UN Special Rapporteur flouted diplomatic protocol- Foreign Minister

Sri Lanka charged that the UN Special Rapporteur Phillip Alston has failed to follow normal diplomatic practice. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rohitha Bogollagama stated that the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has flouted diplomatic norms by making public the findings of a 3 member panel probing the controversial Channel 4 video even before Sri Lanka could respond to the revelations.

Responding to the statement made by Philip Alston, the Minister said that Alston’s conduct was a breach of diplomatic procedures.

“My Ministry has communicated in this regard both to the Special Rapporteur as well as to the UN Secretariat in New York that the Public Statement in New York is a violation of all the accepted procedures of the United Nations and the norms of justice and fair play”, Minister Bogollagama told media.

The Minister claims that proper procedure would have allowed for a formal response by the Government of Sri Lanka prior to matters being made public.

“The correct procedure would have been for Prof. Alston to first convey the findings of the “independent experts” to our Government. Thereafter the Government should have been given enough time to respond and this in turn should be taken into account by Prof. Alston, prior to deciding on any future course of action,” he said.

Minister Bogollagama cast doubt on the findings of the report and the certainty of the experts appointed to examine the video. “It is also important to note that the findings of the experts are quite ambiguous. For example one expert has written that what was submitted to him “cannot be authenticated to an absolute certainty”, he added.

The Foreign Minister charged that the Special Rapporteur had ignored the very findings of his experts in an attempt to influence the elections in Sri Lanka.

“Therefore Prof. Alston’s rush and determination to go public, ignoring procedure and the very opinions of the ‘experts’ must make us question whether he is targeting our country and deliberately timing his actions to coincide with the current sensitive phase of national elections,” Minister Bogollagama told media.

- Asian Tribune -