Four thousand Buddhist monks, other religious leaders at today's
Adishtana Pooja
An Adishtana Pooja and Satyagraha organised by the Surakimu Maubima
National Organisation, to defeat anti-Sri Lankan forces and conspiracies
will be held at 4.00 p.m. today at the Viharamaha Devi Park, Colombo.
Over 4000 Buddhist monks and Hindu, Islam and Christian religious
dignitaries are expected to participate in the Satyagraha campaign along
side this Adishtana Pooja.
The peaceful Satyagraha campaign will be held at the Colombo
Municipal ground after the Pooja
The Pooja and Satyagraha will invoke the strength, courage and
blessings on all patriots to defeat the US sponsored anti Sri Lankan
resolution at the ongoing 19th Session of the UNHRC.
The organisers have appealed to the nation to unite irrespective of
all differences to safeguard the motherland and take part in Mondays
Pooja.
Sri Lankan ambassador to UN in Geneva Tamara Kunanayakam describing
the US move has said that the real interests of those who want to move a
resolution against Sri Lanka have nothing to do with human rights in Sri
Lanka, whether of Tamils, Sinhalese, or any other community. It lies
elsewhere
There is a lot of hypocrisy and double standards being played out at
the Human Rights Council, and the objective of the big powers is to turn
the Council into yet another weapon at their disposal for use against
developing countries.
With the growing global crises, especially at the centre of their own
economies, they are becoming increasingly aggressive to gain control
over the wealth and resources of their former colonies, in the hope that
they can postpone the political crisis that will inevitably follow the
present multiple economic, financial, environmental and social crises.
That is why we have so much support from the developing countries and
the emerging economies.
There is general recognition that Sri Lanka has made significant
progress since the end of the conflict and that the LLRC report is a
good one and that it contains very important recommendations. It is also
seen as exemplary in its engagement with the international community,
sending high level delegations to the Council sessions.
This is unacceptable to most countries, because it gives a role to
the Council that was never intended. Moreover, there is a general
feeling that Sri Lanka is being punished for cooperating. If the reward
for cooperation is punishment, then why, they ask, should anyone
cooperate with the Council?
Not only developing countries, but also European countries feel that
Sri Lanka is being unfairly targeted. Many say that the outcome of the
battle at this Session will be alitmus test, the real issue being the
survival of the multilateral system. Whereas the US seeks to convert the
system into an instrument in the service of its foreign policy goals,
based on confrontation rather than cooperation, developing countries and
other emerging economies are fighting to maintain its multilateral
character.
A resolution on Sri Lanka will, many feel, be the ultimate test of
the Council's politicization. It will make it or break it.
In her statement to the Human Rights Council, the US Under Secretary
of State, Maria Otero, unilaterally outlined the values which, she said,
would guide their work within the Council, totally disregarding the
principles that the UN General Assembly has determined and which the US
accepted when taking its oath as member of the Council! "Cooperation",
which is embedded in the UN Charter and a duty incumbent on all States,
is replaced with "dialogue"; "impartiality" and "non-selectivity"
replaced with the vague and subjective values, "principle" and "truth" !
Let us also not forget that the US is vying for re-election to the
Human Rights Council in May this year. The problem is that the Western
Group has fielded 5 candidates for only 3 seats. It is believed that by
revising the 2009 Council resolution that is favorable to Sri Lanka,
adopted when the US was not a member, it is trying to show its allies
that the Council cannot function without it.
Developing countries fear that such a decision would set a precedent
giving an historic character to the Council permitting a powerful
country, for reasons of its own, to reopen a dossier that has been
closed to examine past violations. |