Division in Human Rights summit on Sri Lanka

According to foreign media there was a division between Asian and Western members of the UN Human Rights Council as they failed to find a common voice on the situation in Sri Lanka before they were due to hold a special session on the issue today.

Switzerland, with the support of mainly Western states, has tabled a draft resolution calling on Colombo to “investigate all allegations” of human rights abuses during Asia's longest-running civil war between the Sri Lankan security forces and tiger terrorists.

However, another draft text tabled by countries including China, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka commends Sri Lanka’s actions in dealing with internally displaced people, and encouraged UN agencies to continue cooperating with the Sri Lankan government.

The special session was to commence at 6.30 p.m. (Sri Lankan time) yesterday. However, members were unable to find a consensus on the two texts. If a compromise is not found, Sri Lanka's draft resolution would be submitted for adoption by the Council since it was tabled before the Swiss version.
European and other western countries support the Swiss resolution while China, Russia, India, Japan India and countries that belong to Non-Aligned Movement support the resolution on behalf of Sri Lanka.

Wednesday, 27 May 2009 08:58 Source By: lankatruth.com