Continued from yesterday

What on earth has the institution of monarchy got to do with human rights? Britain and the Scandinavian countries which are under monarchies have an infinitely finer human rights record than most of the republics outside the West. On the other hand some monarchies have absolutely grotesque human rights records, such as that of Saudi Arabia which was one of the troika of countries which made that recommendation. The record shows beyond dispute that monarchical and republican systems have no relevance at all to the human rights problem. The recommendation has to be regarded therefore as shockingly and inexcusably irrational and ill-formed.

It is also gratuitously offensive because the supposition behind the recommendation is that once a republican system is installed and the Queen removed the human rights situation in Britain will improve. But as practically everyone knows the Queen has no power at all, and it seems insane to blame her by implication for any human rights shortcomings. Queen Elizabeth II of Britain has in fact less power than Dayan Jayatilleka of Sri Lanka. She cannot for instance wreck British-Sri Lanka relations, whereas Dayan can. We must bear in mind that it is precisely because she is powerless that the average Briton regards criticism of the Queen as caddish and intolerable.

It was foolish of that troika to use a human rights forum to make an irrelevant recommendation about a republican system for Britain. It was foolish of DJ to support that recommendation. I hope – bearing in mind GSP+ at the present juncture – that possible misunderstandings with Britain have been cleared up. According to a newspaper report the Government has given an assurance that it is not asking for an abolition of the British monarchy. That does not suffice for the reasons I have given above. There should be a total and emphatic repudiation of the position taken up by DJ in Geneva. Probably such repudiation has been made, though it has not been publicized.

GSP+ renewal could also become highly problematic because of the case of the slaughter in Muttur of 17 aid workers of the French NGO Action Against Hunger (ACF). France has assumed the Presidency of the EU, which means that at the time the decision is made on GSP+ the most influential position in the EU will be held by President Sakorzy, a dynamic and tough character who is not the sort to take lying down anything that seems insulting to France. Furthermore his Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchener was originally a member of the IIGEP, which later pulled out after making statements that were very critical of the Sri Lankan Government. The COI on the Muttur massacre has had a checkered history, the details of which need no recounting here as they are well-known. I must mention however that I found shocking what looked like a hounding out of Dr Devenesan Nesiah, a person in my estimation of the most shining integrity.

What gives cause for concern at the moment is that as might have been expected the ACF is campaigning for an international inquiry into the Muttur massacre, reportedly with the support of the French Government. It seems significant that at the time of Minister G.L.Peiris’ last visit to France there appeared in a local paper a photograph of President Sakorzy flanked by Ranil Wickremasinghe and Ravi Karunanayake, a striking visual image that spoke more eloquently than a thousand words. Minister Peiris was not accorded the privilege of a meeting with the French President at that time. The signs are disturbing.

I wonder whether the Government might not do something over Prof Rajiva Wijesinha’s articles on the Muttur massacre. In addition to being head of the Peace Secretariat, he is now Secretary to the Human Rights Ministry, which means that his articles might be taken as expressing the official views of the Government. He has been engaged in what seem to me regrettable exchanges with Island columnist Shanie, whose dignified rebuttals I have found convincing. It is not the sort of thing that is customary with Ministry Secretaries, here or in any other country.

His articles have focused mainly on the period before the actual massacre took place. It might seem arguable that the AFC authorities, both in Colombo and in Paris, tragically misread the security situation in Muttur, as a result of which 17 innocent persons died. But they died not as a result of getting caught in crossfire during a battle, or bombings, or any other act of war. They died as a result of an unexpected, and indeed unforeseeable, massacre. It seems comparable to the Udathalawina massacre in which several SLMC supporters were butchered in pre-election violence. It was not the sort of thing that normally happens in pre-election violence, and no one has blamed Rauf Hakeem or any one else for having sent out those men in that van at that time. Furthermore RW has been alleging disingenuous behaviour on the part of the ACF authorities over what happened in the pre-massacre period. It is the kind of thing that can make the French side see red.

I must now point to details in RW’s article in the Island of July 3 that seem to me irresponsible and inflammatory. He wrote," What this means is that the workers were seen as outsiders, in a context in which the inhabitants of Muttur were aggrieved. ACF does not mention that the majority of inhabitants of Muttur were Muslim, and that all but one of the ACF workers were Tamil, and that the attack on Muttur launched by the LTTE also had racial overtones." He is hypothesizing that the massacre could have been carried out by a group of Muslims, without providing any substantiation at all. It is the kind of thing that can make our Muslims see red.

It seems to me that the Government has three options. One is to stop him writing further articles on Muttur. Another is to make the familiar disclaimer that the views expressed by RW are his personal views and not necessarily those of the Government. Lastly, it can declare that the views expressed by him are indeed those of the Government. If the option is the last one, I suggest that the Government send a delegation to Paris to try to convince the AFC authorities there as well as the French Foreign Minister that RW has been talking sound sense on the Muttur massacre. I am making this suggestion on the principle that the Government is under obligation to the people of Sri Lanka to do everything reasonable to secure GSP+ renewal.