Roadblocks for good governance
As predicted a fortnight ago, an internal report by a UN officer on the role of the world body during the last days of the military campaign against the LTTE in 2009 is now officially released. It is critical of both the UN and the Government of Sri Lanka.
The author of the report is himself no stranger to controversy, but seems quite well entrenched within the UN system. What is not clear, however, is how he manages to leak his own draft report to various persons who are known Sri Lanka baiters, and eventually to the BBC even before the UN Secretary General has made it public.
This is, after all, a report that deals with a sovereign country, and there is more than an element of neo-imperialistic arrogance in what has been done. And yet, it seems incomprehensible that neither the UN Secretary General nor the Government of Sri Lanka would deem it fit to ask this person for an explanation. As to the contents of the report, the Government will need to deal with it, mindful that this is yet another stoking of the dying embers to keep the fire alight on Sri Lanka's human rights record, especially in relation to the crushing of the LTTE on the battlefield in 2009.
The Government must surely know that the Western powers haven't let go of Sri Lanka yet, and will keep beating the drum of human rights for some time to come.
The recently concluded UPR (Universal Periodic Review) in Geneva has been hailed as a major victory by the Government; but it is a pyrrhic victory. There was no voting involved. It, however, betrayed the Government's good intentions, or no intentions, of implementing some of the basic standards of good governance that a modern, decent, democratic country affords its citizens. Quite unequivocally, the Government has said it will not be implementing the Right to Information Act - until the Cabinet decides the time is right - which we know is never. More than a hundred countries around the world give their people this right, but the Government of Sri Lanka, for reasons all too obvious, will not give it to its citizens.
The UPR and what the Government has said it cannot do are a clear indicator in which direction the country's good governance roadmap is heading. Keep a look-out for the road blocks on the way. No. 08, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 02. P.O. Box 1136, Colombo
editor@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2331276 news@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479332, 2328889, 2331276 features@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479312, 2328889,2331276 pictures@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479323, 2479315 : sports@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479311
bt@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479319 funtimes@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479337, 2331276 2479540, 2479579, 2479725
2479629, 2477628, 2459725