Ms Pillay chastised the regime both for its lack of progress investigating war crime allegations and a general drift towards an authoritarian style of rule that has alarmed both western leaders and international investors. “I am deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction,” she said on Saturday. ... Ms Pillay’s warning comes in advance of a high-profile Commonwealth summit to be hosted by Sri Lanka in November, which is expected to bring renewed international focus upon Mr Rajapaksa’s record, and which has been boycotted by Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper on account of Sri Lanka’s poor human rights record. It also follows a US-sponsored resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in March which criticised Sri Lanka for a series of issues, including accusations that Mr Rajapaksa’s government has curtailed the independence of the country’s parliament, judiciary and media. ... Many of the alleged wartime abuses occurred in early 2009, making Sri Lanka the first country to break such international human rights norms following Mr Obama’s inauguration as US president. “America has lost patience with the Sri Lankans, but there is now a real worry about credibility,” says one western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. “If the US and its allies can’t even get a small country like Sri Lanka to behave itself, what hope does it have in more difficult cases, let alone somewhere like Syria?”
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 20:39:57 +0000
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