Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors express concern over UNHRC actions

The Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors of the Universities, Sri Lanka (CVCD), has expressed concerns over the developments taking place at the on-going sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The following is a statement issued by the CVCD Chairman Prof. Susirith Mendis:

We, the Vice Chancellors and Directors of the Universities in Sri Lanka are greatly concerned about the unfolding situation at the UNHRC Sessions in Geneva, Switzerland. We believe that the United Nations was established to develop peace, harmony and goodwill among member nations.

The resolution brought by the United States of America (USA) against Sri Lanka is an ill-conceived and unnecessary intervention into the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. It symbolises a threat to the dignity and sovereignty of all small nations.

We are of the view that Sri Lanka must be given the time and space to rebuild our country that has been torn by a thirty-year war. This is being done by the collective effort of the Government and the people of Sri Lanka. Building trust and mutual understanding is necessarily a long and arduous process. We believe that powerful nations must assist Sri Lanka and lend their support and goodwill to ensure that this process is strengthened so that reconstruction and rehabilitation of the war-scarred people and war-ravages villages can proceed without distraction. We wish for an outcome at the UNHRC Sessions that will not create precedents that are harmful in the long-term to the much-valued concept of mutual respect and understanding between and among member states of the United Nations.

We request all nations that are concerned about fairness, equity and all-inclusive, even-handed principles of justice and fair-play in international relations to support Sri Lanka at this crucial juncture.