US State Dept report based on anonymous sources

The human rights report on Sri Lanka released by the US State Department last week consists of vague, non-specific and unverifiable information. Stating this, the Ministry of Human Rights and Disaster Management said that the report appears to fall short of the high standards that the State Department professes to uphold.

The Ministry added that the basis for many assertions in the US State Department report are “reports” that are mainly attributed to anonymous “NGOs”, “international sources”, “human rights groups”, “observers” and other unnamed sources. As in the past, few (if any) of these allegations have been made known to the government of Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the Government’s position, reaction or response to these assertions are not reflected in the report, making it a less than objective assessment, the Ministry of Human Rights said.

The US report unfortunately does not reflect the fact that the defeat of terrorism after nearly 30 years of conflict now creates an environment within which the human rights of all Sri Lankans can be safeguarded, protected and advanced, the Ministry stated.

Pointing out that the report has given credibility to speculations and rumours, the Ministry said that the report also clearly sets out to speculate on opposition claims of a LTTE pact and a bribe given by President Rajapakse’s campaign. This is totally unacceptable and smacks of a political agenda being played out. This is further proof of the unprofessional and subjective nature of the report.

It also notes that the report, which is ostensibly based on the realization of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the benchmark, completely ignores the socioeconomic rights enshrined in Articles 25 and 26 of the Declaration.

The report on Sri Lanka would appear to fall short of the high standards that the State Department professes to uphold, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Human Rights and Disaster Management said.

The US report said that the government declared victory over the LTTE on May 18 after more than 25 years of armed conflict. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, observers linked the government closely to paramilitary groups believed responsible for serious human rights violations. However the report did not disclose the identity of the observers.

According to the US report, the government's respect for human rights declined as armed conflict reached its conclusion. Outside of the conflict zone, the overwhelming majority of victims of human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings and disappearances, were young male Tamils, it says without substantiating the char

- Asian Tribune -