Friday, 21 February 2014 00:47
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Lankan Ambassador to EU slams hypocrisy and prejudgment by sections of the international community
The Government has hit out against bullies in the international community who are rushing to judge Sri Lanka and undermine its domestic reconciliation processes.
Sri Lanka’s Head of Mission to the European Union Ambassador P.M. Amza, who addressed a meeting of the European Parliament on Wednesday, said that Sri Lanka was concerned about the continuation of selective adoption of country specific actions at the UN Human Rights Council, which were driven by electoral compulsions in some member states.
“These efforts can erode the credibility and impartiality of the Council,” Ambassador Amza told the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with countries in South Asia.
Ambassador Amza said some countries had already prejudged that Sri Lanka’s own efforts were insufficient and substandard to resolve the unprecedented issues and challenges the country had to face at the end of the conflict.
He said that similar commissions of inquiries in other countries, as undertaken by the Sri Lankan Government domestically have not been criticised by what he called ‘self professed experts’ and said the silence spoke volumes.
“The stoic silence of our critics on such matters will speak in volumes of their hypocrisy and unprofessional approaches to bully selected countries while allowing free reign to others,” the Lankan Envoy said.
The Sri Lankan Envoy charged that certain countries felt only intrusive measures and ultimatums would yield results.
“Sri Lanka categorically rejected the previous two Resolutions adopted by the Council in March 2012 and 2013, respectively, as they were a result of a politicized and ill-conceived process, that polarized the membership of the Human Rights Council. However, notwithstanding our rejection of the resolutions, the Government is continuing with its genuine and credible commitment to the reconciliation process within the framework of its own mechanism, the National Plan of Action on the implementation of the recommendations of the LLRC,” he explained.
The Sri Lankan Envoy was making these remarks during a discussion with the EU Parliamentary Delegation entitled ‘Sri Lanka: State of play ahead of the March 2014 session of the UN Human Rights Council’. (DB)
