Sri Lanka: US intervention protected language rights

[Harold F. Schiffman]

How United States Intervened to Ensure Good Governance And protect Human
Rights in Sri Lanka  US document notes

Created 2007-04-06 14:14
Daya Gamage  US Bureau Asian Tribune Review

Washington, D.C. 06 April (Asiantribune.com): The designation of Sri
Lankas separatist Tamil Tiger movement (LTTE) as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization (FTO) in 1997 the United States government and its agencies,
by federal law, are prohibited from maintaining any contact whatsoever
with it while enjoying diplomatic relations with the legitimate government
of Sri Lanka making the U.S. to use its diplomatic and economic tools at
its disposal to exert pressure on Sri Lanka to fall in line with US
accepted norms of good governance and rule of law. Since the United States
has no available tools to contain or censor the Liberation Tigers, as it
is a non-state player, it uses public statements to condemn its actions
with absolutely no results, and the LTTE taking absolutely no notice of
such pronouncements.

Despite the US prohibited contact with the LTTE and its existing relations
with the Government of Sri Lanka, some of the pronouncements by senior
officials of the United States government has, in fact, given fillip to
the Tamil Tiger cause and brought difficulties for Sri Lanka to handle its
grave internal security situation and its desire to move toward a
political solution to the National Question to redress the grievances of
all disadvantageous populous which belong to all ethnic groups in the
country. Since the U.S. is unable to reprimand or censor the Liberation
Tigers as it is a non-state player with no recognition or legitimacy to be
subject to diplomatic and/or economic pressure, the United States
officials are at liberty to make pronouncements that it presume will help
both the Tamil Tigers and the legitimate government of Sri Lanka to move
forward toward a compromise of a political solution.

One such pronouncement was by assistant secretary of State Richard Boucher
that a Tamil Homeland was a possible solution to this South Asian nations
National Question. This Boucher pronouncement was intended to bring more
pressure on Sri Lanka to move in a faster pace to meet the grievances of
the minority Tamil (12%) population. And, the United States revealed its
mindset that, in fact, the Tamil Tigers represents the legitimate
grievances of the Tamil minority indirectly recognizing the LTTE as the
sole representative of the Tamil people. The State Department released
April 05 report Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record
2006 in its Sri Lanka section makes several editorial comments to exert
much pressure on the Sri Lanka government to take a different course to
meet the aspirations of the Tamil people through a path envisaged by the
Tamil Tigers.

There were numerous, credible reports that armed paramilitary groups,
suspected of being linked to the government and security forces,
participated in armed attacks during the year. Human rights monitors also
reported arbitrary arrests and detention by security forces, poor prison
conditions, denial of fair and public trials, corruption and lack of
transparency, infringement of religious freedom and freedom of movement,
and discrimination against minorities, the State Department report notes.
In another place the report states: U.S. efforts to promote human rights
and democracy focused on working with allies to broker a lasting peace
agreement between the government and the LTTE, urging both sides to uphold
the cease-fire; pressing the government to curb and render justice for
human rights abuses, and promoting freedoms of the press and religion,
fair labor practices, and the rights of women and children.

In another remark it says: The United States continued to press the
government and LTTE to resume negotiations, uphold the cease-fire and find
a political solution to the conflict. U.S. officials consistently urged
the government to halt all human rights abuses and hold perpetrators
accountable; The State Department each year submits the Supporting Human
Rights and Democracy report to Congress, as called for by the Foreign
Relations Authorization Act of 2003. Its release, by law, follows that of
the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which, for the year
2006, assessed the human rights practices of 196 countries released in
early March this year.

The report released on April 05 documents the various tools applied by the
United States to support indigenous democratic reform efforts across the
globe. U.S. support is focused on the core components of a working
democracy and the ability of human rights to be protected. These core
components are free and fair elections, transparent and accountable
institutions operating under the rule of law, and a robust civil society
and independent media. Nevertheless, in Sri Lankas case, this report does
not identify the obstacles and impediments the legitimate government of
Sri Lanka faces in combating Tamil Tiger terrorism and its efforts to
maintain rule of law while endeavoring, under trying conditions not
forgetting undue pressure by the International Community, to reach for a
political solution to the National Question that not only involves the
minority northern and eastern Tamils (12%) but also the minority
plantation Tamils (5.5%) who have not subscribed to the military/political
agenda of the LTTE, minority Muslims (7%) and the overwhelming Sinhalese
rural population who had been, along with other disadvantageous population
of the minorities, totally neglected for decades by successive
governments. Asian Tribune carries the full text of the April 05 released
State Department report for the benefit of both the readers and political
analysts both in Sri Lanka and abroad. This report is totally prepared by
the United States Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka on the guidelines provided
by Washington.

Here is the full text of the report:

Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic that continues to be
fractured by the ethnic conflict between the government and the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an organization advocating a separate ethnic
Tamil state. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, elected in November 2005, and
the parliament share constitutional power. The election was generally
considered technically sound; however, in both government and
LTTE-controlled predominantly Tamil areas, the LTTE enforced an electoral
boycott. During the year violations of the cease-fire accord, signed by
both the government and the LTTE in 2002, increased in frequency and
seriousness. This led to a de facto breakdown of the agreement. As a
result of the escalating hostilities between the government and LTTE and
numerous violations of the cease-fire agreement by both sides, overall
respect for human rights declined in the affected areas. There were
numerous, credible reports that armed paramilitary groups, suspected of
being linked to the government and security forces, participated in armed
attacks during the year. Human rights monitors also reported arbitrary
arrests and detention by security forces, poor prison conditions, denial
of fair and public trials, corruption and lack of transparency,
infringement of religious freedom and freedom of movement, and
discrimination against minorities. Trafficking in persons also remained a
serious issue affecting women, children and men for the purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.

The LTTE engaged in politically motivated killings, suicide attacks,
disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, interference with
privacy, denial of freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association,
and recruitment of child soldiers. Since the August 2005 killing of
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the government has regularly renewed
emergency regulations that permitted arrests without warrants and
unaccountable detentions. In December parliament toughened these
regulations to give security forces even broader arrest and detention
powers. These regulations restrict the media's ability to report on the
conflict. The new rule also establishes an appeals process for detainees,
but gives civil servants, rather than judges, the right to adjudicate the
cases.

U.S. efforts to promote human rights and democracy focused on working with
allies to broker a lasting peace agreement between the government and the
LTTE, urging both sides to uphold the cease-fire; pressing the government
to curb and render justice for human rights abuses, and promoting freedoms
of the press and religion, fair labor practices, and the rights of women
and children. The United States promoted a democratic political process
and good governance. A U.S.-funded transparent and accountable local
governance project aimed to strengthen local government's management
capacity, service delivery, and increase citizen participation in decision
making.  During the year the program supported 35 local government
partners in six provinces. Following local government elections during the
year, the project supported a national conference on local government and
the training of newly-elected mayors and local officials. The United
States continued to engage participants in the youth parliament project
through a series of regional discussions and skill development programs,
which helped the students to develop and implement action plans addressing
community needs. One major democracy initiative during the year included
technical assistance and material support provided to the Elections
Commission to computerize the National Voter Registry.

U.S. efforts to promote freedom of speech and the media included diplomacy
and technical assistance programs. Given the country's highly-centralized
media environment, the United States initiated a regional media program
that gave citizens and local government authorities a voice on local
issues of national concern, including internal displacement, devolution of
power, and human rights. Media houses in both the south and east provided
training and production support to district-based journalists and staff of
community-based organizations. Real Voices Radio current affairs programs
in both vernacular languages were broadcast weekly on three regional radio
stations in the south, east, and central hill country.

The United States supported rule of law, judicial reform, and
anticorruption efforts. A U.S.-funded anticorruption program continued to
provide training and technical assistance to staff from the commission to
investigate allegations of bribery or corruption in the auditor general's
department. Training programs targeted mid-level managers from the auditor
general's department. The program supported a series of regional workshops
for civil society organizations to raise awareness about corruption in
tsunami-affected districts; a series of public service announcements on
national television on corruption; and, in collaboration with other
donors, several awareness-raising events on International Anticorruption
Day. Another U.S.-supported project continued to train mediators from the
Ministry of Justice's Community Mediation Board's Program and support NGOs
working with marginalized communities to train informal paralegals to
represent the interests of their communities. The United States continued
to press the government and LTTE to resume negotiations, uphold the
cease-fire and find a political solution to the conflict. U.S. officials
consistently urged the government to halt all human rights abuses and hold
perpetrators accountable; the United States hosted a meeting of the
co-chairs of the Tokyo Donors Conference late in the year to that end. The
United States also provided technical assistance and training to the
Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and the Secretariat for Coordinating
the Peace Process on conflict resolution and analysis.  The United States
funded meetings, workshops and publications that discussed human rights
and peaceful coexistence. In the conflict- and tsunami-affected east, for
example, community leaders from local government and civil society
underwent training in nonviolent communication skills. The United States
hosted a series of debates through the traditional form of sung limericks,
which offered a viable means to address sensitive issues such as
interethnic relations and the cost of war.

The United States assisted in retraining the police to focus on
community-oriented policing. U.S. law enforcement professionals led
courses on basic investigation and interrogation techniques aimed at
reducing the use of torture. U.S. officers led a course entitled "Human
Dignity and Ethics" and worked with their domestic counterparts to
integrate these skills and techniques into the local law enforcement
curriculum. A U.S. grant supported the Sri Lankan Human Rights
Commission's efforts to process more than 16,000 complaints of
disappearances and to establish a national database on disappearance
cases. Human rights training was a key component of all joint military
programs.

In the eastern province, incidents of violence and general strikes were
common, and there was mutual suspicion between communities. In speeches,
media roundtables, and opinion pieces, the ambassador, the under secretary
of state for political affairs, the assistant secretary of state for South
Asian affairs, and other senior officials condemned human rights abuses
committed by the LTTE and pressed the government to investigate
allegations of human rights abuses by authorities. To address a core issue
of the conflict, the United States supported local efforts to promote
language rights and pluralism through implementation of the 1987 Official
Language Policy. Based on an audit of local practices, the United States
supported advocacy and awareness through a concerned citizens group
comprised of 18 eminent personalities, provided trilingual notice boards
and documents for seven government institutions, and commissioned a study
to identify more effective ways to implement the language policy.

The country is predominantly Buddhist but also has sizeable Christian,
Hindu, and Muslim populations. U.S. officials regularly met with
representatives of all religious groups to review a wide range of human
rights, ethnic, and religious freedom issues. The United States discussed
religious freedom issues with the government in the context of its overall
dialogue and policy of promoting human rights. During the year the
ambassador held high-level meetings with the current and former presidents
of the country to express concern about the negative impact that
anticonversion laws could have on religious freedom. The assistant
secretary of state for South Asian affairs and the ambassador discussed
the anticonversion issue with Sri Lankas ambassador to the United States.
The United States continued to encourage government and religious leaders
to find nonlegislative means to address religious issues. The United
States provided assistance to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to
support refugee protection and assistance in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka
and support to the Tibet Fund to provide reception, health, and education
services to Tibetans in India and Nepal.

The United States has funded a four-year program in the country to help
create a National Plan of Action for Decent Work designed to promote good
governance of labor standards and protection of labor. The United States
also funded the Factory Improvement Program, a multi-supplier training
program to develop local factories' capacity to improve industrial
relations; health, safety, and working conditions; and productivity and
quality, which ended during the year. The United States began a program to
promote the rights of the country's workers in the Persian Gulf and a
program to enforce codes of conduct and promote workers rights in the
country as well.

http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5228

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