probe Sri Lanka abuses - The Hindu
Updated: September 29, 2015 20:16 IST
Sri Lanka’s Tamil political parties on Tuesday demanded that the investigation into the alleged rights abuses during the conflict with the LTTE be carried out under a “hybrid mechanism” as a domestic probe will not address their concerns.

At least four Tamil political parties and several other civil society groups called for the return to the original hybrid judicial mechanism proposed in the UN Human Rights High Commissioner’s report.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein had called for a hybrid special court, integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators to probe the alleged rights abuses during the civil war that ended in 2009.

In a statement, the groups claimed Sri Lankan government appointing foreign judges to a local mechanism will not address the structural factors that inhibit the local systems.

A resolution to be moved by the U.S. on Wednesday in Geneva seeks to back a local mechanism with judges from the Commonwealth with foreign investigators — in contrast to Mr. Al Hussein’s report.

The Tamil groups said the resolution seeks to dilute the seriousness of the required investigation.

“We note with deep regret that in the interest of arriving at a consensus resolution with Sri Lanka that many key components of the initial draft have been omitted”.

It contains a number of strong provisions but will need to be thoroughly implemented for victims to obtain genuine justice.

Rights groups claim that the Sri Lankan military killed 40,000 civilians in the final months of the three decade-long brutal ethnic conflict with the separatists Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In a statement New York-based Human Rights Watch said: “This resolution makes it clear the time has come for the Sri Lankan government to act.

“The resolution’s endorsement of a judicial mechanism with international participation is an important recognition of the need for an international role to ensure justice for victims.”

 

[Gibbs]

Sri Lanka war crimes resolution softened before U.N. debate| Reuters

A U.S.-backed resolution at the United Nations that seeks justice for victims of Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war has been softened to keep its government on board and allay the concerns of powerful neighbor India, sources say.

The latest draft, expected to be adopted in Geneva on Thursday, fails to specify the powers and role of foreign prosecutors and judges in trying war crimes suspects – a major shortcoming, in the eyes of human rights groups.

They and some diplomats say that reflects the balancing act needed to keep Sri Lanka's new reformist leadership on board while making a credible attempt to end a culture of impunity over what the U.N. calls the mass killings of tens of thousands of people by both sides in the final stages of the conflict.

"Everything now depends on implementation - the text was worded in a very ambiguous way," said Alan Keenan, Sri Lanka analyst at the International Crisis Group.

A judicial process with teeth would hold out a realistic prospect of punishment for senior figures in ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa's government and military, as well as Tamil Tiger rebels, who waged a bitter final battle in 2009.

The U.N. has estimated that 40,000 people died, many of them civilians, as government forces tightened the noose around a patch of land on the Jaffna Peninsula where Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels were penned in.

But the U.S.-led draft agreed with the Sri Lankan government falls short of explicitly meeting a call by the U.N.'s human rights chief for a special court staffed with international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators.

Such "hybrid" courts have emerged in recent years as a way to deliver justice in places such as East Timor, Kosovo and Sierra Leone against powerful individuals capable of threatening judges or witnesses.

The text instead vaguely affirms the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism of "Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defense lawyers, and authorized prosecutors and investigators".

John Fisher, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch, said the Sri Lankan government had resisted appointing an independent international prosecutor and a majority of foreign judges.

"Meaningful foreign participation and international monitoring will be needed to prevent local pressure and intimidation from interfering with a fair judicial process," he said.



"SUBSTANCE STILL THERE"

Sri Lanka argues that President Maithripala Sirisena's constructive engagement with the U.N. marks a break with the recalcitrance of Rajapaksa, whom he defeated in a presidential election in January.

Sirisena won backing on Monday from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who endorsed a "credible domestic process" with international support when the two met on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

How this would work in practice still needs to be hammered out. "In order to ensure credibility, we of course need some kind of international involvement. But it will be decided after the consultation process," one Sri Lankan official said.

A source familiar with the drafting discussions said the Sri Lankan government wanted to create the impression the resolution had been watered down to placate the majority Sinhala community that formed Rajapaksa's power base.

"The substance is still all there," said the source, who requested anonymity. The U.S. draft is widely expected to be adopted by consensus at the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

A Western diplomat in Colombo and a source at the Tamil National Alliance, an opposition political party, said India had been at the forefront of efforts to ensure there was no full international war crimes probe in Sri Lanka.

This included lobbying by India to change the description of judges from "international" to "foreign" in the draft resolution, reflecting concerns that India could one day face a similar judicial reckoning in its disputed territory of Kashmir.

Sources familiar with New Delhi's thinking flatly reject those suggestions, saying the resolution was worded to reflect Sri Lanka's concerns about protecting its sovereignty