www.innercitypress.com/unscsri8lanka041309.html
UNITED NATIONS, April 13 -- In the midst of a military offensive in Northern Sri Lanka in which over 3000 civilians have been killed, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has put out a statement that the government of Mexico, which requested UN Security Council briefings on the issue, has now committed to keep it off the Council's agenda.
Citing the statement, Inner City Press on April 13 asked Mexican Ambassador Claude Heller if the Sri Lankan government is accurate that its Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona was told by Mexican vice minister Gomez-Robledo that "they do not have any intention of permitting the Sri Lankan situation to be placed on the Security Council agenda" and that "the Mexican authorities saw the parallels between their own experience in Chiapas and the negative impact of a cleverly manipulated propaganda machine." Statement here, video here from Minute 8:42.
"It is not an accurate statement," Ambassador Heller replied. "We were very clear that in the case of Sri Lanka there is a concern of the responsibility to protect the population." Video here, from Minute 9. The Responsibility to Protect is a doctrine, accepted in the UN General Assembly, that if a country cannot or does not protect its population from harm, the international community can intervene to do so.
Sri Lanka's and Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona's now rebuked mis-summary of their meeting with Mexican officials is not the first case of cognitive dissonance. It has happened regarding telephone calls with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Inner City Press asked at the UN noon briefing on March 25:
Inner City Press: There was a statement by the Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka that the country has received no criticism from the UN of how it’s conducting its conflict in the north. He says that Ms. [Navi] Pillay, the Human Rights Commissioner, “is not the UN”, and apparently implies that, in the discussions between the President and the Secretary-General, there’s been no criticism whatsoever of any action of the Government. I wanted to know, is that consistent with your understanding of those calls?
Spokesperson Michele Montas: As far as I know, a number of issues were raised. Humanitarian issues were also raised.
It should again be noted that Sri Lanka's foreign secretary Palitha Kohona, who said the UN High Commission for Human rights "is not the UN" and now blatantly mis-summarizes his meetings in Mexico himself served in and led the UN's Treaty Section. "He knows better," one official told Inner City Press. After a call by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to President Rajapaksa and his brother(s), Sri Lanka summarized that "Mrs. Clinton appreciated the assurances given by the Secretary of Defense that civilians would not be subjected to any attacks by the military, stating the U.S. looked forward to working with Sri Lanka once the current conflict ends.”
The US State Department, to the contrary, said that “The Secretary stated that the Sri Lanka Army should not fire into the civilian areas of the conflict zone... She urged the President to give international humanitarian relief organizations full access to the conflict area and displaced persons camps, including screening centers."
We are preparing a new report on these camps and centers, watch this site.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/unscsri8lanka041309.html
