Sri Lanka: International Pantomime and Sri Lanka's Rights Abuses
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Sunday, 14 October 2007 |
Sri Lanka is fortified by the lack of consequences for its abuse of human rights and will not change its ways until the international community exerts substantive pressure backed by real penalties. Visits of key personalities and press conferences alone are clearly not enough to persuade Sri Lanka to stop its extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and mass displacements.
If visits could change Sri Lanka then that of Ambassador Allan Rock would have brought an end to the abduction of children by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for the paramilitary Karuna Group and that of Sir John Holmes would have brought an end to the killing of aid workers.
On the contrary, months on from the last two major visitors, child abductions are continuing and aid workers are falling prey everyday. The only outcome of these visits has been the visitors earning the title of 'terrorist' in the Sri Lankan media and amongst Sri Lanka's 108 Ministers.
One would suspect that a 'failed state' such as Sri Lanka that is heavily dependent on foreign aid donations for its functioning would without question abide by the moral principles and standards set by its donor nations.
Yet at a joint press conference with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louis Arbour on Saturday a Sri Lankan Minister was able to state "We are not willing to discuss a UN presence in Sri Lanka for monitoring purposes nor are we willing to allow an office of the High Commissions (here)."
What makes such a stance possible for Sri Lanka? The answer is the simple fact that Sri Lanka's international donors will continue to fill its coffers regardless of rights abuses.
International aid to Sir Lanka is not linked in anyway whatsoever to the number of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances or mass displacements.
Sri Lanka, in its view, has nothing to gain by halting its rights abuses or by allowing a UN monitoring mission to operate in the island.
Sri Lanka believes that it can effectively counter Tamil aspirations for self determination by killings, abductions and displacements. Sri Lanka will continue to follow these practices until it sees reason to stop. Visits of UN Ambassadors alone are not reasons enough for Sri Lanka to halt its rights abuses.
Until and unless the international community exerts substantive pressure backed by real penalties, the Tamils of Sri Lanka must be prepared to face unending extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and mass displacements.
SiberNews
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