US State Department’s Human Rights Report:

Numerous inaccuracies - Human Rights Ministry

COLOMBO: The Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry said yesterday the US State Department Report on Sri Lanka contains numerous inaccuracies and paints a lopsided picture of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.

The US State Department’s 2007 Country Report on Human Rights Practices was issued on Tuesday.

The Ministry making its position on the Sri Lanka report clear said: “The Ministry welcomes objective and impartial comment - indeed the country has consistently maintained a policy of open, transparent and constructive engagement with international mechanisms: we have opened ourselves to scrutiny in the belief that this will strengthen our own national efforts to protect and promote human rights.

This policy is evidenced by the number of high-profile visits we have facilitated over the last few months, including UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes, as well as visits under the UN special procedures including the visits of Walter Kaelin, Special Representative of the UN SG on the human rights

of internally displaced persons and Professor Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

Sri Lanka is not adverse to criticism but insists that such criticism is fair, objective and, above all, accurate. The Government believes that the appropriate forum for human rights scrutiny is the globally accepted and endorsed forum, the UN Human Rights Council.

Sri Lanka is a member of the Council and has agreed to have its human rights record reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, which will take place in May this year.

The Ministry reiterates that the Government takes its international obligations seriously. Sri Lanka is party to all seven-core conventions on human rights including the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights; indeed we have an enviable record in this area including free universal health care and free education which has led to high levels of achievement when compared with other countries in the sub-region.

We are also party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child despite some countries having yet to ratify both of these treaties that give expression to seminal principles of human rights.

Sri Lanka welcomes an appraisal of our human rights record which takes into account our human rights gains and best practices, as well as areas we need to focus on.

For example, the Government has publicly expressed its appreciation for the manner and methods of work undertaken by Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak and noted with appreciation that the Special Rapporteur acknowledged the fact that the Government facilitated his visit and enabled him to fulfil his mandate.

We also appreciated the Special Rapporteur’s positive assessment, as highlighted in his final report, of the several measures the Government has taken to combat torture. Action has already been taken to follow up on Professor Nowak’s recommendations.

The approach of the Special Rapporteur represents the kind of constructive engagement the Government of Sri Lanka expects from the international community. Specifically the State Department Report purports to cite Professor Nowak to the effect that torture is “endemic and conducted with impunity”.

The Ministry is baffled at the use of these words when Professor Nowak did not use them (nor used words of comparable meaning) in his report.

The Ministry also notes that the US State Department country report on Sri Lanka contains many more inaccuracies, sweeping generalisations and fails to adequately reflect the difficult environment in which the Government operates: namely fighting a ruthless terrorist force.

The Government intends to submit a detailed response in order to highlight factual inaccuracies and present a more balanced version of events - one not dependent on partisan political commentary.

In our view, a more productive and transparent way of issuing a report of this nature, would have been to share a draft of the report with the Government prior to publication, in order that the views of the Government could be taken on board and any errors emended.

The Government has ensured that in its fight against terrorism it has continued to protect and promote human rights, the key challenge for us has been to guarantee the human rights enshrined in our constitution - ensuring that there is no trade off - while at the same time fighting the forces of terror and destruction.

Certain comments in the Sri Lanka report, for example regarding supposed settlement of ethnic Sinhalese in Trincomalee District where Tamils were residing prior to 2006/07 are factually incorrect, irresponsible and tantamount to inciting ethnic tension in a country that has experienced three decades of ethnic conflict.

The State Department report also states that in Batticaloa, the army reportedly forced recently returned internally displaced persons (IDPs) to perform hard labour for no pay. Such a comment is totally unfounded and the Ministry objects to it in the strongest possible terms.

The Government of Sri Lanka is committed to the return of IDPs as a long-term durable solution. We have, to date, resettled approximately 120,000 IDPs in eastern areas now under Government control.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Sri Lanka has been fully involved in the return process and in May last year stated that: “Our staff monitoring the situation on the ground say the majority of people are eager to return home, the returns are voluntary and in line with international protection standards.”

The assertion in the State Department report leads the Ministry to question its sources of information, cited as “reliable”, and whether the drafters of the report actually spoke to UNHCR.

To borrow a phrase from a communique issued by the US Embassy in Baghdad in June last year, following a report by the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq relating to the state of human rights in that country, “numerous inaccuracies and blurred distinctions” result in a “skewed and inaccurate picture”.

We share a similar sentiment in respect of the US State Department Report on Sri Lanka’s human rights practices.