Sri Lanka warns US resolution against country sets a negative precedent at the UNHRC

The United States sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka adopted at the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday (March 22) sets a negative precedent that challenges the core values of the UN body, Ambassador Tamara Kunanayakam said.
The Ambassador addressing the Council at the conclusion of the 19th session of UNHRC on Friday said the resolution "reflects a blatant case of politicization that takes the Council hostage to the hidden agendas of the mighty." The resolution tabled by the US calling for the speedy implementation of the recommendations made by Sri Lanka's domestic Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and the investigation of the allegations of international humanitarian law violations received 24 votes in the 47-member Council. Including Sri Lanka, 15 members voted against the resolution while eight abstained. Ambassador Kunanayakam noted that the pressures exercised and the methods used to obtain support for a resolution whose list of co-sponsors, according to her, "constitutes a caricature of a divided world" were not unknown to the members of the Council. "We reject all forms of unilateralism, threats, sanctions, blockades, conditionalities, and the orchestrated disinformation campaign whose aim is to diabolise Sri Lanka, but which only brings dishonour to its authors," the Ambassador said in her concluding remarks. "Today, one country deems itself the depositary of a mission to dictate to the rest of world its vision of Democracy, of Human Rights, of Development. Is any of us safe from becoming the next target, the object of pressure, even of military aggression, to the detriment of our peoples and their right to life?" the Ambassador asked referring to the heavy hand played by the United States to get its resolution adopted by the Council. The envoy emphasized that it is Sri Lanka's duty to unite in the common struggle to "defend our sovereignty, our independence, our territorial integrity, and the free choice of our peoples to shape their own societies and their destiny." "Humanity has entered a new period in which the very survival of the values we cherish and uphold is at stake. To rise to these challenges is our responsibility, a necessity, and no longer an option!" she noted. The Ambassador assured the international community that Sri Lanka will continue its policy of peace and reconciliation, which, she said, is an inclusive process that enjoys not only the support of its own people, but broad international support. She also asserted that Sri Lanka will continue to defend the independence and the prerogatives of the Human Rights Council, against any effort to undermine its multilateral principles.