Implications Of Geneva Resolution Being A Political Process
By Jehan Perera -March 3, 2014
Jehan Perera
The government seeks to give an impression that it is untroubled by the impending US-sponsored resolution on it at the latest session that has just commenced at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In his first meeting with the Foreign Correspondents Association in Sri Lanka in three years, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is reported to have said he was not disturbed by it and that it would only be a single black mark against the country. However, other reports said he admitted feeling disturbed at being censured by the UNHRC and compared the US treatment of Sri Lanka as being similar to Cassius Clay’s “punching bag.” The Sri Lankan media which is usually respectful of the President showed him in a cartoon in a boxing ring looking flustered across from a much larger President Obama.
However, the government has not given up trying to win over countries to its side. It sent a high ranking Parliamentary delegation over to South Africa, but who appear to have returned with a request to forge a wider consensus from the national polity if they are to receive the South African government’s support for a Truth and Reconciliation process. Such a process holds the key to Sri Lanka’s ability to deal with the past issues of political violence that go beyond merely the last phase of the war. India also appears to have become a focal point of the latest governmental initiative with President Rajapaksa seeking a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when they attend a regional conference in Myanmar this week. In addition, Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is reported to be visiting India for another regional dialogue at which he will meet his counterparts from India.
The importance of lobbying with supportive countries is amplified by the fact that the UNHRC process is primarily a political one in which countries vote on the basis of a variety of reasons, rather than being a judicial process where judges make rulings according to strict guidelines of law. Political processes are also incremental and do not take place with sharp breaks. The government still has the possibility of slowing down the political process. The government appears to be considering two options in responding to the US-sponsored resolution in the UN Human Rights Council that is expected to set the stage for an international investigation. One is to mobilize its friends in the UN to sponsor a counter-resolution. The other is to more fully make positive changes on the ground in a verifiable manner that could satisfy the majority within the international community. Read More
