DUPLICITOUS US BULLYING OF SL IN THE GUISE OF PROTECTING HR
Lakshman I. Keerthisinghe LLB, LLM. MPhil
Attorney-at-Law
I detest that man, who hides one thing in the depth of his heart
and speaks forth another
- Homer Illiad (Deciet)
US President Barack Obama |
US Ambassador Michele Sison |
It was reported in recent media reports that US Ambassador Michele
Sison in an address to the Foreign Correspondents Association in Colombo
spoke “about the next steps for US engagement with Sri Lanka”. This was
in the aftermath of the second US-backed resolution at the Human Rights
Council in Geneva last month. She said that the 2012 resolution simply
asked the Government of Sri Lanka to fulfill its own commitments to its
people from its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)
report, and to meet its own international obligations.
The US Ambassador said some had asked her what the US meant when it
spoke of “reconciliation” or “accountability.” She explained, “When we
say reconciliation, we mean finding a way for all Sri Lankans to live
together in peace, harmony, and security in a unified country, a country
in which the democratic space exists for all to be able to express their
views freely, and for all to share in the prosperity of the country in
terms of access to land, employment, education, and so forth. When we
say accountability, we mean, identifying those responsible for
committing abuses and imposing consequences for these acts or
omissions.” She noted that some form of credible investigation is in the
interest of the government concerned. “For when there are serious
allegations of human rights violations — whether a government likes it
or not — those allegations will persist until they are credibly
addressed,” she said. What happens next, she said, depends on the
Government of Sri Lanka. “As we examine next steps, we will renew our
consideration of all mechanisms available, both in the Human Rights
Council and beyond,” she said.
Good governance
Responding to the remarks of the US Ambassador Defence Secretary
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that the job of an ambassador was to strengthen
relations between two countries and not to ruin them by giving lessons
in good governance in the host country.
Sri Lanka was not a colony of America; nor was the ambassador a
governor representing President Obama. He further very correctly stated
that “President Mahinda Rajapaksa was responsible to the people of this
country and not to America”, and that his international obligations are
only part of his responsibilities. “His larger responsibility is to the
people of Sri Lanka”, he said.
In the above backdrop this piece attempts to investigate the
accountability of the United States in its own record of on going human
rights violations all over the world presently taking place in the form
of cowardly drone attacks killing large numbers of innocent women and
children in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries in the
world. Subsequent to the 9/11 attacks in the United States by the Al-qaeda
United States appears to be engaged in a witch-hunt indiscriminately
murdering human beings all over the world in acts of unwarranted revenge
targeting innocent Muslims wherever and whenever it suits them to do so.
The American website Policymic reported thus: ‘Meanwhile, U.S. drones
are killing children and terrorizing families abroad. Earlier this year,
the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that 176 children have been
murdered in Pakistan alone. And along with drone attacks, an average of
4.8 children are killed per day in Afghanistan where earlier this year,
a U.S. sergeant is reported to have killed nine children. Will these
murders be deemed worthy of our thoughts and prayers, or even our news
headlines? These deaths abroad are tragic too. These deaths will also
affect the loved ones of victims for years to come and their lives are
no less-worthy of thoughts, prayers and government (or civilian)
action…. With all men (and children) created equal, we as Americans
should care when any child is killed, not just the ones who happen to be
born in a certain geographical region called the United States…
US drone attack in Afghanistan |
When we worry about the safety of our children, we forget that it is
our drone strikes, our money and our democratically-elected government
that cause the same fear in select countries around the world. And yet,
Americans are going to spend thousands of hours supporting or protesting
various gun laws to "save the children," here at home. But in reality,
Americans could save many more children if they protested our own
government's killing of hundreds of children abroad. But Americans won't
spend their time this way, even if it would save more children's lives.
It seems that Americans should care when any child is murdered, not just
when American ones are.’
Killing fields in Vietnam
We, Sri Lankans would like to know the response of Ambassador Sison
to these comments made by an American journalist displaying the
duplicity of the US Government in protecting human rights in the world.
The truth behind the deceitful American concerns about human rights
violations in Sri Lanka is to bully the present regime in to submission
so as to make Sri Lanka a power base in Asia subservient to the edicts
of the US Government. The Americans are hell bent to either suppress the
present regime or in the alternative replace it with a puppet government
which will act as a pet poodle of the US Ambassador Sison has initiated
that mission with a prelude to the opera that the Americans are planning
to play in the future in Sri Lanka, in the form of the speech made to
the foreign correspondents.
International criminal courts
The Americans were greatly mistaken in Vietnam and they would
definitely be very sad to have made a similar or even worse mistake in
Sri Lanka by going ‘beyond’ their mission as the Ambassador has warned.
What lies ‘beyond’ may be anyone’s guess. Even if the Americans make
their killing fields in Sri Lanka as they brought misery to the innocent
Vietnamese people by making such killing fields in Vietnam they will
have to pay dearly for this mistake if that is what they are planning to
execute in Sri Lanka.
Madam Ambassador, are you aware of the human rights violation in the
form of atrocious torture committed by US troops in Vietnam, Guantanamo
Bay and other prison camps maintained by the US? The US Government under
the Bush Administration adopted the American Service-members’ Protection
Act (ASPA) in an attempt to protect any US citizen from appearing before
the International Court of Criminal Justice (ICC). The ASPA is a United
States federal law introduced by US Senator Jesse Helms as an amendment
to the National Defence Authorisation Act and passed in August 2002 by
Congress. The stated purpose of the amendment was “to protect United
States military personnel and other elected and appointed officials of
the United States government against criminal prosecution by an
international criminal court to which the United States is not a party.”
Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba |
It authorises the President to use “all means necessary and
appropriate to bring about the release of any US or allied personnel
being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the
International Criminal Court.” This has led to the nickname, ‘The Hague
Invasion Act,’ since such freeing of US citizens by force might only be
possible through an invasion of The Hague, Netherlands, the seat of
several international criminal courts and the seat of the Dutch
government. The Act prohibits federal, state and local governments and
(including courts and law enforcement agencies) from assisting the
Court. For example, it prohibits the extradition of any person from the
United States to the Court; it prohibits the transfer of classified
national security information and law enforcement information to the
Court; and it prohibits agents of the Court from conducting
investigations in the United States.
The said Act interferes with the application or implementation of the
principle of command responsibility when applied to US citizens. US
President Obama is liable to be charged before the ICC for war crimes
committed under his command responsibility by the ongoing drone attacks.
Madam Ambassador, as you ventured to explain what is meant by
reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka could you explain whether
the US Government would initiate as you stated ‘some form of credible
investigation in the interest of the Government concerned, when there
are serious allegations of human rights violations’ against the US
troops. Why is the US Government engaged in employing double standards
in protecting human rights in the world. The Bible states, ‘No man
should sit upon judgement on another lest he be judged.’
Military power
This saying is more relevant when applied to a wrongdoer assuming the
role of a judge over others. As that great British Jurist, then Master
of the Rolls Lord Alfred Thompson Denning once questioned: ‘Who made
thee the ruler and judge over us?’ repeating the saying in Exodus 7.27 –
The Bible. As our Defence Secretary very properly queried ‘Who made thee
the Governor of Sri Lanka or judge and ruler over us Sri Lankans? We may
also query from the United States Ambassador thus: ‘Justice to
developing nations by the US, where art thou fled?’
Please put your house in order first before venturing to protect
human rights all over the world. It is a fact that United States has
immense military power and has caused devastation in Iraq, Libya and
some other countries in the Middle East and succeeded in grabbing their
petroleum supplies, but did those invasions benefit the people of those
countries devastated by the Americans?
A day of reckoning will come even to a very powerful nation as shown
in history and please do not forget that good old story of David vs.
Goliath Sri Lankans are a dignified courageous and a peace-loving nation
whose spirit can never be broken down by threats, torture or a show of
force. There is peace and tranquility in our land and the great majority
of the Sri Lankans do not desire any foreign interference in the
internal affairs in our land. |