Inaction on Sri Lanka undermines UN Convention: Canadian foreign minister

Citing objection taken “on petty, procedural or process-based grounds to upholding a report that speaks about credible allegations of war crimes committed in Sri Lanka,” and other examples, the Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird speaking at the UN General assembly on Monday, said that “The greatest enemies of United Nations are not those who have publicly repudiated actions, the greatest enemies of the United Nations are those who quietly undermine its principles and, even worse, those who sit idly watching a slow decline. We cannot sit idly. Canada is a vigorous defender of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.” Canada has consistently opposed the debasement of multilateral institutions by conduct that is inconsistent with the values, he further said.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird Along with UN inaction on Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council, the Canadian Foreign Minister was referring to the presidency of the disarmament conference going to North Korea “a regime involved in the illicit transfers of weapons, material and technology,” Iran, mocking at the UN by not allowing human rights observers getting the Vice Presidency of the General Assembly and a spot on the Commission on Population and Development, and violators of women’s rights getting welcomed to the convention on All forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW).

The following were comments from diaspora political circles in Canada:

The draft resolution placed by the Canadian delegation for an informal discussion among other delegates and human rights groups at Geneva last week

The Canadian delegation came out with a fundamentally wanting resolution at the informal discussions at Geneva.

The Canadian resolution was not at all touching on the UN panel report that had recommended an international investigation of the war crimes in the island. Instead the resolution wanted a review in the March Sessions of the Human Rights Council, on the LLRC findings that were expected from Sri Lanka in November.

Even this hoodwink-resolution was opposed by China, Russia, Pakistan, Cuba, Malaysia and Algeria on grounds that it interferes in the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.

Cuba in fact went a step further and threatened that if such a resolution was to be placed at the council that would have to face a ‘voting’ by the members of the council.

What happened to the ‘resolution’ later is a mystery even to the human rights groups that have attended the discussions.

The Canadian foreign minister now comes out with the strong-worded criticism against certain forces in the international scenario. But was there anything surprising?

The strong words will not bring anything to Eezham Tamils and to those in the Canadian diaspora who expect ‘miracles’ to come from Canada.

If it is very well known that the UN could not act in delivering justice in the case of Eezham Tamils, then the West may have to concertedly prove in deeds what it could do even unilaterally. For that, first it has to come out of the wrong paradigm ‘post-war reconciliation’ sans the Eezham Tamil right to self-determination it had set to uphold a genocidal State, the diaspora political circles in Canada said.

It is actually the acts such as the refusal to acknowledge the righteous status of Eezham Tamils long suffering from genocide that undermine the spirit and principles of the ‘United Nations’ that should be in fact upholding the rights of all the nations of the world whether they have a State or not, the diaspora circles in Canada further said.

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