Sri Lankans protest proposed UN rights resolution

Thousands of people joined government-backed protests across Sri Lanka on Monday against a proposed UN Human Rights Council resolution on alleged human rights abuses during the country’s civil war. The protests coincided with the beginning of the council’s four-week session in Geneva. Cabinet ministers urged citizens to join the demonstrations, which were planned in 150 cities and towns, according the government’s website. A UN panel report earlier concluded that there were credible allegations that both the government and the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels committed serious abuses that could amount to war crimes, especially during the last months of the conflict, which ended in May 2009. The United States has declared its support of the resolution, which urges Sri Lanka to investigate alleged abuses. The government says the resolution interferes in the country’s internal affairs. In Colombo, about 3,000 government supporters marched toward the US Embassy but were halted by police. Mahinda Kahandagamage, an organizer of the march, said they delivered a letter to the embassy condemning the US support and asking that the resolution be withdrawn. “The country has just been liberated from a 30-year-old war. Our lives were in darkness. But now there is no fear of bomb blasts, no sound of gunfire. But, now America is trying to bring a proposal against our country in Geneva. We all must get together to defeat that effort,” he said. In Gampaha, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Colombo, hundreds of government lawmakers, politicians and supporters shouted slogans condemning the planned resolution. The government’s call for demonstrations came amid growing public anger over a sharp increase in the cost of living spurred by rising fuel prices. A week ago, police were accused of firing on fishermen protesting fuel price increases, killing one person and wounding three. The US representative to the UN Human Rights Council, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, said last week that if Sri Lanka continues to resist the resolution, all options would remain on the table, including calling for an outside investigation. The UN panel report, which was published in 2010, said tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed during the civil war and called for an independent international investigation. Sri Lanka rejected an international investigation and appointed its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which cleared government troops of deliberately targeting civilians but proposed an inquiry into complaints of isolated violations. It also said the Tamil Tigers routinely violated international humanitarian laws.