Sri Lankans protest against U.S. resolution

Colombo, March 21 : A demonstration was held outside the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka on Thursday against the U.S. sponsored resolution scheduled to be discussed at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The demonstrators raised objections to the resolution and demanded that the U.S. government stay out of Sri Lankan affairs.

The United States this week tabled the final version of the resolution on Sri Lanka at the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

The resolution was tabled by U.S. Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, with co-sponsors including Austria, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway and Britain.

In a toned down document as compared to the previous drafts, the resolution requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with input from relevant special procedures mandate holders, as appropriate, to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its 24th session, and a comprehensive report followed by a discussion at the 25th session, on the implementation of the present resolution.

The Sri Lankan government has already decided to reject the final draft of the U.S. resolution and will seek a vote among members of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Thursday.

In letters addressed to foreign ministers of UNHRC member countries, External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris said the government of Sri Lanka believes that drawing disproportionate attention to Sri Lanka's situation and introducing resolution that seeks to discredit, single out the country are unhelpful and counterproductive to Sri Lanka's current reconciliation process.

The minister noted that the beneficiaries of such action would be none other than the divisive forces that seek to destabilize the hard won peace in the country.