UNHRC in Geneva: Its Partisanship revealed in Summary Statement from Lord Naseby

Lord Naseby PC, President of the All Party British Sri Lanka Parliamentary Group in the UK Parliament, has issued a statement on Sri Lanka with reference to the recently concluded 40th Sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva  = 27 March 2019 …. http://www.ft.lk/news/Lord-Naseby-has-his-say-on-UNHRC-sessions-on-Sri-Lanka/56-675414

‘I have carefully observed every stage of this year’s meeting of the UNHCR. Before I make any other comment, I wish to congratulate Mr Tilak Marapana MP, The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka and Leader of the delegation on Sri Lanka’s statement. I have read meticulously all pages of the full statement. It is balanced, authoritative, measured, challenging and utterly professional – backed up by irrefutable facts and figures.



I was particularly proud that the Foreign Minister decided to include as one of three important annexes the ‘House of Lords debate’ I initiated and led in The House of Lords on 12 October 2017. I now feel totally vindicated about persevering for over 2 years to extract under a ‘Freedom of Information’ Inquiry the despatches of Lt Colonel Gash, the UK’s Military attaché in Colombo who saw the war at first hand. It is these despatches that prove beyond any doubt that there never was a policy to kill Tamil civilians and that the Civilian Casualties were only around 5,500 at most.

I just highlight 3 important issues:

From the UN the Report 40/L.1, the consensus Resolution on Sri Lanka that was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council without a vote:

1. On page 2, I quote, ‘Noting with appreciation the return of some private land’. The Foreign Minister stated in his report that it was 92.16% – hardly ‘some’ – realistically ‘most’.

2. From the same Resolution document on page 3 reference is made to a Truth & Reconciliation Commission: surely The UN for its part will have to put forward proposals of how to get persons like Mrs Adele Balasingham and other senior LTTE officers settled in UK, Canada, USA or elsewhere to fully co-operate if a Truth & Reconciliation mechanism is to happen.

3. Finally, from the Sri Lanka Foreign Minister’s statement reference is made to ‘the considerable unevenness in the standards of proof applied to the Government of Sri Lanka, compared to those applied to the unsubstantiated allegations made by Sri Lanka’s detractors’. How right he was to raise this issue. It really is high time that the claim of 40,000 civilians killed was expunged from the records.

*** ***

THE GASH REPORTS IN REDISCOVERY & REVIEW

The Gash Files I: About Lt. Col. Anton Gash,” 31 March 2018, https://thuppahis.com/2018/03/31/the-gash-files-i-about-lt-col-anton-gash

The Gash Files II: LTTE’s Strategic Design,” 4 April 2018, https://thuppahis.com/2018/04/04/the-gash-files-ii-lttes-strategic-design/

The Gash Files III: Trapped Tamils Out by Sea in 2009,” 9 April 2018, https://thuppahis.com/2018/04/09/the-gash-files-iii-trapped-tamils-out-by-sea-in-2009/

The Gash Files IV: The War on Land in the Final Five Months,” https://thuppahis.com/2018/04/16/the-gash-files-iv-the-war-on-land-in-the-final-five-months/#more-29891

Reflections: Interpreting the Gash Files IV,” 29 April 2018, https://thuppahis.com/2018/04/29/reflections-interpreting-the-gash-files-iv/#more-30031

 

PERTINENT LITERATURE

Chater, David 2009 “Sri Lankan civilians ‘escape’ rebel stronghold,” 22 April 2009, https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=David+chater+of+AL+JAZEERA+on+Sri+Lanka+War+2009&&view=detail&mid=A1893420EC90212A3A3DA1893420EC90212A3A3D&&FORM=VDRVRV

Citizen Silva 2012  2013 “The Numbers Game: Politics of Retributive Justice,” http://www.scribd.com/doc/132499266/The-Numbers-Game-Politics-of-Retributive-Justice OR  http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/shrilanka/document/TheNG.pdf

De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei 2009b “Battle for Mullaitivu enters Final Stage,” Defence Review, Feb. 2009, 3/1: 10-12.

De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei 2009c “Political and Security Implications of Sri Lanka’s Armed Conflict,” Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter, Feb. 2009, Vol. 35/1 De Silva, pp. 20, 22-24.

De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei 2009d “The Battle for the Vanni Pocket,” Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter, March 2009, Vol. 35/2, pp. 17-19 — SEE http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/aulimp/citations/gsa/2009_157395/156554.html

De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei 2010b “Downfall of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,” South Asia Defence and Strategic Review, May-June 2010, pp. 10-15.

De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei 2010a “Information Warfare and the Endgame of the Civil War,” Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter, May 2010, 30/4: 35-37, http://wwwasiapacificdefencereporter.com/articles/40/Sri-Lanka.

De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei 2010b “Defeat of the LTTE and Its Significance,” Asia Defence News, May-June 2010, Vol. V/5, pp. 44-46.

Fisk, Robert 2018 “Douma: Terror from Many Sides and Confusing Tales. Hypoxia not Gas?” 19 April 2018, https://thuppahis.com/2018/04/19/douma-terror-from-many-sides-and-confusing-tales-hypoxia-not-gas/

Friedmann, George 2014 “Immaculate Intervention: Wars of Humanitarianism,” 5 April 2011 https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/immaculate-intervention-wars-humanitarianism ... Reprint in https://thuppahis.com/2018/04/26/immaculate-follies-the-contradictions-within-wars-of-humanitarian-intervention/

Gamage, Daya 2014 “The American Agenda for Sri Lanka’s National Issues, 1970s-2014,” 5 July 2014, https://thuppahis.com/2014/07/05/the-american-agenda-for-sri-lankas-national-issues-1970s-2014/

Gamage, Daya 2015 “U.S. clears Sri Lanka of Civilian Deaths: Faults Tiger Human Shield,” 14 August 2015, http://www.asiantribune.com/node/87659.

Gray, David 2009 “A Day at the Front Line in Sri Lanka (Photographer’s Blog),” 27 April 2009, http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2009/04/27/a-day-at-the-front-line-in-sri-lanka/

Groundviews 2010 “Did the SL Army use cluster bombs and phosphorous bombs against Civilians?” 24 September 2010,  http://groundviews.org/2010/09/24/did-the-sri-lankan-army-use-cluster-bombs-and-phosphorus-bombs-against-civilians/ 

Hull, C. Bryson 2009 “Sri Lanka opens eye in the sky on war zone,” 20 April 2009, http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSCOL450259

IDAG [i.e. Citizen Silva] 2013 “The Numbers Game: Politics of Retributive Justice,” http://www.scribd.com/doc/132499266/The-Numbers-Game-Politics-of-Retributive-Justice OR  http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/shrilanka/document/TheNG.pdf.

Jeyaraj, DBS 2009 “Wretched of the Wanni Earth break Free of Bondage,” Daily Mirror, 25 April 2009.

Marga 2011 An Analysis and Evaluation of The Report of the Advisory Panel to the UNSG nn the Final Stages of the War in Sri Lanka, https://www.dropbox.com/s/0eybj1ynej6spaa/The%20Darusman%20Report-%20Final%20doc-2.doc

Marga 2014 Issues of Truth and Accountability. The Last Stages of the War in Sri Lanka, https://www.dropbox.com/s/tdxwntf7wu5andq/The%20Last%20Stages%20of%20the%20war%20in%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf?n=66191473.

Padraig Colman 2013 “Deadly Accountancy. Part II,”  http://pcolman.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/deadly-accountancy-part-2/

Peiris, Gerald 2014  “Striving for Evidence of War Crimes: “Cluster Bombs” and Other Dud Weaponry,” 30 Jan 2014, https://thuppahis.com/2014/01/30/striving-for-evidence-of-war-crimes-cluster-bombs-and-other-dud-weaponry/#more-11755.

Prasad, Kanchan 2011 “Indian Reporter Pics at NFZ-14-to-18 May 2009,” http://www.flickr.com/photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626797805167/

Reddy, B. Muralidhar 2009a “An Escape from Hellhole,” http://www.hindu.com/ 2009/04/25/stories/2009042558390100.html.

Reddy, Muralidhar 2009b “Multiple Displacements, Total Loss of Identity.” The Hindu, 27 May 2009,  http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/27/stories/2009052755811500.htm

Padraig Colman & Michael Roberts 2013 “The Fog of War envelopes the Last Phase of Eelam war IV,” 27 December 2013,  https://thuppahis.com/2013/12/27/the-fog-of-war-envelopes-the-last-phase-of-eelam-war-iv/

Roberts, Michael 2009 “Dilemmas at War’s End: Thoughts on Hard Realities,” 10 February 2009,  http://groundviews.org/2009/02/10/dilemmas-at-wars-end-thoughts-on-hard-realities/ … rep. in Roberts, Fire and Storm, Colombo, 2010, pp. 265-74.

Roberts, Michael 2013 “BBC-Blind: Misreading the Tamil Tiger Strategy of International Blackmail, 2008-13,” 8 December 2013, https://thuppahis.com/2013/12/08/bbc-blind-misreading-the-tamil-tiger-strategy-of-international-blackmail-2008-13/#more-1122

Roberts, Michael 2013 Witnesses to “the War without Witnesses” … Voiceless? Buried Foreign Reporters?” 30 December 2013, 2013 https://thuppahis.com/2013/12/30/11504/

Roberts, Michael 2013 “Introducing “Numbers Game” – A Detailed Study of the Last Stages of Eelam War IV,” 30 April 2013, https://thuppahis.com/2013/04/30/introducing-numbers-game-a-detailed-study-of-the-last-stages-of-eelam-war-iv/

Roberts, Michael 2014 Tamil Person and State. Essays, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.

Roberts, Michael 2014 Tamil Person and State. Pictorial, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.

Roberts, Michael 2014 “Generating Calamity, 2008-2014: An Overview of Tamil Nationalist Operations and Their Marvels,” 10 April 2014, http://groundviews.org/2014/04/10/generating-calamity-2008-2014-an-overview-of-tamil-nationalist-operations-and-their-marvels/

Roberts, Michael 2014 “The War in Sri Lanka: Ravi Nessman’s Slanted Story for USA on the Tavis Smiley Show, 18 February 2009,” 31 January 2014, https://thuppahis.com/2014/01/31/the-war-in-sri-lanka-ravi-nessmans-slanted-story-for-usa-on-the-tavis-smiley-show-18-february-200/

Roberts, Michael 2014 “Ball-by-Ball through Wikileaks: US Embassy Despatches from Colombo, 2009: ONE,” 27 August 2014, https://thuppahis.com/2014/08/27/ball-by-ball-through-wikileaks-us-embassy-despatches-from-colombo-2009-one/#more-13481

Roberts, Michael 2014 “Truth Journalism? Marie Colvin hoist on her Own Petard,” 5 November 2014, https://thuppahis.com/2015/07/24/targeting-lanka-by-playing-ball-with-tamil-extremism-2008-14/

Roberts, Michael 2014 “The Landscape of the LTTE’s Last Redoubt, May 2009,” in Roberts, Tamil Person and State. Essays, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, pp. 204-15.

Roberts, Michael 2015 “Targeting Sri Lanka by playing ball with Tamil Extremism,” 24 July 2015, http://groundviews.org/2015/07/23/targeting-lanka-playing-ball-with-tamil-extremism-2008-14/

Roberts, Michael 2015  “Lilliputs in a World of Giants: Marga and CHA bat for Lanka in the Propaganda War, 2009-14,” 18 November 2015, https://thuppahis.com/2015/11/18/lilliputs-in-a-world-of-giants-marga-and-cha-bat-for-lanka-in-the-propaganda-war-2009-14/#more-18467

Roberts, Michael 2016 “Reuters in Word and Image: Depicting the Penetration of the LTTE’s Last Redoubt, 19-22 April 2009,” 19 March 2016, https://thuppahis.com/2016/03/19/reuters-in-word-and-image-depicting-the-penetration-of-the-lttes-last-redoubt-19-22-april-2009/#more-20190

Roberts, Michael 2016 “Saving Talaivar Pirapāharan,” 6 April 2016, https://thuppahis.com/2016/04/06/saving-talaivar-pirapaharan/

Roberts, Michael 2017 Reporters struggling with Eelam War IV: Some Recollections and Reports,” 21 October 2017, https://thuppahis.com/2017/10/21/reporters-struggling-with-eelam-war-iv-some-recollections-and-reports/

Shanmugarajah, Dr. Veerakanthipillai 2014 Dr. Veerakanthipillai Shanmugarajah’s Affidavit Description of Conditions in the Vanni Pocket in Refutation of Channel Four,’5 January 2014,  https://thuppahis.com/2014/01/05/dr-veerakanthipillai-shanmugarajahs-affidavit-description-of-conditions-in-the-vanni-pocket-in-refutation-of-channel-four/ …. Also reprinted in Engage Sri Lanka Corrupted Journalism, London, 2014, pp. 204 -14

Times 2011 “TIMES Aerial Images, NFZ Last Redoubt, 23 May 2009,” http://www.flickr.com/ photos/thuppahi/sets/72157626922360092/

Transconflict 2013 “The Fog of War in Sri Lanka,” http://www.transconflict.com/2013/12/fog-war-sri-lanka-182

UNPoE 2011 Report of the Secretary General’s Panel of Experts Report Accountability in Sri Lanka, March 2011….http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/ POE_Report_Full.pdf.

UN Internal Panel Report 2012 “Internal Panel on United Nations Action in Sri Lanka,” 20 November 2012, ……………………………………………………………. http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/The_Internal_Review_Panel_report_on_Sri_Lanka.pdf

UTHR 2009a “A Marred Victory and A Defeat Pregnant with Foreboding,” Report No. 32, 10 June 2009,

 

 

 

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, British imperialism, communal relations, discrimination, doctoring evidence, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, TNA, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes

3 responses to “UNHRC in Geneva: Its Partisanship revealed in Summary Statement from Lord Naseby

  1. Bishop Kenneth Fernando

    Michael Thank you for your excellent research.
    I suggest yo put out a full document on the issues under discussion.

    +Kenneth Fernando

  2. Dickie Bird

    It really is high time that the claim of 40,000 civilians killed was expunged from the records.”- Lord Naseby
    Thank U Lord Naseby for all the things you’ve said and done and to Mr. Tilak Marapone for the courageous and a defiant speech he made at the UNHRC to send shivers down Michelle Bachelet’s spine.
    Now it time to EXPUNGE Darusmann, Vavi Pillai, Sooka, all those eminent Intl. Law professors hired by the TGTE R’Kumaran against SL…
    Then Surendiran’s and the ilk, solheiman’s & the ilk & the likes.
    Big mouthed Abrahams & the TNA ilk.
    Then that terrorists roman catholic clergy Emmanuel & the cassoack wearing lot who brought disgrace to the religion and their Master Jesus Christ.
    What must the Catholics do ? Hang these Clergy on Palmyrah Trees.
    Forget the SWinhalese & Muslims, what about those genuine & innocent Ranjini Tiranagama and the scores of other Intellectual tamils slain invain.
    Last but not least the innocent misled Youth & Children of the North who were aspiring to be future Professionals and Intellectuals who died invain deceived by the LTTE and financed by the Diaspora.
    Can we give life to them to console their parents who are yet being deceived and used by the TNA & the Diaspora.
    When will they ever learn ? Untill the hand of god touches them?

  3. Pingback: A Friend Indeed! Lord Michael Naseby’s Story of Sri Lanka … with Sri Lanka | Thuppahi's Blog

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