‘Lanka for resolving its issues by itself’

Parliamentary Corrs

External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris yesterday declared as false and totally baseless the claim by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe that the government opposed the appointment of a Commissioner for Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

The minister said around 50 member countries said that this was not a priority and could be considered at a later date. Others said this should not be done in a hurry.“It was a panel of experts by the name of Eminent Persons Group who proposed to appoint a Commissioner for Human Rights. Not only we, but also 50 nations out of the 54 member Commonwealth said that it was not necessary to set up this office”.

‘Among those with us were countries, such as, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Africa and all African nations opposed it. What was the reason for this opposition? That appointment would cost 500,000 sterling pounds. The member nations were of the opinion that we have other priorities than this office on human rights.

‘Since it costs 500,000 pounds, 50 nations out of 54 countries proposed that we may shelve this proposal.

“We firmly believe that our problems should be resolved within the country. We have a responsibility to protect the sovereignty of the people. We are not ready to transfer our responsibilities to other countries. It is not our duty. We should not allow the international community to solve our problems.

“We do not have anything to hide. The government has a clear vision regarding national and international policies which is very powerful and strong enough to solve our problems.

The minister was responding to a special statement made by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament that Sri Lanka and 50 other nations out of the 54 member body of the Commonwealth demanded that such a Commissioner should not be appointed during the last summit.

Prof Peiris charged the Opposition Leader with distorting facts by saying that Sri Lanka had opposed the appointing of the Commissioner.

“Now the Opposition Leader misinterprets and distorts facts. He says that Sri Lanka was opposed to this appointment in fear that the Commissioner would act against Sri Lanka.

“This is false and completely untrue.

“The only objective we had there was to defend our country. We can sort out our own problems,” he said.He said, “It is wrong to say that we have democratic deficiencies while the international community has come forward to work with Sri Lanka after the end of war, the minister said.

Minister Peiris said around 50 member countries said this was not a priority at this time and it can be done later.

“We have a clear vision to protect the sovereignty of our people. We are not ready to transfer our responsibility to other countries,” he further said.