5 thousand Sri Lankans protest against UN human rights resolution

March 26,2014: More than 5 thousand Sri Lankans demonstrated on Monday outside the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland , against the UN resolution on Sri Lanka. The group asks for Sri Lanka to be given "time to solve its internal problems" related to the process of reconciliation after the Civil War. The protest was organized by representatives of the Sri Lankan community in Europe, under the auspices of the organization Unity for the United Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans living in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands took part in the event, regardless of their political affiliation. The protesters handed a letter addressed to Michael Mǿller, UN director general in Geneva, and Navi Pillai, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The document urges UNHRC to grant "an appropriate period of time" to Sri Lanka to "solve its internal problems without the interference of countries that are influenced by the Tamil diaspora in the world". The 25th session of the UNHRC will close on 28 March in Geneva. The United States and United Kingdom are the main supporters of a new resolution on human rights violations in Sri Lanka, as happened twice before in the past. The previous measures highlighted the government's responsibility for the crimes carried out in the final stages of the civil war.
On several occasions President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa has spoken out against these UN resolutions. In contrast, some members of the local Catholic Church and human rights activists have been calling for the intervention of the international community on violations that continue to occur on the Asian island.
Source: AsiaNews