Friday, 15 August 2014 00:25
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MEA accuses departing UN Rights Chief of ‘personal bias’ and ‘relentless pursuit’ of Sri Lanka
Govt. hopes Pillay’s successor Prince Zeid will do better.
The Government has fired a parting salvo at UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay who retires this month, accusing her of seeking to influence a UN inquiry into allegations of rights violations during the war.
In a strongly-worded reaction to Pillay’s recent interview with the Reuters News Agency, the Government said making public pronouncements to the media on an investigation that had only recently begun was a ‘clear indication of personal bias’.
The Government also expressed confidence in the capacity of her successor, Prince Zeid of Jordan, to do a more objective job.
Pillay told Reuters earlier this week that the UN investigators did not require access to Sri Lanka in order to conduct their probe, pointing to a ‘wealth of information’ already available outside the island.
In its statement yesterday, the Ministry of External Affairs claims Pillay’s statements were evidence of an attempt to influence the investigation process and make it follow a preconceived trajectory.
“Utterances of this nature from an officer who is expected to maintain the highest standards of objectivity is disappointing,” the MEA statement charged.
Pillay’s “prejudice and lack of objectivity” on the Sri Lankan issue in the past was unfortunate, the Government added. It claimed that within a week after the conclusion of the conflict, on 26 May 2009, Pillay had formally called for an international investigation into events in Sri Lanka.
“This is a clear indication of the resolute determination with which the High Commissioner set out to pursue her objective of internationalizing issues pertaining to Sri Lanka, discounting and disregarding all internal processes even before they could be set in motion,” the MEA statement observed.
According to the Ministry, Pillay had in her statement to the UN Human Rights Council on 26 April 2011 referred to Sri Lanka having conducted the conflict “under the guise of fighting terrorism” when it has been widely acknowledged that the conflict was against a separatist terrorist group proscribed by several countries. “Such rhetoric by a senior UN official could place the credibility of the UN system at stake,” the Ministry said.
The Government also accused the exiting High Commissioner of ‘unilaterally’ appointing three “experts” instead of the prescribed two, exceeding the provisions of the Programme Budget Implications arising from Resolution on Sri Lanka adopted by the UNHRC in March this year.
Sri Lanka also accused Pillay of ignoring the provisions of the Resolution which calls for the OHCHR to undertake a comprehensive investigation “during the period covered by the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission”, which the Government says is 21 February 2002 to 19 May 2009, the OHCHR has arbitrarily and unilaterally extended the period of its investigation to cover the period up to 15 November 2011.
The OHCHR announced last week that the period of the investigation would cover events up to November 2011, when the LLRC report was formally presented to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“By comparing in her comments, the situation in Sri Lanka with those elsewhere, that too situations of emergency, the High Commissioner attempts to create a distorted impression of the position in Sri Lanka,” the Government of Sri Lanka charged.
It said that Pillay pays scant regard to the ongoing delicate process of reconciliation in Sri Lanka, ignoring the cultural sensitivities and value systems of local populations and advocates retributive justice.
“However, the Government of Sri Lanka is confident that the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, would be guided at all times by the principles of objectivity, impartiality, non-selectivity and equal treatment while respecting the sovereignty, territorial integrity and domestic jurisdiction of States,” the Ministry statement said. (DB)
