GSL Takes U Turn, Will Cooperate With UNHRC

By Namini Wijedasa -September 1, 2012

Namini Wijedasa

Sri Lanka’s domestic rights situation will be closely analyzed by the international community during the UN Human Rights Council’s sessions in November. And in its country report recently submitted to the council – and published on the HRC website on Friday – the government has declared itself willing and ready to cooperate.
Over the past five weeks, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ravinatha Ariyasinghe has reportedly met with more than 50 of his counterparts from member or prospective member states of the Human Rights Council. Sources in Geneva said that Sri Lankan diplomats have also engaged with “the more reputed” international non-governmental organizations involved in human rights.

Finally ready to talk

This is a marked departure from the ‘no deal, no compromise’ stance the government adopted during the sessions in March, when a US-led resolution on Sri Lanka was passed with 24 to 15 votes. But it should come as no surprise. The resolution was seen as a pressure tactic (as, indeed, it was) and therefore vehemently opposed by Colombo.
The country report reiterates that the resolution – and a previous, unsuccessful initiative in 2009 – were “unhelpful attempts to needlessly draw attention to the situation in Sri Lanka.” “These ill-conceived, unwarranted, unnecessary and intrusive attempts did not result in any tangible benefits for the Sri Lankan people over and above what the Government of Sri Lanka set out to do and has been able to achieve for them,” it states.
On the contrary, Sri Lanka has made it clear that it will cooperate in its Universal Period Review (UPR) in November. Sources say that Ariyasinghe has met both with countries that opposed the resolution in March as well as with those that “have problems” with Sri Lanka. He has provided them with perspective about developments here, updates on his discussions with Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for Human Rights, and how Sri Lanka sees the future trajectory. The same applies to his talks with INGOs.
It is unlikely that Sri Lanka thinks its notoriously acrimonious relations with these groups could be mended overnight. But the government is certainly denying them the excuse that it doesn’t engage – a complaint often made by Sri Lanka’s detractors, both state and non-state.

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