Some NGOs present erroneous picture of Lankan human rights situation

HUMAN RIGHTS: We are deeply concerned about the role some Sri Lankan NGOs who visit Geneva to attend United Nations and other human rights meetings are playing in painting an utterly false and biased picture of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.

While receiving the fullest cooperation from the Government in their "investigations" the representatives of those same NGOs turn up in Geneva and accuse in the most violent terms, the Government being negligent and above all incapable of resolving these problems.

These NGOs rarely highlight the unspeakable and egregious human rights violations committed by the LTTE including the despicable practice of recruiting Tamil child soldiers and extorting monies from the Tamil diaspora including in Switzerland.

A person made the outrageous allegation against Sri Lanka by saying that it stands next to Darfur and Lebanon as "one of the most dangerous places in the world for civilians caught up in armed conflict".

She either does not know what she is talking about or was hoping to impress her listeners by making this passionate and melodramatic comparison in the role of a contemporary Joan of Arc couched in the bluff language appropriate to such meetings and using meaningless phrases such as "culture of impunity", more suitable for popular newspapers journalism, she hoped to capture her audience.

She also added insult to injury by referring to Sri Lanka as "my country". Such people are extremely dangerous as they do a great disservice to Mother Lanka with their destructive criticism rather than constructive dialogue.

With the Tamil terrorists, at least, not know where we stand, for one thing they do not consider themselves Sri Lankans, even though they may hold Sri Lankan passports and they are fighting for a 'homeland' despite the illegitimacy of this claim.

It is relevant to mention here that many countries have problems within their territories as no State is perfect but none of these nationals present a plea before any international organisation for the rectification of their problems.

They endeavour to settle, as best they can and over a period of time, those questions amongst themselves. Take the case of India; a great country with facing great challenges (political, social and cultural) but they do not find someone to act in front of the international community for help.

Besides, we know too well the "achievements" of the international community in the conflicts into which they have ventured.

We must also realise that there is nothing magical about international intervention and that the monitors, the NGOs are crying not for our ordinary people with ordinary limitations and ordinary prejudices and sometimes quite out of their depth when placed in certain situations and even depend on national authorities and forces to pull them out of the pits they have fallen into.

So let us break this myth about international sources being able to solve our difficulties and stop treating them as a king of neo-colonial troop who come to the rescue of their colonial subjects.

So if these NGOs like the one in question are seriously and sincerely interested in getting to grits with the problems in Sri Lanka on the subject of human rights, a pet topic these days, or any other problem they should divert their public passion to the more down to earth job of confronting with the Government of Sri Lanka in finding means to deal with the existing complications especially since Sri Lanka, unlike Darfur has an established legal system many decades old as well as the necessary government institutions and economic resources to combat the current challenges.

Instead these NGOs seek to undermine the stability of our social and legal framework by appealing to outside authorities for their intervention and help.

We fervently hope that our Government will be able to resist any attempts made to interfere with our plans to correct and improve where necessary the existing working methods in our country.

Meanwhile, the comparison of Sri Lanka with Darfur will remain a memorable and shameful denigration of our country for a long time to come. It was a scandalous betrayal which must not be overlooked.

It is indeed ironic that the NGO community is making false and biased accusations against the Government of Sri Lanka at a time when the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Louise Arbour in an interview with a local newspaper urged Tamil diaspora to hold the LTTE accountable for its human rights violations.

High Commissioner Arbour went on to state that "It has been blacklisted by the UN Security Council for its recruitment of children," she pointed out "Its human rights record has been one of the major reasons it has been banned or proscribed in many parts of the world.

I think one of the key challenges is for the international Tamil diaspora to hold the LTTE accountable on these issues and demand a change of approach."

Through our communication we hope that the NGOs both Sri Lankan and other who claim to be improving the human rights situation in Sri Lanka will adopt a more co-operative strategy with the Government as their current one of confrontation is doing nothing to help the victims of human rights whose interests they claim to represent at international fora such as the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Let us all work to bring human rights and dignity to all Sri Lankans.

T. KIRIELLA, Sri Lankans for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland