Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero; In Remembrance.

A sad day indeed for Sri Lankans. The passing away of Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha thero, the Chairman of the National Movement for a Just Society had shocked us. We grieve not as Buddhists or members of a certain political party but as Sri Lankans who expected a change and fought for it.

Although Sri Lankans knew Sobitha Thero as the key player in the resent regime change, his social activism dates back many years, leading several political campaigns for just society. Sobitha Thero, not having a rigid political afflictions had always been in the common man’s side in the struggle for democracy, equality and justice. Whenever a progressive political change has happened in this country, Sobitha Thero had always been in the forefront of it. Even as the chief incumbent of a Buddhist Temple, Kotte Sri Naga Viharaya, the Thero had leaded a modest life dedicating his life to social progression compared to some monks who went on to developing lavish temples and focusing on worldly goods which is contradictory to the essence of Buddhist teachings.

Sobitha Thero’s activism came to its pinnacle with his work in the Presidential Election in January 2015. Even before the election Sobitha Thero had raised his voice against the nepotism, corruption and undemocratic governance of the previous government. Sobitha Thero had always in the stance of changing the system rather than the people who were running the system. The Thero understood the fact that if we change the people who govern without changing the system they govern, the replacements will be ineffective. He had proposed several changes to the system even before the Presidential Election such as Independent Commissions, Corrupt-free governance and accountability mechanisms.

The opposition always criticized the previous government but never found a suitable candidate for changing the system let alone a better system itself. There were speculations about who shall be the common candidate as opposition had decided to put a common candidate to the presidential race. Sobitha Thero’s name also surfaced and some had doubted how a Buddhist monk is able to contest for the election.

Although most of the supporters of the previous government do not know it, it was Sobitha Thero who initially supported Mr. Rajapaksha BUT on several conditions to ensure democracy. As this author can remember in one occasion, the Thero has stated that Mr. Rajapaksha will be the ideal candidate if he scuttles the undemocratic 18^th Amendment, introduces Independent Commission and Eradicates corruption. But since there was no positive response from him, Sobitha thero had to look for someone else and Mr. Sirisena was an ideal candidate. The rest is history.

Although Sobitha Thero was in the forefront of the regime change, he was the first person to criticize it as well. The lack of progress in the ‘Yahapalana Government’ was appalling and it is no doubt that the Thero was highly dissatisfied with the aftermath. First, the three-month interim government period was extended, hundred Day program was just a broken promise, and the most important change promised, enacting the 19^th Amendment was intentionally delayed. 20^th Amendment and shifting to new electoral system was never done. It is ironical to see that the ‘Father of the recent political change’ has to go on protesting against the ‘Yahapalana child’ in April 2015 to enact the long awaited 19^th Amendment which was the keystone of a new political change.  

Sobitha Thero openly criticized the present government and its lack of progress. It is an open secret that the Thero was really disappointed with it and it must have affected him very much. Surely there shall be a sense of betrayal by the present government’s highest offices. It was not only Sobitha Thero who was betrayed but 6.2 million Sri Lankans who had voted for a change. Resent events suggests that the successive government is similar the previous one if not worse.

People lobby for political movements for many reasons. Most lobbying was done as an investment in the future earnings and favors from the successive governments. Among them, Sobitha Thero was a true patriot and person with high moral standards as he never expected any return or favor from the people who was raised to power by his activism.

It is so heartbreaking to see some people who were posting defamatory comments and celebrating Sobitha Thero’s passing away mostly in social media. Indeed they are the people who never knew the political history of Sri Lanka, how the struggle for ‘Good Governance’ was initially won in January 2015 and subsequently lost by the activism in the civil society and how the people currently in power had betrayed the activists who really helped them. Most of the ‘post-sharing internet radicals’ who use the internet behave as ‘monkeys handling straight razors’ showing their lack of character and how they were brainwashed.

There are lessons to be learnt from the altruistic life and disappointing passing away of Sobitha Thero. It brings us to the bitter realizations that no matter how you intend to change the world for better, the dark forces always win. No matter how good you are, if you are not in the winner’s side, everyone will eventually betray you. At the end of your life, bitterness, regret and disappointment will be your only companions. Last but not least, you will be disgraced even after you were dead and eventually be forgotten.

Ven. Maduluwawer Sobitha Thero, May you Attain Nibbana as it is the only retreat with the eternal peace. 

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The Never Ending Saga of the Rioting University Students

(Photo Courtesy : http://www.asianmirror.lk/ )

University students, according to some, the eager young minds that are going to take the future of our country, were always in a disadvantaged position in their quest for winning their claims. It has been recently proven again by the police crackdown of HNDA (Higher National Diploma in Accountancy) students at Colombo 7 last week. Unlike the previous protests, even though the similar brutal treatment was received by the students, the media, civil society groups and politicians condemned the attack. Even the prime minister has ordered an investigation in to this incident.

There is an inherent nature of the human being to rally against oppression. When some external force blocks their liberty, individually or collectively humans rise against it. The tug of war between the authorities and their subjects thus begun and it was virtually unchanged for millennia. Students, who were in the lowest social class in terms of their bargaining and economic power had always pushed into collective actions against the authorities. The authorities have the reins to control the system so naturally, the students’ demands for changes which often been bluntly rejected. Throughout the history, youth were in the vanguard of social change. It might range from a simple change in their educational facilities to a broader change in the whole society. American Anti-War Riots in 1960s by the new hippy generation which came to its pinnacle with the killing of Columbia university students, demonstrations against Margret Thatcher and recent UK student riots in 2010 against rise of university fees were several examples.

When discussing this matter, it is natural to venture in to the youth activism in general which Sri Lanka had plenty of examples in 1971, 1988 and 1983-2006 by both Sinhala and Tamil youth for political and economic freedom but for the sake of the HNDA incident, it is better to limit the discussion to student movements centered in educational institutions. It is also important to note that institutions, mainly universities are a breeding ground for social movements as well.

Why students riot?

As discussed above, for a conflict to arise there should be two or more parties with conflicts of interest. When their powers are divergent, group with lesser power will always be kneeling down to the other. The power is not entirely depending on the money and institutional structure that is controlled by a group by also depending on the social impact and bargaining ability as well. The two parties in this conflict; student community and government, each is superior in their own sphere making a compromise impossible.

Almost all of the reasons of students to rise against the authorities are entirely legitimate in terms of the free education system of Sri Lanka. Unless that system got changed (by a policy decision which no politician would dare to make), Sri Lankan students should be entitled to all the associating privileges coming under free education from grade 1 to university. It is not only meant having lecture panel and a place for the students to learn but also up-to-date curriculum targeting future needs, quality of human resources and most importantly, adequate infrastructure.    

Sri Lankan university system is plagued with shortages of suitable degree programs to suit the need for the future. Lack of standard among different degree programs and non-degree programs is also a problem. That was resulted in two of the most intense student standoffs in recent history; last week HNDA students’ clash and Allied-Health Science students’ problem. It is also a breeding ground for clashes within the universities and non-degree awarding government institutions such as National Diploma in Technology (NDT). Conflict with private universities (now it resorted to Private Medical Colleges because for better or for worse, all the other degrees are awarded by private institutions in Sri Lanka except Medical Degree) is another clash point.

For some of the inter-institutional crashes such as University-PMC and Allied Health Science, professional bodies such as Medial Professionals Trade Unions are also engaged making the problem harder to solve. The intervening parties might have legitimate reasons for opposing PMCs and rival non-degree institutions since it is a matter of their professional integrity. Non-standardization and popular political promises given by politicians without thinking of the consequences make the problem worse. For example, as in the case of HNDA, a policy decision was made long before to give the degree status to HNDA and to increase the course duration to 4 years. When the government refuses to keep that promise, it is highly unlikely that the students would not go in to a confrontation with the authorities who shattered their legitimate expectations.

Infrastructural problems are much easier to solve but requires money. It is not exaggeration to tell that most of the university infrastructure is not even suitable for minimum human habitation standards let alone for education. This is most prominent in university lodging. Most of the hostels are in dilapidated condition. Even the newly built ones boasted by the former Higher Education Minister ‘Sumanaweera Banda Dissanayake’ as of highest caliber are plagued with problems. Student clashes in Sabaragamuwa University and continued student movements in the University of Colombo for better hostel facilities were still unanswered. It is not that the government lacks monetary resources but improving education is as not lucrative as building highways, mega-cities and boasting about them by organizing musical shows costing millions of rupees. Every government had invested in votes rather than the general welfare of the people. It is apparent to the politicians that the university students or their family member will never going to vote for them so why bother? Investing in votes is the most ferocious form of misuse of public money. It is the tax money of the general public not politicians’ private donations that are spent here after all.  

Unlike the student movements fuelled by socialist ideology in the seventies and late eighties contemporary university student is highly motivated by capitalism. Even the lucrative slogan of ‘free education’ is considered as a path for upward social mobility by gaining wealth. As we all know, education is the only path for a lower and middle class person to gain wealth and to be part of the capitalist dream. Even though significantly weakened by the resent world economic and social unrests, the capitalist ideology still has some momentum thus it is inevitable for the young mind of university student share the Sri Lankan Dream. It is ironical that ultra-capitalist United National Party government has shattered that dream of HNDA students. Thus not getting the degree recognition will weaken their bargaining power in the job market.

Are students troublemakers?

The short answer is no. Students turn to confrontation with the authorities (not referring to the internal clashes and rivalry within the student factions) as the absolute last measure. Every confrontation is ended in the similar manner. Students march in to the authorities, police are deployed, confrontation and brutal crackdown by the police, injuries, arrests followed by their release, social disapproval, many press conferences then gradually the situation subsides but student claims remain unanswered if not partially resolved and in the end, everyone will live happily ever after except the university students who bears the trauma, disappointment and anger for the rest of their lives.

Nevertheless, protests and confrontations coupled with violent confrontations with the authorities were somewhat effective in recent years. In other words, rioting is the only proven method for their pleas to be heard by the deaf ears of the authorities. More violent the confrontation and injuries, better the outcome will be. Sadly, injuries are the only means to direct the public uproar against the authorities. ‘We need to cry for the milk to form’ is the justification used by the students and they have proven it over and over again. Martyrdom is now the only means of resolving problems while student martyrs are hailed as heroes; this acts as a precedent in future student problems also.   

The question we need to ask ourselves is do all these need to be happening? A university student is not a thrill seeker or a daredevil stuntman who always looking for trouble with police. If the government is always keen to ensure free education, it is not wasteful for them to listen to students’ pleas. Now students are the people who share the same ideology with them after all.

Several changes should be made in the governance to resolve the students’ problems.

• Adamant nature of the government and ministers when dealing with students should be changed. Government has a responsibility to ensure the well-being of students and they should be treated with respect. 
• Government should give priority to the reasonable demands of students (most of demands in fact are reasonable)
• There should be a higher education policy and standardization of degrees and certifications by non-degree awarding institutions to solve the inter-institutional clashes once in for all. Recognition and validity of existing course should be retained if not improved.
• Rules of engagement of the police need to be radically changed. Poor riot control training and attitude resulted in many deaths in the past and continuous tarnishing of public image of police. Lack of negotiation skills of police officers is the main problem. Not one of the senior police officers has been trained on negotiation and conflict resolution. Without that a police officer will be a thug with license to kill as the current police media spokesperson has proved over and over again. Proper training and education will improve the situation. It is important to address the situation as soon as possible before another group of students become victims of police brutality.

University student can be compared to a flame; full of energy and eager to light up the world with wisdom. But that energy can also be used to incarcerate everyone. They can be hazardous material to handle but somehow the authorities should be wise enough to direct that flame productively for the sake of our country’s future.   

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Once Upon a Time in Syria; Analysis on Syrian Conflict.

The human civilization was never free of problems and chaos in which war and destruction was common. In human history, there is no point in time which was free from conflicts and warfare. In the last century, the world was plagued with two world wars, struggles for independence, cold war which was fought as a set of proxy wars and countless other internal and external conflicts. In the turn of this century, a new form of war; international terrorism has emerged. The newest ongoing conflict is the conflict between the government of Syria and its opposition groups. Although it can be categorized as a civil war its effects are anything but confined to Syria. It is now evolved in to a regional conflict and who knows; it can be the spark for the World War 3. Most of the public got to know about the Syrian conflict because of the involvement of opposition group, ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or commonly known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and their actions such as kidnapping, beheading, burning and drowning but, there is far more to the Syrian conflict than ISIL thus it is important to go into the  root of this conflict to get a clear idea of why Syrians had turned against their ruler and why factions such as ISIL are so successful. As the ISIL had wowed to carry on their struggle to control much of the middle-east and a substantial portion of Europe and Asia, it is for everyone’s benefit to understand what had happened in Syria and the neighboring Arab world.

This all started with the Arab Spring, the popular uprisings against leaders in the Arab World. Started in Tunisia, it swept across a good portion of the middle-east. It starts with small protests in the name of democracy and usually escalates in to armed conflicts between the government forces and the opposition groups and eventually leads to the downfall of the government and leaders. The outcome of the subsequent power vacuum is different from country to country. Having overthrown so called oppressive dictator was no guarantee for democracy or stable government. Only a handful of countries had transformed in to the state that the protesters hoped for while the majority slid in to chaos and anarchy. Libya, Yemen and Egypt are examples.

Like the other Arab Spring affected countries, in Syria, the opposition backed by Syrian opposition started as a wave of protests against the President Bashar Al Assad. It soon escalated in to an armed conflict where countless rebel factions (both pro-Assad and anti-Assad) fighting each other only to further erupt in to a regional conflict where even the world’s superpowers involve.

Syria is now a melting pot of different rival factions fighting each other for achieving their respective goal broadly categorized in to pro-Assad, anti-Assad and Kurdish. The anti-Assad can further be categorized into secular/democratic and religious ideology.

Even though we tend to look for the starting point for the civil war in Arab spring, the root is not there but further back in time for more than a two millennia. This whole area of middle-east containing Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine is unique. It was influenced by Islam (both Sunni and Shiite), Christianity and Judaism. Moreover due to its changing hands several times starting from Romans, Arabs, Ottomans, and Franco –British to Baathist, Secularist and Islamic forces.

Originally occupied by the nomadic Bedouin people, Islam had swept across the region and managed to unite majority under a one religious ideology, but this is not without problems. Ideological sectarian tensions between Sunni, Shiite and Alawite were common throughout the middle-east. It had multiplied in the second half of the 20^th century. There is a particular reason; almost all of the countries in this region were claimed from the Ottomans after World War 1 by either French or British. When those countries became Independent, the ruling elite of those countries were the minority in most of the cases. Absolute monarchies in some of those countries were abolished either by armed conflicts or leftist revolutions lead by the minority communities. This was apparent in Iraq where Saddam Husain who was a Sunni took control of the Shiite majority Iraq and where the President Bashar Al Assad who is an Alawite Muslim controls Sunni Majority in Syria. This had happened in Libya (tribalism took hold there, not sectarianism). In Lebanon, after the independence from the British, the rule went to Christians who were the minority in a Sunni and Shite majority state resulted in a bloody civil war in 70s and 80s costing thousands of lives and brought the country to an irrecoverable anarchy which still plagues the country. Not to mention Israel where the Jews who were the refugees consisting only about half a million where given the best portion of the land of Palestine from the partition plan of 1948 leading to the biggest crisis the middle-east.

The occupying Franco-British colonials had done an irreparable mistake of alienating the rule from the Majority and giving privileged positions to the minority communities. It seems that this had happened in most of the countries under French or British colonial occupation. If that occupied country couldn’t build a nation state after independence due to various reasons including the divergent ethno-religious factions, soon the majority discontent on the governing minority emerge. This has to do with economic factors also. The ruling minority groups will get wealthy while depriving the majority with economic opportunities. Above situation is no other than a ticking time bomb.

Since this region is once belong to the Ottoman Empire and was a melting pot of different ethnicities and religious groups. Those differences were highlighted when the French and British took control and more prominently after independence. Creation of modern nation states from the former Ottoman Empire was mostly under the British and French discretion making the European colonials, the architects of the middle-east. The problem was that the Europeans had hardly any idea of the Ethnic composition and culture of the people when creating new states. One of the best examples was creating Kuwait from the historical Iraqi territory. They might have done that considering its massive oil wealth and it was easier to manage and make post-independent relations with a small country with virtually homogeneous population. Iraq always claims Kuwait as their territory. This led to the first gulf war in 1991.

Let’s turn our attention to Syria once more. Minority Alawite faction is controlling the state and economy. Assad, like many other Arab nationalistic leaders tried infrastructure development and religious tolerance. It is the only secular state in Arab world. Christians in Syria felt relatively safe. Assad has a strong eastern bloc inclination like Gamal Abdul Nassar in Egypt. When the Arab Spring started, from the beginning Syria was a targeting point. People driven by economic and social inequality was to riot against the regime. Demonstrations were about to happen but, what wasn’t expected is this kind of full time armed insurgence but either a peaceful transition like in Tunisia, riots and violent civil uprising not amounting to armed conflict like in Egypt or a small scale insurgence only by the opposition within that country like in Libya. None of that happened in Syria but a civil war dragging sovereign countries, opposition groups, international terrorist organization and home-grown militias. USA and its allies want Assad to go while Russia wants Assad to prevail. Kurds in Iraq and specially Syria want to win autonomy from Syrian regime. Meanwhile the ISIL want everyone to lose and to establish an Islamic Caliphate spanning from Syria and Iraq into global domination. It is natural that in Arab Spring many rival factions clash to grab power but in Syria, the outside influence from USA and its allies in the name of ‘humanitarian aid to restore democracy’ has led to the escalation of this problem. Russian president Vladimir Putin accused USA directly for creating ISIL, it might not be so but a failed US foreign policy surely helped the ISIL to gain lot of support from neighboring countries. Even though USA didn’t directly supply ISIL any aid, the factions who got US support granted or sold provisions to ISIL. Since ISIL controls a considerable amount of oil production throughout their territory, those petro-dollars can surely be a steady income. USA had and still has an unsuccessful foreign policy in the middle-east. They fund a faction to grab power in a region then those who gained US support double-cross them every time. This had happened with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan.

Whenever USA directly support a government in the middle-east regardless of how oppressive or how blackened its human rights record or how undemocratic it is, USA stays in the winning side. Best example is Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar. Whenever they support the opposition, they tend to lose. It cannot be said that the USA didn’t anticipate the consequences for backing an opposition who surely turned in themselves in to oppressors and fanatics more fearsome than the previous regime in terms of religious tolerance and democracy.  They took a risk in supporting the Syrian opposition because, Assad is a close ally of Russia and Russia has assets in Syrian. Toppling Assad would surely weaken the Russian presence in the middle-east greatly. That would have been the US plan but now it had backfired. Russia is now determined to keep the opposition at bay from toppling Assad and with the recent air strikes possible ‘boots-on-the-ground’, they will surely succeed. The difference between Russian and US decision making is that the boldness in Russian decisions. USA has much to lose in taking rash and unpopular decisions than Russia. USA is a democracy after all!!!

However, what was done has been done. Syria was in turmoil. Half of the Syrian population is either internally or externally displaced. Mass immigration resulted in the worse refugee crisis in Europe after World War II; not to mention the incoming long-term demographic changes and cultural imbalance in the European Union. ISIL will continue to gain support unless they are defeated once in for all. Even Assad took control of Syria eventually, ISIL threat will not pass. They’ll operate as a global terror force much fearful than even the Al-Qaeda. They will gain supporters worldwide including countless followers in the western world.

Now it is too little too late! If USA stayed out of the trouble in Syria, none of this would have happened. The opposition might topple Assad eventually. ISIL would not have born even if they, they will be a mere shadow of the power they are now. The resulting government would be religious fundamentalist like the succeeded government after Egypt’s Mubarak but it would never have escalated in to the brink of World War III.

Now, it is not sure where the Syrian conflict is heading. USA will now stay out of the trouble after all they have done to ignite the kindle. ISIL should be prevented from pouring in to Lebanon or Jordan at all cost. With the incoming US Presidential Election, Syrian policy of major candidates both Republican and Democratic should be closely scrutinized. One of the possible candidates in US election, business magnet Donald Trump expressed Assad is a person with whom they can ‘do business with’.

                                

Middle-east was and always will be a violent and volatile place. With its oil, its influence is crucial in global politics. The best strategy for middle-east is dealing with the legitimate governments regardless of how oppressive, undemocratic and religious extremist they are. Let the people of middle-east handle their own problems. The only thing the rest of the world can do is to contain the spread of fanaticism is to keep a close watch and help the governments who keep the terrorists at bay and to resist all temptations for a regime change regardless of how profitable for western foreign policy is, given that helping the opposition will always be counter-productive for the west in the long run.

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Keeping Children Safe: Child Sexual Abuse Epidemic in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has celebrated another children’s day amidst of celebrations, national functions and more and more promises of making a world a better place for children. It is the same country which experienced a tragic rape and murder of a girl-child and a murder and a decapitation of a small boy. Although there were many incidents of child-murders those two incidents have questioned the consciousness of the Sri Lankan psyche towards children. In a country where religion is quintessential entity and the bond between children and parents are very strong, it is important to dig in to the recent wave of violence towards children.

How it happens?

Indeed, the child-friendliness of our society is questionable. Although raping and murdering children was a rarity, child sexual abuse is a common occurrence. Sometimes the offender is a close personal relative or even the child’s own father of sibling. It is not uncommon to hear stories of even male children getting abused by their fathers and older sisters! Children are always subjected towards domestic violence physically, emotionally and economically.

What are the consequences?

Physical and psychological trauma of such harassment shall remain with the child for the rest of his/her life seriously incapacitating their development and their ability to trust others and forming healthy relationships. Even a minor incident of groping can cause a personality disorder later in the child’s life. There is a serious tendency for the victims of abuse to become abusers themselves creating a vicious circle in violence as well.

Are we giving enough care for the children?

The main reason for child abuse is neglecting children. This can happen due to various reasons. First is economic. In most of the rural areas, mother of a family may go abroad for a foreign employment in the Middle-East leaving the children in the care of the husband or the grand-parents. In most of the cases, the husband may form an extra-marital relationship with another woman. The lack of supervision makes the children an easy prey for sex-offenders.

Young-adults also become victims of sexual abuse. With improper guidance and protection from the adults, these hormone-driven youngsters may form unhealthy relationships hindering their education and future. Not only economically deprived rural children are falling in as victims of the latter phenomenon but also children from middle-class urban families.

What are the solutions?

Vigilance, Protection and Guidance are the three key parts in the solution but you should be seriously concerned with your ability to nurture and care for the children economically and socially before deciding to bring one to this world at the first place. Most of the rural families do not have adequate economical means to support large families today. This was not true in several decades back although the economic and health conditions were far worse, but a rural-agrarian family could maintain five or six children. It is impossible now even to maintain a one-child-family with the rising inflation and skyrocketing commodity prices and ever widening amenities in life so it is important to have at least a stable income and securities for the future to plan having kids. This might prevent the mother from going abroad for economic means.

If you have decided to have children, then it is quintessential to keep an eye on children always specially on very small children. The two child-murders happened recently could have been avoided if the parents were vigilant on the whereabouts of their children and at least make the home secure during all time.

Educating children from an early age is essential. Children should be taught neither to trust anybody nor to accept anything given by others.  In the incident of decapitating a male-child, the killer persuaded the child and lured him to an abandoned house on the promise of showing some toys only to slice him into pieces.  Schools have lot to do in educating children property concerning their age category. Parents should guide their children and teach them the responsibility to keep them safe from possible sexual offenders. It is surprising to see children as old as 15-16 years become victims of sexual abuse and become pregnant without the proper sexual education.

There is a heated debate on bringing up the capital punishment in Sri Lanka again. As a matter of fact, the capital punishment is already here. It is the President who refuses to sign the papers to make someone go to gallows. I do not believe that there will be a reduction of violent crimes and specially rapes if capital punishment in reintroduced unless it was carried out live in public television! Capital punishment is not given for rapists at the first place so the legislations need a change as well.

Prevention is always better than cure. It is truer than ever when it comes to sexual abuse because the repercussions are irreparable. It should be made clear that there is no silver bullet for battling child sexual abuse. The civil society, media, law enforcement agencies, parents and schools have to be the vanguard in the battle. Then only we can make a better future for our children. 

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Battle in Geneva; Sri Lanka at the UNHRC Session

The Geneva season has begun. Every March for the last 2 years had been a busy period for Sri Lankan diplomats and politicians. At the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), resolutions against Sri Lanka were brought up and voted. Now for the 3rd time, another resolution has been drafted. Voting has yet to be called. Both the Sri Lankan government and western countries backed up by United States is preparing for a fierce battle at Geneva. Especially the government has said that they are confident in getting the support of the majority of UNHRC countries to vote against the resolution. Today, Sri Lankan foreign minister Professor G.L.Peiris addressed the UNHRC session rejected the resolution as well as the high commissioner's report stating that it is fundamentally flawed.

After the 30 year bloody civil war was ended in 2009, the international community came up with doubts to whether the conduct of the Sri Lankan army in the last months of war is complying with the international humanitarian law. Although, Sri Lankan government had labeled the operation as a humanitarian mission, most of the international community was skeptical about this. In the eve of war in 2009, United Nations raised questions about the number of civilian deaths which was suspected to be nearly 40000. It had raised concerns about the post war situation in Sri Lanka on violation of human rights, execution of POWs and deliberate attacks on civilian targets.

A report was submitted to the UN called Darusman report pointed out allegations of human rights if proven, raises war crimes and crimes against humanity accusations against Sri Lankan military and leaders. Sri Lankan government had rejected the Darusman report. [1] They implemented its own inquiry called Lessions Learned and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) in which the LTTE was blamed for carrying out almost all of the atrocities however it has accepted that there were some "isolated" incidents involving armed forces. LLRC recommendations were made public in 31st March 2011.

Almost an year had passed from LLRC report publication when the United States raised alarm on Sri Lankan government failure to implement LLRC recommendations. Since LLRC being an internal investigation and one being directly ordered by the President himself, the Sri Lankan government must have been responsible for its immediate implementation. At the UNHRC session, government has insisted saying "we need to be given time to further consolidate the clear process that has been achieved in a short period of 3 years". It seemed to be that the Government is buying time. 

 A second resolution was backed up by the western powers in 2013. It urged Sri Lanka to set up a truth seeking commission but it doesn't explicitly suggested an international inquiry. Now for the 3rd time, another resolution has brought up before the council. Although it acknowledge the progress made on implementing the some recommendations made by LLRC, it has accused the government again for failing to ensure credible investigation in to past violation of human rights. It also focuses on the attacks on religious minorities, lawyers, human rights activists and journalists. It recommends to establish an independent international inquiry if domestic mechanisms failed. 

UNHRC has 47 seats which are distributed among United Nations regional groups for a three year term. Lets look at the voting outcome for the last 2 resolutions[2]

YEAR	VOTED IN FAVOR OF RESOLUTION	VOTED AGAINST RESOLUTION	ABSTAINED
2012	1.     Benin 2.     Cameron 3.     Libya 4.     Mauritius 5.     Nigeria 6.     India 7.     Chile 8.     Costa Rica 9.     Guatemala 10.   Peru 11.   Mexico 12.   Uruguay 13.   Austria 14.   Belgium 15.   Norway 16.   Italy 17.   Spain 18.   Switzerland 19.   United States 20.   Czech Republic 21.   Poland 22.   Hungary 23.   Moldova 24.  Romania	1.     Congo 2.     Mauritiana 3.     Uganda 4.     Bangladesh 5.     China 6.     Indonesia 7.     Kuwait 8.     Maldives 9.     Philippines 10.   Qatar 11.   Saudi Arabia 12.   Thailand 13.   Cuba 14.   Ecuador 15.  Russia	1.     Angola 2.     Botswana 3.     Burkina Faso 4.     Djibuti 5.     Senegal 6.     Jordan 7.     Krygystan 8.     Malaysia
2013	1.     Benin, 2.     the Ivory Coast,  3.     Libya, 4.     Sierra Leone,  5.     India, 6.     Korea, 7.     Argentina, 8.     Brazil,  9.     Chile, 10.   Costa Rica, 11.   Guatemala, 12.   Peru,  13.   Austria, 14.   Germany, 15.   Ireland,  16.   Italy, 17.   Spain, 18.   Switzerland, 19.   USA, 20.   Czech Republic, 21.   Estonia, 22.   Montenegro,  23.   Poland, 24.   Romania, 25.   Moldova.	1.     Venezuela,  2.     Ecuador,  3.     UAE, 4.     Thailand,  5.     Qatar,  6.     Philippines  7.     Pakistan,  8.     Maldives, 9.     Kuwait, 10.   Indonesia, 11.   Uganda, 12.   Mauritania, 13.   Congo (Rep not DR)	1.     Ethiopia,  2.     Angola, 3.     Botswana, 4.     Burkina Faso, 5.     Kenya, 6.     Japan, 7.     Kazakhstan,  8.     Malaysia.

 India despite of being our neighbor voted against Sri Lanka in the past two resolutions. It may be because of the pressure from Tamil Nadu. At the 2013 resolution, Japan's move to abstain from voting is a clear sign of USA's power to persuade her allies to go against Sri Lanka (at least by retaining from voting). Whole Europe (Eastern and Western alike), most of the Latin American countries and some Asian countries have voted for the resolution. The only allies Sri Lanka had were a handful of South East Asian countries and Muslim nations.

Government has long been preparing for the worse in this year's resolution. Powerful countries such as Russia and China have extended their support to Sri Lanka. Government was on a lobbying campaign across the world persuading Latin American, African and Asian nations to vote against the resolution. There are talks about a counter resolution by some countries in favor of Sri Lanka. Today (05-03-2014) Sri Lankan delegate, Professor G.L.Peiris slammed the High Commissioner's report by telling that the report's recommendations are "arbitrary, intrusive and of a political nature, and are not placed within the ambit of the LLRC, as demonstrated by the call to establish an international inquiry mechanism."

In terms of voting, there may not be a difference from the last two resolutions because East and West European block and countries under American influence. Surely India will vote for the resolution but Sri Lanka may have a chance of getting the support from Japan, South Africa and some countries who abstained in 2013 session. Even that will not be enough for the resolution to be rejected.

Sri Lankan government doesn't really care about the resolution. They are in a habit of ignoring international pressure as long as no direct economic impact such as sanctions are implemented. Instead of complying with the recommendations, the government is using UNHRC session as a means to gather votes in the upcoming provincial council election. 

Now almost two years has passed but the reconciliation process is still not up to standards. There are handful of silver strokes in this gloomy sky such as the infrastructure development in North and East but they alone can't turn the tables in favor of Sri Lanka . Failing to implement a substantial amount of recommendation on time may show the grim reality that the government has no real interest in reconciliation and accountability even to their own investigations.

Whether we like it or not, we need a long term plan for reconciliation. First an independent local investigation is needed at least to show the world we are doing something. The government or the armed forces no need to be afraid because they haven't committed any war crimes. Almost all the servicemen in the armed forces and police did their job with utmost professionalism so no harm will be done to the armed forces if perpetrators of some isolated incidents are brought to justice.

Economic development is merely not enough. Even economic development without empowering people's lives is useless. Growing economy should bring benefits directly to the masses. Economic development is a great way to build peace and prosperity. 

Finally political system need to change. Everyone regardless of the race and religion need to get involved in political system. Strengthening provincial councils or other opportunities should be promoted. The government needs to start genuinely talking to the minority politicians and make room for a peaceful solution. Both the minorities and the majority may have compromises to make but they should be done without hesitation by setting aside the Ego for a while. 

This session in Geneva will be a golden opportunity to steer Sri Lanka towards long term peace, prosperity and reconciliation. Are our leaders going to take this opportunity or simply reverting to back to the same routine after this resolution as they have done in the previous two resolutions ?  

  

[1]http://www.mea.gov.lk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2746&Itemid=75

[2]http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/03/04/sri-lanka-scores-preliminary-moral-victory-at-unhrc-2014/.








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