Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary claimed that the Core Group at the UN Human Rights Council “has indicated to us that they would like to have a consensual resolution that would give us another year to implement Human Rights commitments,” despite overwhelming calls for an international accountability mechanism to be mandated.
Speaking to the Sunday Observer last week, Admiral Jayanath Colombage said the Sri Lankan government called for the text of the resolution to be “drafted jointly” and the regime was “now waiting to see the text of the new resolution”.
His comments came just days before the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a damning report on Sri Lanka, calling for asset freezes and travel bans on Sri Lankan officials and recommended that member states refer the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
As Colombo-based diplomats signalled their willingness for a consensual resolution last week, international human rights groups lambasted the move, highlighting that Sri Lankan government has not shown any support for “an international process to end the cycle of impunity and advance accountability”.
Colombage, who himself stands accused of being complicit in torture, went on to criticise the Tamil diaspora once more, claiming that Western politicians had become their “mouthpiece”.
He went on to make unsubstantiated remarks, claiming that “through terrorist financing they have amassed huge amounts of money by force, and have invested this wealth”.
“With that money they can buy politicians, lobbies and opinion makers,” he continued. “We have to face it.”
“The Tamil diaspora sympathetic towards the LTTE has become a sizeable vote bank for politicians in those countries. These people have become citizens of those countries and are enjoying voting rights. In any country politicians go for votes. Those politicians become the mouthpiece of that vote base.”
“They want Sri Lanka to be punished or blacklisted but it is not going to be easy. We have not committed crimes against humanity, genocide or mass murder. There is absolutely no evidence to support their claims.”
He went on to add “when you look at the world, Sri Lanka is much more peaceful than any other country”.
“We feel the regional body is applying double standards to Sri Lanka. It shows the hypocrisy of the West… We feel we are being targeted due to the bidding of certain powers in the world body.”
See the full interview here.
