SRI Lankan diplomatic missions that took a keen interest in the outcome of the presidential election have lost no time in reaching out to president Anura Kumara Dissanayake after his victory. Before the election, it appeared that former president Ranil Wickemesinghe was the favourite of the western bloc of countries. They made frequent public statements commending the president for his handling of the economy which were supplemented by similar supportive statements by the International Monetary Fund. The Wickremesinghe government also made a special effort to be identified with western-led initiatives including the promise of participating in naval operations in the Red Sea despite having an ill-equipped ship.

One of the concerns of the western bloc of countries and India, in particular, was the foreign policy orientation of the National People’s Party and its presidential candidate. The surmise was that with the National People’s Party’s core constituent the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, being a Marxist-Leninist party as stated on its web site, that the National People’s Party would be tilted towards countries with a similar ideology. In the aftermath of president Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s victory, the international media gave credence to the view that the government would tilt towards China and Russia, which have been long-term allies of Sri Lanka, especially during the period of war and when it came to human rights issues in the context of that war.

However, in the aftermath of his victory, president Dissanayake has given precedence to India, both in terms of economic activities and security interests. The first foreign ambassador to meet him was the Indian ambassador. The first foreign minister to visit Sri Lanka has also been from India at which economic development projects with India was given prominence. President Dissanayake has assured the Indian government that India’s national security will be a priority concern for Sri Lanka. At the same time there have been messages of goodwill from around the world, including countries that are important to Sri Lanka as they provide both markets and economic assistance to it, including the United States, Japan, the European Union, China and Russia.

New leadership

THE government will soon be facing its first major foreign policy challenge. This week the UN Human Rights Council will be deciding on the level of its scrutiny of Sri Lanka, particularly focusing on accountability for human rights violations and the handling of the country’s economic and political crisis. Since 2009, the year the war ended on the battlefields of the north, the international community led by the western bloc of countries has been pressing Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council to investigate and deal with the past. There is the question as to what happened in the final stages of the war and to ensure accountability, among other matters, which include finding of missing persons, return of land and de-militarising the north and east.

In Resolution 51/1 of October 2022, the UN Human Rights Council decided, among other matters, to extend and reinforce the capacity of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to collect and preserve evidence of gross human rights violations. This aims to advance accountability and support judicial proceedings in countries that have laws that permit prosecution of war crimes in their jurisdictions. Both the governments headed by presidents Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe strongly opposed this resolution. But the legal arguments that they made and the evidence that they produced to show improvement in human rights situation on the ground have not changed the approach of the UN system.

This time around, however, the situation can be different and the Sri Lankan government may respond differently. For the first time since the UNHRC resolutions on Sri Lanka made their appearance starting in 2009, Sri Lanka has a government in which none of its members can be accused of having participated in the excesses committed during the course of the war. The members of the present government were not in positions of power where they could have made decisions regarding the deployment and use of force by the security forces. The only time they held cabinet posts was in the period 2004–2005 when the Norwegian-facilitated ceasefire agreement was in operation and armed hostilities between the parties had temporarily ceased. During that time the president served as the minister of agriculture, livestock, lands, and irrigation.

Success story

UNHRC Resolution 51/1 of 2022 was for a two-year period, which comes to an end this month. The indications are that the western-bloc of countries will not let it lapse at a time when most of its recommendations have yet to be implemented by the Sri Lankan government. A draft resolution that has been circulated calls for a one-year extension — ‘Decides to extend the mandate and all requested work of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Human Rights Council resolution 51/1 and requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to present an oral update at its 58th session, and a comprehensive report on progress on human rights, reconciliation, and accountability in Sri Lanka at its 60th session to be discussed in an interactive dialogue.’

Instead of continuing on the confrontational path taken by the two previous governments, an option for the new government would be to take the position that it needs time to study the provisions in the resolution, ascertain the present state of implementation and what it can implement in the next year. As in the case of the IMF agreement the Dissanayake government can take the position that it will propose amendments to the resolution at the next or subsequent sessions of the UN Human Rights Council. The ideal would be a resolution both Sri Lanka and the UN Human Rights Council can agree to. There is significant goodwill towards Sri Lanka within the UN system which has been heightened by the peaceful transition of power that has taken place in the aftermath of the presidential election.

The ability of the new government to take forward the national reconciliation process that was commenced but not taken forward by previous governments will also add to the credibility of the new government. The positive work done by civil society in Sri Lanka was given special recognition at the ongoing 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council at a side event on Combating Intolerance, Hate Crimes and Islamophobia which was hosted by the United States delegation to the UN Human Rights Council. Under its new leadership, Sri Lanka has the potential to be the good news story in a world that is  increasingly troubled by the breakdown of international norms that need to be reversed, and Sri Lanka can do its part.

Jehan Perera is executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka.