Sri Lanka under pressure over human rights

By James Crabtree in Mumbai and Kiran Stacey in London-March 14, 2013

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bd979d74-8c73-11e2-8ee0-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2NcpYmadC

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is facing an intensifying chorus of international criticism over his country’s human rights record and increasingly autocratic ruling style, in advance of a high-profile vote at the UN in Geneva next week.

For the second year, India is expected to support a US-sponsored resolution at the UN Human Rights Council, highlighting allegations of war crimes committed during the bloody conclusion of the island’s two-decade civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

India’s decision to support a similar UN resolution against its smaller southern neighbour last year, which followed intense lobbying from the large Tamil population in India’s southern region, caused embarrassment to Mr Rajapaksa’s administration.

A draft of the new resolution, a copy of which has been seen by the Financial Times, also references demands for an independent international inquiry into the allegations, signalling a ratcheting up of pressure from the language used in the previous ruling.

Sri Lanka has enjoyed fast economic growth since its victory, but western governments and human rights groups have expressed growing concern at the treatment of the country’s opposition, media and judiciary.

Worries increased earlier this year when the government, which is dominated by Mr Rajapaksa and two of his brothers, successfully impeached the island’s most senior judge.

But western attempts to put pressure on the regime have been complicated by concerns over Sri Lanka’s increasingly close links to China, which has funded and built a number of high-profile infrastructure projects in recent years.

Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the forthcoming resolution, while the government says it has already investigated allegations of human rights abuses.

However on Wednesday the leading Democrat on the Congressional foreign affairs committee, Eliot Engel, called on US secretary of state John Kerry to back publicly an independent international inquiry, an investigation Sri Lanka rejects.

Human rights concerns have also seen British prime minister David Cameron face growing calls to cancel or boycott a high-profile Commonwealth summit, due to be held in Sri Lanka later this year.

Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, has already said he will not attend, while two former British foreign secretaries, David Miliband and Malcolm Rifkind, this week called for the event to be moved to another country.

The concerns echo the recommendations of a report last year from the influential UK parliamentary foreign affairs select committee, which called on Mr Cameron not to travel to Sri Lanka. A senior member of the committee told the Financial Times on Wednesday that its view remained unchanged.

The British government has not yet confirmed that Mr Cameron will actually attend, leaving open the option of a boycott.

A Foreign Office spokesman said any decision to cancel or move the summit would require consensus among all Commonwealth members. “We expect the Sri Lankan government to take measures to deliver long-term reconciliation and human rights protection,” they said.

The increased international pressure comes at a time of rising concern over Sri Lanka’s economic prospects, following the decision of the International Monetary Fund not to continue a $2.6bn loan programme last month.

Although Sri Lankan government figures suggest its economy will grow above 7 per cent during 2013, making it the fastest growing nation in south Asia, a report from credit agency Moody’s this week warned that the island is now set to face slower growth and rising pressure on its current account this year.

Japan plans to intrude Sri Lanka - China tightening ties

Friday , 15 March 2013

Japan plans to strengthen its maritime security alliance with Sri Lanka to curb China's growing influence on countries with Indian Ocean coastlines.

A joint statement on maritime security cooperation will be issued after a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa , was quoted in "Asaki Simbon" the daily newspaper of that country.

China, which replaced Japan as the largest aid provider to Sri Lanka in 2009, has been helping with construction of a number of port facilities in countries around India in a strategy known as the "String of Pearls."

A government source said tightening ties with Sri Lanka is "a step toward driving a wedge into the String of Pearls."

In the planned joint statement, Japan and Sri Lanka will confirm "the importance of the rule of law based on the principles of international laws, such as the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea," according to the sources.

Specifically, the statement will refer to the expansion of cooperation between Sri Lanka's maritime security authorities and the Japan Coast Guard and between the Sri Lankan Navy and Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force, respectively.

Sri Lanka is located in a strategic position along sea lanes in the Indian Ocean. One possible component of the String of Pearls is a large port facility under construction with Chinese investment in Sri Lanka's Hambantota, near where Rajapaksa was born.

A senior Foreign Ministry official expressed concerns about the facility, saying, "It could be converted into a military port for China's navy.

China has also been expanding its influence elsewhere in the region through economic assistance. It has supported construction of port facilities in Gwadar in Pakistan and Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Friday , 15 March 2013