GL addresses leading think tank in Romania:

‘Is Sri Lanka being fairly treated?’

It is of greatest importance to ensure that Sri Lanka’s own national interest and the well being of its own people represent the pivot on which all policy formulation relating to the country hinges. But what is particularly distressing to note is that this consideration, strangely enough, is very much relegated to the background to yield pride of place to other factors which have very little to do with Sri Lanka’s best interests, External Affairs Minister Professor G L Peiris said in Bucharest, Romania on Friday.

The minister was delivering an address at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest.

The audience comprised members of the diplomatic corps, senior government officials, academics and representatives of media and civil society. Romania’s Education Minister Remus Pricopie and several ambassadors across the world attended the event, presided over by the Rector of the University.

Professor Peiris said: “We saw, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva last month, that the determining factor with regard to the pattern of voting was the identity of the mover of the Resolution and a variety of issues involved in the bilateral relationship of the countries whose votes were canvassed, with the country moving the Resolution.

“These included security concerns vital to the countries in question, aid and development programmes, trade arrangements, investment and strategic issues and a whole range of matters which the relevant countries regard as crucial to advance their own national interests”.

He said there is obvious lack of candour in the suggestion that decisions made, and Resolutions adopted, at international fora on the basis of considerations of this nature, really reflect the international community’s commitment to Sri Lanka.

It is sad to reflect, he said on the motivations underpinning this treatment meted out to a nation which, at very considerable sacrifice, succeeded in vanquishing the forces of terrorism and is now firmly embarked on the course of social and economic development for the benefit of its people. Minister Peiris told his audience that what the country needs at the hands of other nations is understanding and goodwill, rather than attitudes which are condescending and clearly bereft of frankness.

He said there must be spontaneous, and not belated or grudging, acknowledgment of the country’s substantial achievements during the short period which had elapsed since the end of hostilities.

“Moreover, there ought to be a sense of proportion in deciding the degree of focus on Sri Lanka, a land at peace and enjoying in full measure the fruits of stability after the anguish inflicted by decades of terrorism, in comparison with the attention devoted to crises in other parts of the world,” he said. A sense of proportion must also be seen, the minister said, in the space and opportunity afforded to Sri Lanka to proceed with the sensitive tasks associated with national reconciliation, and the time needed must surely depend on the magnitude and complexity of the challenges which had to be faced.

“Naturally, one would have to ask how long post-conflict situations have taken in other parts of the world, and whether anything even remotely resembling the intensity of pressure applied on Sri Lanka, had been resorted to in any of these situations. Above all,” he said “Sri Lanka is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect, with legitimate recognition being accorded to the country’s own domestic processes structured in keeping with its traditions and values.” Prof Peiris gave a detailed account of the government’s achievements during the last four years and its programme of work for the future.