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Featured Article: Colombo under pressure!

Wednesday, 27 June 2007

The human rights situation in Sri Lanka has worsened to such low ebb that the UN Security Council has discussed the Sri Lankan affair. At a meeting of the UN Security Council, Sri Lanka has been listed along with Sudan and Lebanon in respect of human rights violations.

It is important to note that instead of discussing humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka, UN Security Council discusses about human rights violations. This is the result of the failure of the government to initiate and conduct a fair and just investigation into the killings of aid workers. Donor countries have addressed their minds to this issue.

Colombo Administration has compelled the Donor Countries to publicly reiterate that role of the Donor countries is not merely to grant aid but also to show adequate concern over the violations of human rights in he country.

Colombo Administration soaked in Buddhist Sinhala extremism lacks commitment to find a political solution to the ethnic problem. It lacks preparedness for a compromise. It lacks a political vision. The narrow and parochial approach of the Colombo administration has invited heavy pressure from the international community. It is reflected in the international arena. Sri Lanka faces a heavy pressure from the international community-a pressure unprecedented in the annals of history of Sri Lanka.

The presence of international pressure on Sri Lanka was echoed in the sessions of UN Security Council. Sri Lankan government that had been earlier condemned for human rights violations by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Asian Human Rights Council and other such organizations has now come under the scrutiny of the international community.

In short, Colombo is under heavy pressure from the international community.

An English translation of the Editorial in The Sudar Oli, a Tamil daily, based in Colombo

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Jay said:

Another milestone achieved by the Rajapakse government - The UN Security Council has listed Srilanka along with Sudan and Lebanon (countries with a worst track record on HR abuses) in respect of human rights violations.

The present leadership lacks political maturity; it doesn't have a vision and most of all it has lost its direction. The former president Kumaratunga in her address on Women's rights in Brussels have even labelled it as a foolish government.(Surprising, this is the same government she endorsed before leaving the government) Such a government cannot be expected to conduct a fair and just investigation nor will it be able to to find a political solution to the ethnic problem.

Punishing the government committing crimes is great and a right thing to do but for that reason the UN should not punish the people who are affected and suffering by the state crimes). The UN Security Council while being mindful of the atrocities and HR violations of the government and its failure to bring the conflict to a just end should not forget the sufferings and plight of the affected people who are devastated by the evil crimes perpetrated by the Srilankan military and the police.

In the face of government's destruction of their livelyhood, aid in the form of food, drinking water, medicines and housing are very necessary to these people. The UN body every other country and organization involved giving aid must ensure that the aid reaches the affected. The only thing is that whatever aid to be given must NOT be given to the government or its agencies. The tsunami aid and meant for the tamil community never reached them. In fact, any form of aid given to the government and its agencies to alleviate the sufferings of the affected so far, never served the purposes for which they were intended. So, the UN or the donor countries and the international bodies must ensure that the aid must be channelled through genuine international aid agencies and not through the government.

2007-06-28 04:58:02

Neil Armstrong said:

Pressure on Colombo is not heavy enough.

International Community continues to demonstrate genocidal hypocrisy in persecuting and punishing victims of their ethnic cleansing. A case in point is the recent arrest of two in the UK.

2007-06-28 05:38:18

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