Govt. in the dog-house over UNHRC loss

Rohitha assured President of 127 votes at UN poll

President hints at withdrawing fertiliser subsidy

Pillayan wants to use his cadres to
maintain law and order in east

Ranil says family rule to replace party
system in Sri Lanka

While the people already weighed down by a very high cost of living were put on notice by the government that more price hikes will be inevitable in the coming weeks as the economy continues to falter, Sri Lanka suffered a body blow in the international arena last week over her human rights record with the ouster from the UN Human Rights Council signaling tougher days ahead.

That the economy is taking a beating there is no doubt and the crisis of mismanagement which led to it has been heightened with fuel prices reaching astronomical rates in the international market, and having to fund an expensive war which shows no signs of abating anytime soon has made a bad case worse. The end result - the people are once again called to pay for the government's sins of omission and commission.

Bearing the burden

The war is the only weapon the government has to market to the people and is therefore not in a position, come what may, to let up on it and naturally it is having a telling impact on the economy with the people called upon to bear the burden.

With a propaganda blitzkrieg that the war is about to end shoveled down the peoples' throats on a daily basis it appeared they were prepared to grin ad bear but now with the reality dawning slowly but surely that there is no end in sight with deadlines given shifted regularly, the stomach pangs are beginning to tell. And President Mahinda Rajapakse no less has realised urgent action is called for.

What has made the people look askance at government calls to bear the economic hardships in the name of war of course is the extravagance elsewhere in the administration with billions pumped for example to maintain an ego-boosting budget airline and a burgeoning cabinet of ministers, not to mention the Army Commander splurging over 40 millions rupees on a luxury Benz.

Out of control

And having bloated himself with statistics to justify the economic downturn, finally Consumer Affairs Minister Bandula Gunawardena was to tell the President last week that inflation was spiralling out of control and that the people should be prepared for the worst.

Thus, when the ministers met on Wednesday, President Rajapakse was to paint a gloomy picture on the country's immediate economic prospects and appointed a cabinet sub committee headed by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to meet every Tuesday and come up with a formula to address the rising cost of living.

Such committees of course, the President had appointed earlier as well though little or no redress have come the people's way but in a bid to show the people a sense of urgency in dealing with the situation yet another committee came to be appointed.

Realistic view

In doing so, President Rajapakse told the ministers the government was losing Rs. 40 on every litre of diesel while the loss incurred on a litre of kerosene was Rs. 47 due to the subsidy and that a realistic view should be taken on dealing with this situation.

What the President was preparing the ministers for was an inevitable price hike in both kerosene and diesel, which would have a knock-on effect on the overall cost of living and he said the rising global prices make such a scenario inevitable.

Having said so the politician in Rajapakse surfaced, giving the fuel subsidy a class flavour using the American Ambassador Robert Blake and the Sri Lankan rupee millionaires as examples.

"Both kerosene and diesel are heavily subsidised and even rich people benefit equally from this subsidy as the poor. Take for example the American Ambassador. When he uses his car, he gets the same subsidy as the poor man. Even the millionaires get the same benefit. This has to be looked at and some adjustments made," the President told the ministers.

Another warning

With that said the President gave the ministers another warning in the form of slashing the fertiliser subsidy, stating that too has to be looked at.

"Some people say the fertiliser subsidy should be removed whilst others say it will be politically damaging to do so. I am not going to do it at the moment but let us look at it realistically. We can't continue like this," the President said.

Chipping in with his own contribution was Minister Gunawardena who warned that oil prices could go up to US$ 200 a barrel and that Sri Lanka should be able to face such economic shocks by taking hard decisions.

And even as the ministers were discussing the price hikes, Lankan Indian Oil Company announced a Rs. 20 price hike per litre of diesel with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation to follow suit whilst more electricity and milk powder price increases were hinted at.

And while the government was grappling with the economic woes, its much-hyped candidature for a UN Human Rights Council seat also came a cropper on Wednesday, May 21 with Sri Lanka ending one before the last in the Asian Category with only the newly created state Timor Leste behind her.

The government confident of securing one of the four slots available for Asia launched a high profile campaign with a view to impressing upon the Sri Lankan people that despite international criticism over the country's human rights record the world at large was behind Sri Lanka and that it has received a licence to carry on its merry way.

It is with that objective in mind, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama personally visited New York to lobby support for Sri Lanka and even boasted on the eve of the election  127 votes were in the bag.

Human rights again

Further, in a move that raised diplomatic eyebrows, the government despatched Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe to personally make Sri Lanka's case last week in Geneva at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), where once again the focus was the country's deteriorating human rights record.

It is not normal practice for a government minister to make a country's case at the UPR but given the high stakes involved, Sri Lanka decided to send in her big guns, hence the personal intervention of Minister Samarasinghe.

Apart from Minister Bogollagama and Samarasinghe, the government had other high profile figures pushing her case including permanent representative in Geneva Dayan Jayatilleke, Peace Secretariat Chief Rajiva Wijesinha, Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona and the Attorney General, C.R. de Silva and the message to the world was that Sri Lanka was determined to secure her place in the Human Rights Council.

In fact after the UPR on May 13, the International Commission of Jurists representative, Lukas Machon was to say, "The government must move beyond its vague arguments and denials of impunity, and must speedily progress in the investigation, prosecution and conviction of the perpetrators of gross human rights violations including extra-judicial executions of 17 Action Contre la Faim workers in Muttur and of five students in Trincomalee."

"While the government consistently blames shortcomings in human rights protection on the lack of resources and capacities, why is it then afraid of an independent international presence offering monitoring along with the assistance?" Machon was to also ask.

Despite such criticism, the government believed it will win the day and after hectic lobbying, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative in New York, Prasad Kariyawasam too was to inform the President, the country would win through in a tight contest.

With such optimism, the state media went to town profiling  the  election and a campaign was prepared to claim international glory after the results were announced which included lambasting the NGO sector and European countries that were opposing Sri Lanka over its human rights record.

Prestige battle

The significance of the election was such that a cross section of human rights organisations and human rights activists launched a concerted campaign to keep Sri Lanka out of the council as they did Belarus last year and it was for the Government of Sri Lanka, a prestige battle.

After all Sri Lanka was a sitting member of the Council and before that in the Human Rights Commission and defeat would be a telling indictment on the country's human rights record not only given the high profile campaign launched but also the tough stand taken against the country's critics.

Further, the government believed, defeat would open the door at the Human Rights Council to move for tougher action against Sri Lanka on the human rights front with increased calls for a field monitoring presence which the Rajapakse regime has resisted so far.

Thus, for the government, victory was also meant to signal to those countries pushing for a resolution against Sri Lanka on human rights as well as those UN envoys who had forwarded critical reports on the ground situation in the country with regard to child conscription, extra-judicial killings and the culture of impunity that they were barking up the wrong tree.

Simply put, the government had a lot riding on the election, hence the high profile campaign and equally committed to keep Sri Lanka out was the international human rights lobby.

Spotlight

Significantly, though 15 seats on the 47-member council were to be filled on May 21, it was only Sri Lanka that came under the spotlight of the international community based on its human rights record.

Such were the concerns among international human rights activists that even three  Noble Peace Prize winners, namely former US President Jimmy Carter, South Africa's Archbishop, Desmond Tutu and Adolfo Peres Esquivel of Argentina came out against Sri Lanka just days before the election and called on UN members to oppose Sri Lanka's election to the council.

Thus for Sri Lanka, this was no ordinary election and victory meant a vindication of its human rights track record as far as the international community went and defeat, a vote of no-confidence.

There was to be no half way home and the match was played to win and the odds appeared to be in favour of Sri Lanka despite the campaign launched by activist groups because the government needed to only come fourth out of six to secure a position.

But that was not to be, with Sri Lanka managing to secure only 101 votes and mind you that is after each of the 192 member states had the option of voting for four of the six countries in the running namely Japan,  Bahrain, South Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Timor Leste.

Bad news

And no sooner the results were out, while Minister Bogollagama broke the bad news to President Rajapakse, the NGO coalition for an effective Human Rights Council hailed the outcome as a victory for victims of abuse.

"UN member states enforced the standards they established for the new Human Rights Council by not re-electing Sri Lanka to the body today. Domestic and international human rights advocates who had opposed Sri Lanka's re-election to the council said the vote was a victory for human rights standards and for victims of abuse in Sri Lanka," the NGO coalition said in a statement after the results were announced.

Added Steve Crawshaw, the UN Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch and spokesman for the NGO coalition, "We applaud UN members for rejecting an abusive state which has used its position on the Human Rights Council not to promote human rights, but to protect itself and other violator states from scrutiny."

Different spin

The government however spun the defeat differently, claiming 101 countries had voted for the country despite heavy lobbying against Sri Lanka and that it was a sign the Rajapakse administration was not isolated internationally.

And on Thursday, May 22, Minister Bogollagama who called in the diplomatic community for a briefing on the Eastern Provincial Council election said as much pointing to the 101 votes obtained.

But what the government must realise is that it is skating on extremely thin ice internationally considering the fact that all it takes is another six countries to move against Sri Lanka for it to lose a majority in the UN, making the government vulnerable on many fronts.

No doubt those countries and activist groups which lobbied for Sri Lanka's ouster will now be emboldened to push ahead with a resolution against the government lest it addresses the human rights concerns raised with a sense of urgency.

The question for the government is whether it is going to continue to bluster when dealing with the international community or draw a lesson from the humbling experience at the UN Human Rights Council and take remedial steps to win over more friends.

Remedial steps

The hawks in government of course will push the President down the path of aggression oblivious to the international ramifications of such a move, while the moderates like Ministers Samarasinghe and Bogollagama will call for remedial steps but it is unlikely the latter will prevail given the war mentality that is driving the administration.

The end result may well be that by the very conduct of the hawks in government, they will pave the way for a bigger UN role in Sri Lanka and then blame the NGOs and moderates for visiting such a situation on the country.

And if the President does not get carried away with the bluster of the hard-liners, he can still salvage at least the GSP Plus for Sri Lanka by taking necessary steps to address the human rights and good governance issues, thereby turning the tide once again in the country's favour.

To do that however, the President will need to move fast on a number of fronts including the implementation of the Constitutional Council, prosecution of those responsible for the massacre of 17 aid workers and the Trincomalee students massacre for starters, together with action in the east to disarm the Pillayan Group and ensure all child conscripts are returned to their families.

It is in this backdrop that the government will have a lot to answer for even on its handling of the Pillayan-led TMVP, with the group insisting on being armed despite making a show of entering the democratic process.

Armed cadres

Apart from still having in their custody child recruits, according to UN data, the very danger of allowing the TMVP to carry weapons was underscored  in last week's communal clashes in Kathankudy where six Muslim civilians were reported killed after two TMVP cadres were shot dead.

There you have a situation where the legally appointed provincial administration unleashes violence against another community in the region using weapons in their possession rather than getting the police and the security forces to maintain law and order.

Interestingly, given the tense situation, Muslim Congress Leader Rauf Hakeem was to on Thursday telephone Pillayan and urge him to ensure security prevails in the area which the newly appointed chief minister agreed to do.

But that assurance from Pillayan came with the words "I will ensure my cadres move in and bring the situation under control."

It was not a case of sending out the police or the security forces to maintain the peace but Pillayan who apart from being chief minister is also the minister of law and order wanting his cadres to do the job thus highlighting the paramilitary mindset he is still working with.

Unfortunately, totally dependent on Pillayan for survival in the east, the government has given the TMVP a free hand which considering the current developments are bound to exacerbate the friction between the Tamils and the Muslims in the east, which of course the LTTE will make use of once again to completely destabilise the province.

Seeds of dissension

This tendency on the part of the government to sow the seeds of dissension and create disharmony in the political arena was also evident on UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to Europe where at the request of the garment industry he agreed to lobby for the GSP Plus facility.

Sri Lanka stands to lose nearly US $2 billion in export earnings and over 100,000 jobs if the facility is lost due to the country's poor human rights and good governance record  in addition to not adopting in full the 27 UN Conventions listed by the EU and rather than make use of the Opposition Leader's visit to get mileage on the issue, the government opted to accuse him of attempting with the LTTE to undermine the administration.

This was done by claiming through the state media that Wickremesinghe had gone to Germany in the company of a businessman named Selvanayagam who it was alleged is linked to the LTTE when in fact he is a confidant of Investment Promotion Minister G.L. Peiris. So much so that Noel Selvanayagam frequently travels with Peiris when he goes overseas.

Furious at the Tiger allegations, when he was attempting to canvas Sri Lanka's case for GSP Plus, Wickremesinghe hit back in Germany in his address to the Freidrich-Naumann Stifting Foundation charging that the government was moving towards an authoritarian state.

In doing so, Wickremesinghe cited five areas the government was guilty of, namely (a) a government which is attempting to use a war against LTTE to slowly extinguish democracy, (b) This includes weakening the party system to replace it with family rule, (c) entering into electoral alliances with a Tamil paramilitary group accused of human rights violations and contesting the elections, intimidating voters and ballot stuffing in Tamil areas, (d) bypassing parliament in raising loans and violating parliamentary control of expenditure and (e) sabotaging the functions of the Constitutional Council, Independent Police Commission, Independent Public Service Commission, Elections Commission and the Human Rights Commission.