On May 18, Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris will meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, DC. The two should have plenty to talk about. The Sri Lankan government’s action plan for the implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will be at the top of the list.
In late April, there were reports that Mr. Peiris would be bringing a “secret” action plan to Washington. It is not clear why such a document would need to keep strictly confidential, unless Peiris will be presenting a largely incomplete first draft.
There are many reasons to be concerned. The government has made almost no progress on the recommendations of the LLRC since the commission’s final report was released publicly this past December. Furthermore, the Sri Lankan government has not even touched the LLRC’s interim recommendations, which were released in September 2010.
The government’s National Human Rights Action Plan does not inspire much confidence either. It is a documented full of false, misleading and missing information. In that action plan, many of the government’s benchmarks for success are dubious. There are no impartial monitoring mechanisms. In addition, many of the implementing agencies, like Ministry of Defense for the section on the prevention of torture, do not even make sense.
It would not be surprising if similar methods and tools of obfuscation were used for the LLRC action plan.
The fact the government has not even had the LLRC’s final report translated into Sinhala or Tamil is also disconcerting.
More than six weeks after the resolution on Sri Lanka was passed in Geneva, it does not look like the regime is taking the resolution very seriously. The Sri Lankan government can correctly argue that there are just too many recommendations to be able to implement them all quickly. However, the regime should at least select a few to implement, if for no other reason than to buy additional time and have Western governments believe the overtures are somewhat sincere.
Demilitarization and (at least) talk of a political solution should be at the top of the government’s implementation list, but there are many other recommendations that deserve immediate attention. Just yesterday, the government announced that it would release some information on detainees. Such a move is timed to coincide with Peiris’ upcoming visit.
Since nobody knows what the consequences of noncompliance with the Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution would be, President Rajapaksa is still trying to balance domestic political support with appeasing the international community.
When it comes to Sri Lanka, international pressure works. The lifting of the Emergency Regulations last year (though only resulting legislative sleight of hand) and the creation of the LLRC are two prominent examples of this.
This is a relatively insecure regime that does care deeply about legitimacy beyond its borders.
As recent events at a mosque in Dambulla have shown, Sri Lanka is not a place where the protection of minority rights is paramount. Rather, in Sri Lanka, many people, including religious leaders, are willing to accept enormous levels of intolerance.
G. L. Peiris could present a thoughtful and thorough action plan to Secretary Clinton this week, but surely the Obama administration is not that optimistic.
Secretary Clinton should take the opportunity to send a clear message to the Rajapaksa regime: There will be a price for further delay; diplomatic isolation can and will have consequences.
In the coming months, the regime may still be wondering how much further a reelected Obama administration would be willing to go, or whether largely ignoring the HRC resolution is worth the risk. Regardless, Sri Lankan foreign policy is in a state of profound disarray.
No matter what happens in Washington, Peiris’ visit cannot and will not be deemed a resounding success for the regime. That being said, it is time for President Rajapaksa, Peiris and others to face reality. The government was embarrassed in Geneva. More policy incoherence, uncoordinated diplomacy and bureaucratic infighting should be avoided.
This article first appeared in International Policy Digest.
I totally disagree with the statment on religious intolerance of Sinhalese Buddhists, I am a Sinhalese Christian who never had problems with Buddhists. If fact during Christmas time there are more TV programs about Christmas and the roads are decorated which might make visitors think Sri Lanka is Christian. You should visit Sri Lanka and see it for yourself. Using isolated incidents doesn’t help.
International pressure always helped Rajapaksa to increase his popularity and he loves it. The more outsiders interfere the more time he gets to stay as president as the Sri Lankans hate outside interference.
A foreigner like you can’t understand the joy of not seeing bombs going off in trains and busses, something Sri Lankan are very happy about. This is thousand times better than having international isolation. (We were isolated before when the bomb were going off in Colombo and nobody cared until 9/11)
Meanwhile after the US – India resolution Sri Lankans feel that their future is with China and certainly not with the west. American has never given us aid during 60 years of democracy nor done any worthwhile investments which is a blessing in disguise. The only aid we got was free wheat initially, which made our people eat bread almost destroying the local rice industry. Now we are self sufficient in rice and reducing American whaet consumption.
We won’t loose now when the Chinese are getting stronger.
I totally disagree with the statement of religious intolerance of Sinhalese Buddhists, I am a Sinhalese Christian who never had problems with Buddhists. If fact during Christmas time there are more TV programs about Christmas and the roads are decorated which might make visitors think Sri Lanka is Christian. You should visit Sri Lanka and see it for yourself. Using isolated incidents doesn’t help.
International pressure always helped Rajapaksa to increase his popularity and he loves it. The more outsiders interfere the more time he gets to stay as president as the Sri Lankans hate outside interference.
A foreigner like you can’t understand the joy of not seeing bombs going off in trains and busses, something Sri Lankan are very happy about. This is thousand times better than having international isolation. (We were isolated before when the bomb were going off in Colombo and nobody cared until 9/11)
Meanwhile after the US – India resolution Sri Lankans feel that their future is with China and certainly not with the west. American has never given us aid during 60 years of democracy nor done any worthwhile investments which is a blessing in disguise. The only aid we got was free wheat initially, which made our people eat bread almost destroying the local rice industry. Now we are self sufficient in rice and reducing American wheat consumption.
We won’t loose now when the Chinese are getting stronger.
With all due respect Shandy, Gibson does live in Sri Lanka so he knows first hand the situations on the ground there.
Religious intolerance in Sri Lanka is nothing new; anyone who lives there for an extended period will see that.
If Gibson lives in Sri Lanka then he should know what I am taking about.
I completely agree with Shandy. I am surprised to hear that Batman lives in Sri Lanka but was still capable of writing a very biased and ill-informed account. For a developing country it is no small feat for Sri Lanka to deal with 11,000 terrorists arrested or surrendered and within three years to settle back 90 per cent of them with their families after rehabilitation. Of the 300,000 IDPs less than 10 per cent are still left in camps only because de-mining has not been completed in the areas they used to live. The north where mostly Tamils live recorded an economic growth of massive 22 per cent last year while the country’s average was eight percent.
With the western countries continuing to nurture the LTTE in their own countries they are becoming more vocal and increasingly attempting to resurrect the terrorist group. In that situation would you expect the government to move the army from ares where the terrorists reigned? What happened in Dambulla was an isolated incident because religious tolerance is a hall mark of Sri Lankan society.
Bateman says SL is a soft touch: so keep the pressure on. But please don’t do it piling up misinformation.
Don,
Do you work for the Government of Sri Lanka or do you just repeat (almost verbatim)what Sri Lankan government officials say and then pretend that you are making some sort of meaningful contribution?
Your first paragraph looks a lot like something that GL Peiris said when he was in Washington, DC:
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_12/May19_1337368553CH.php
Your second paragraph is similar something President Rajapaksa said yesterday:
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/120520/News/nws_03.html
You should be embarrassed by the response that you have just posted.
Phil, I don’t know where you come from to reinforce Bateman’s misinformation but I am not working for the SL government. I only stated facts.