Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary favours dual citizen as envoys

According to the sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, the top officials of the ministry have not paid serious attention towards this matter. It is revealed that a number of top officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their wives are holding dual citizenship or “green cards.”

by Our Diplomatic Editor-Aug 20, 2018

( August 20, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka has been appointing dual citizens as its envoys since many years. These appointments are political in nature and controversial in terms of the purpose. The question of appointing dual citizens to the posts of ambassadors, high commissioners, consuls general and of other diplomatic post has been highlighted on numerous occasions. This is because on the one hand as these appointees are citizens of other countries such as the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, and the European Union, their loyalty has always been not with Sri Lanka. Therefore, Sri Lanka cannot expect better performance from them, when they confront with a question of their allegiance on crucial matters. On the other hand, according to the rules and regulations of these countries, it is the duty of their citizens to cooperate with the relevant agencies on matters of security and national issues. Therefore, obviously these citizens many be used to gather information related to many matters and a diplomatic portfolio would be highly useful for them to serve his “country.” For example, no one can deny that part of the duty of a diplomat is to gather vital intelligence of the countries of accreditation. Therefore, no one can deny the fact that even those countries would request these envoys to engage as double agents in issues such as Sri Lanka’s relations with China and Chinese involvement in Sri Lanka. Considering the nature of duties of diplomats, other nations do not appoint dual citizens as diplomats and do not allow their diplomats to marry foreigners and accept dual citizenship as well as residence visa of foreign countries.

To the contrary, Sri Lanka has not imposed any restrictions on its diplomats on these matters and there are a number of dual citizens among the career diplomats. Some even have married to foreigners and even one diplomat has been allowed to marry a diplomat of another country. This is something strange in view of the concept of diplomacy. However, according to the sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, the top officials of the ministry have not paid serious attention towards this matter. It is revealed that a number of top officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their wives are holding dual citizenship or “green cards.”

Recently, this matter was raised by the members of the high post committee, when a dual citizen of Australia has been nominated as the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Norway. It was the view of the committee members, if dual citizens cannot enter parliament, the government should review its policy on appointing dual citizens as Sri Lanka’s envoys. This is a sensible observation. Of course, considering the sensitive nature of the work entrusted to an envoy, such appointments should not be given to dual citizens.

According to the section 07 of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service Minute adopted in November 2016, to enter the Foreign Service, a person “should be a citizen of Sri Lanka (Those who have dual citizenship should rescind their foreign nationality in the event they are selected to the SLFS and should not acquire the nationality of any other country during their Service.)” If this is condition is applicable to diplomats, the government cannot appoint dual citizens as Sri Lanka’s envoys too.

In this regard, two issues can be identified. First, whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken suitable action to identify whether there are any dual citizens among the Foreign Service officials in terms of the said minute. Second, what action it would initiate to against the violators of conditions stipulated in the Foreign Service Minute. However, according to the Foreign Ministry sources, in replying to the High Post Committee’s inquiry on this issues, Foreign Secretary, Prasad kariyawasam has submitted a letter stating “applicable public service regulations at present do not prevent any Sri Lankan with dual nationality holding a high post in public service, though the 19th Amendment to the Constitution established a condition that Members of Parliament cannot hold dual nationality.” This statement of the Foreign Secretary is against the conditions stipulated in the Foreign Service Minute. However, it is not the Foreign Secretary; it should be the law makers who should address the issues after obtaining the views of the legal experts.

It was learnt that there strong reasons for the Foreign Secretary himself to support the idea of appointing dual citizens as Sri Lanka’s envoys. It is also surprising to note that as a senior ex Foreign Service officer, he should be able to weigh the pros and cons of the issue and advise the law makers on the accurate picture drawing examples from other countries without simply dragging two contradictory views to weaken the argument of the High Post Committee members, who are very much concerned about “Divided loyalty” of the envoys holding dual citizens. Apparently, it also raises the question of the resourcefulness and insightfulness of the top official of the Foreign Ministry.