Pointing out the twelfth operative paragraph of the Draft Resolution sponsored by Switzerland, that is currently pending before the U.N. Human Rights Council, Professor Boyle, expert in International Law and Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, says this would be the same “as if the U.N. Human Rights Council had invited the Nazi government to investigate and prosecute itself for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Jews instead of supporting the Nuremberg Charter and Tribunal."
The twelfth operative paragraph says, "12. The Council stresses the importance of combating impunity and calls on the government of Sri Lanka to investigate all allegations and bring to justice, in accordance with international standards, perpetrators of violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law, including hostage taking, torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and to increase its efforts to further prevent such violations;"
Boyle said, “ I am not going to waste my time here going through the hypocrisy and sophistry of the Draft Resolution sponsored by Switzerland that is currently pending before the U.N. Human Rights Council with the support of 25 other U.N. Member States. For operative paragraph 12 of the Swiss Resolution gives their entire Public Relations game away.
“It calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to investigate and prosecute itself for war crimes and crimes against humanity, "including hostage taking, torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions." It would be as if the U.N. Human Rights Council had invited the Nazi government to investigate and prosecute itself for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Jews instead of supporting the Nuremberg Charter and Tribunal.
“So in other words the Swiss Resolution is basically a continuation of the international whitewash and cover-up of the GOSL’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Tamils,” Professor Boyle said.
He added, “[t]he glaring hypocrisy and blatant sophistry of the Swiss Resolution is heightened by the fact that Switzerland is the Depositary for the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Two Additional Protocols of 1977 and therefore bears a special obligation under international law to promote, guarantee and ensure their effective enforcement rather than their negation and nullification, which this Swiss Resolution will do. Obviously, Switzerland knows exactly what it is doing. The same is true for the 25 other state Co-Sponsors of the Swiss Resolution.
“Instead of this meaningless and hypocritical and unprincipled Swiss Resolution, the U.N. Human Rights Council must establish an International Commission of Investigation to inquire into whether the GOSL has inflicted genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Tamils. Otherwise the U.N. Human Rights Council and its member states will simply and knowingly become part of the GOSL’s propaganda campaign and cover-up against the Tamils.
“If adopted, History shall record for all time their cruel crocodile tears shed for the Tamils in this infamous Swiss Resolution,” Boyle warned.
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