18 February 2021 12:00 am Views - 119
By Sandun A. Jayasekera
Public Security Minister Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara yesterday kept hopes that the 46th UNHRC session scheduled to begin on Monday (22) in Geneva would not go for a vote to pass a resolution against Sri Lanka, amidst the global Covid-19 pandemic, as the UN body does not want a split among member nations at this critical hour.
However, Sri Lanka must be ready for any eventuality and ensure the support of a minimum of 24 out of 47 member countries of the UNHRC, he added.
He said that the UN resolutions are not binding but Sri Lanka got into a trap when UNHRC resolution 30/1 which was jointly sponsored by Sri Lanka and the US was passed in 2015 with a mandate to probe alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.
“Most of the clauses contained in the 30/1 resolution compromises our Constitution, admit that our heroic soldiers committed human rights violations and therefore needs to be probed,” he said.
Minister Weerasekara pointed out that the western nations, former UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon or the UNHRC did not utter a word when the LTTE recruited child soldiers and sent them to the war front as cannon fodder and prevented Tamil civilians from crossing over to the safety of government held areas during the war.
Britain’s foreign secretary David Miliband and France’s Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner wanted a ceasefire only when the LTTE was in trouble and requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa in April 2009 to create a safe passage for LTTE leaders to escape to a safe heaven.