Pillay has come

Editorial-August 25, 2013

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has come here, at long last, on a seven-day visit. She is on record as having said that she will proceed with her ‘fact finding mission’ with an open mind. She will have to do so for her own sake rather than anyone else’s as, otherwise, she will lose her credibility as the head of a vital UN outfit, but it is doubtful whether she will be able to maintain objectivity, going by her previous statements and actions which have come in for criticism in some quarters as being biased against this country.

How concerned Pillay is about Sri Lanka is evident from the fact that she did not cancel her scheduled visit in spite of the human rights crises in Syria and Egypt, where protesters are being killed in their hundreds and her services are most needed. In Egypt, the US has welcomed the overthrow by the army of a democratically elected government and hailed the Egyptian military which it continues to fund, for having intervened to ‘restore democracy’ regardless of civilian massacres. Pillay will be failing in her duty if she does not visit the trouble-torn countries in other regions, especially Egypt, where the military-backed, pro western regime will have to roll out the red carpet for her.

The Rajapaksa government has had to bite the bullet and carry out some of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations which have gone down well with even some of the bitterest critics of Sri Lanka. It need not feel shy about doing so as flexibility and compromise are essential for resolving conflicts. Moreover, even the mighty US has been compelled to be flexible; it has swallowed its pride and opted to talk to the Taliban, having failed to contain, let alone defeat, that group in spite of a long-drawn-out war which has cost the US taxpayers dear and left thousands of civilians, guerrillas and foreign troops dead and maimed.

One may not be so naïve as to expect top UN officials subservient to western governments and hostile to this country to change their ossified attitudes and opinions following their visits here. But, it is heartening that Pillay’s visit has at least prompted the government to try to get its act together on the human rights front.

The biggest challenge before the visiting UNHRC chief will be to listen to all sides, sift facts from propaganda lies and arrive at reasonable conclusions anent the situation here. She has got a lot to learn and unlearn in Sri Lanka.

The government has already said it expects her to file an impartial report after her visit. The campaigners for an international war crimes probe against Sri Lanka want her to come out with something they could use as grist to the mill at the next UNHRC session. Else, they won’t consider her report to be filed ‘impartial’. The problem with impartiality is that there is no general consensus on it in a conflict situation in spite of its lexicographic definition.

UNHRC head couldn’t have come here to assess the situation objectively. But, what impressions her first visit which will enable her to see for herself things she has hitherto only heard of through others, will leave on her remain to be seen.

One of the reasons the proponents of the Darusman Report, whose damning conclusions are mainly based on information derived from unnamed sources, have cited in defence of its lopsidedness is that the UNSG’s commissioners were not allowed to visit here. Now that no less a person than Pillay has been given access to people and places, the UN human rights arm will be without excuses for such serious flaws in Pillay’s report to be submitted for the next UNHRC session in Geneva.