UNHRC faux pas: BRICS yet another!

Tamara Kunanayakam deserves the gratitude of all Sri Lankans concerned by the machinations of US and its allies, for the excellent commentary titled “UNHRC resolution, good governance, BRICS – Operation camouflage?” (The Island, 11 November). She is an experienced diplomat and was the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva from 2011. She successfully defended Sri Lanka at UNHRC when the process of passing resolutions against Sri Lanka started.

While the odd behaviour of the government regarding BRICS, which she had gone into detail in her piece, was very much in the news, what she stated about the UNHRC resolution focuses on the intentions as well as capabilities of the JVP/NPP government. This coming from a person with intimate knowledge of the workings of the UNHRC, gives added weight.

Vijitha Herath, the government spokesman’s declaration that the UNHRC resolution drafted by USA/UK and presented to the council by the UK was ‘strongly rejected’ by the government got wide coverage in the media. However, what followed was hardly mentioned and I was surprised and taken aback by the following paragraphs in her commentary:

“Nevertheless, on that same day, the resolution that the Government had “strongly” rejected was adopted without a vote, i.e., by consensus, and consensus resolutions necessarily involve the explicit or implicit consent of the country concerned.

Had indeed the Government “rejected” the external mechanism, it would have called for a recorded vote, the only way to prevent consensus on a hostile draft. Being a non-member state, it would have had to request a friendly country to act on its behalf, and Cuba, China and Pakistan have always obliged. Without a specific request from Sri Lanka, no country that respects the principle of state sovereignty and the right of peoples to self-determination would have called for a vote. It is evident that that request never came. By the decision not to call for a vote, the Government did the opposite of what it had said it would do, even reversing Sri Lanka’s previous rejection of the mechanism at the Council’s 2021and 2022, and consenting to its establishment as well as extension.”

This action of the government raises very significant issues. Was this lapse, if indeed it was, due to inexperience? Or, has the faux pas exposed the sheer incompetence of this government? Worse still, is this government also run by a Viceroy?

Perhaps, as she alludes to, it is an ‘operation camouflage’

Dr Upul Wijayawardhana