(Text of Editorial Appearing in “The Island”of March 10th 2014 under the heading “Rape of sovereignty”)

The Geneva circus is on with the worst violators of human rights in the world masquerading as champions of democracy. Perhaps, there is no bigger farce than this summit. The UNHRC is dominated by the West and, therefore, it could not be expected to act independently. It has become a kangaroo court in all but name.

Sri Lanka has taken exception to the US-sponsored draft resolution against it as a ‘bad precedent [which] can, in the medium-to-long term, have an adverse impact on all developing countries in the Council.” Sri Lankan Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha minced no words the other day when he rejected it out of hand on the grounds that it ‘violates the constitutional provisions of Sri Lanka, is highly intrusive in nature and is in breach of the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan people and the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka”. He described it as being politicised and in clear contravention of accepted principles of conduct in the UNHRC.

Ambassador Aryasinha has come out with a few home truths for the consumption of the global community. But, it is only wishful thinking that the sponsors of the resolution will heed them. There is no way one could wake up those who pretend to be slumbering. What we witness in Geneva, year in year out, is a diplomatic badger hunt. All that the badger being pursued can do is to valiantly fight back, but the mastiffs win the day because might is right at the UN. Regrettably, not only hounds but also other burrowing mammals, so to speak, join the pursuit of the quarry without realising that their turn to run for life will come sooner or later.

The UN Charter says, “The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.” Article 2 thereof containing this big lie should be reworded to read: “All members are equal but some members are more equal than others” if it is to sound less hypocritical.

What really prevails at every level of the UN is the law of the jungle and small nations are in the same predicament as rabbits and deer in a forest infested with predators.

No amount of protesting, arguing and reasoning is going to make the sponsors of the anti-Sri Lankan resolution abandon their current project and mend their ways. It is being argued that the US has stopped short of demanding penal action against Sri Lanka. If so, its decision to act with some restraint is due to the limitations in the UNHRC mandate and the need to win over those members wary of backing country specific resolutions calling for tough action as they know they run the risk of being hoist with their own petard some day.

Western nations want to remain involved in this region on some pretext or another to further their interests and they are using the resolution at issue as an instrument. Sri Lanka will have to learn to live with Geneva resolutions while improving its human rights record and striving for reconciliation. There is no other way out. That the UNHRC is biased and the big countries on a witch hunt are a bunch of hypocrites with hidden agendas is no reason why it should refuse to get its act together on the human rights front. These issues should not be conflated.

As for Sri Lanka’s contention that the UNHRC resolution is a blow to her sovereignty, it may be argued that the sovereignty of a small, developing nation is like the virginity of a poor yet attractive damsel in a violent neighborhood infested with dangerous parasites armed to the teeth.

COURTESY:THE ISLAND