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Thousands of Lankans protest against UN rights body resolution

Over 5,000 Sri Lankan expatriates living across Europe protested against a resolution tabled against Sri Lanka, in front of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) headquarters in Geneva on 
Monday.

Just three days before member nations vote on the resolution, the protesters called on the UNHRC to assist Sri Lanka in a “reciprocatory manner” to help the nation rebuild after three 
decades of a bloody ethnic 
conflict.

“We expect reciprocity in the cooperation between the UN system and Sri Lanka in order to fulfill its international obligations and commitments to bring about sustainable peace and reconciliation to all Sri Lankans,” said the protesters in a letter addressed to the UN Human Rights chief 
Navi Pillay.

The protesters also urged the international community to give Lanka adequate time and understanding to resolve the country’s problems “without undue interference from countries that 
are influenced by the Tamil Diaspora”.

The US-pushed resolution demands an international probe into alleged war crimes —including extra-judicial killing and rape — purportedly committed by the Lankan military during the final phase of the bloody conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The Lankan government has repeatedly refused to accept charges of war crimes, and conducted its own inquiry mechanism soon after the end of the war 2009.

The resolution also calls for an independent international team to inquire into other alleged human rights abuses committed during and after the war.

If the council passes the resolution against Lanka, this will be the first time the international community will be intervening into what Lanka calls “matters that sovereign nations should be left alone to deal with”.

Lankans living in the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands participated in the protest march.

Sri Lankans living in Australia and Canada also joined the demonstration, which was organised by the United Sri Lanka organisation based in Europe.

The call for an independent international probe was first put forward by the UN Rights Commissioner soon after her visit to the post-war nation last year. A few months later, the British Prime Minster David Cameron followed suit, calling for an international inquiry if Sri Lanka does not show “credible progress” in its rights record by March 2012. 
 news@khaleejtimes.com