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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Mon Mar 31, 2014, 07:32 AM Mar 2014

UN vote shows strains in Delhi's diplomacy

http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-01-310314.html



UN vote shows strains in Delhi's diplomacy
By Ramesh Ramachandran
Mar 31, '14

In a departure from its familiar voting pattern on UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolutions critical of Sri Lanka, India on March 27 abstained from a vote on a resolution approving an independent international investigation into war crimes and human-rights violations allegedly committed by the government of Sri Lanka during the 2009 civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE.)

The customary "explanation of vote" by the permanent representative of India to the UN offices in Geneva said, among other things, that:
1. "In asking the OHCHR [the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ] to investigate, assess and monitor the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, the resolution ignores the progress already made by the country in this field and places in jeopardy the cooperation currently taking place between the Government of Sri Lanka and the OHCHR and the Council's Special Procedures. Besides, the resolution is inconsistent and impractical in asking both the Government of Sri Lanka and the OHCHR to simultaneously conduct investigations";
2. "India believes that it is imperative for every country to have the means of addressing human rights violations through robust national mechanisms. The Council's efforts should therefore be in a direction to enable Sri Lanka to investigate all allegations of human rights violations through comprehensive, independent and credible national investigative mechanisms and bring to justice those found guilty. Sri Lanka should be provided all assistance it desires in a cooperative and collaborative manner"; and
3. "It has been India's firm belief that adopting an intrusive approach that undermines national sovereignty and institutions is counterproductive."

After having voted for UNHRC resolutions on Sri Lanka in 2012 and 2013, India's abstention this year on the resolution presented by the US early in March is indicative of a course correction in New Delhi's engagement with Colombo. This is aimed at retrieving the ground lost in the intervening years, burnishing India's credentials as a relevant player in the island nation's affairs and signaling a return to bilateralism as the centerpiece of India-Sri Lanka ties (not necessarily in that order).

If India's support for the resolutions in the previous years exposed an utter bankruptcy of ideas on how to engage with Sri Lanka (thereby implicitly admitting to a failure on the part of New Delhi either to influence the course of events or bring about the desired change in Colombo's disposition), the abstention should be seen as a belated attempt to pull the relationship back from the brink. Of course, it helped that the reaction from the regional parties was muted this year, giving New Delhi extra room for maneuver, and enabling it in the process to regain its voice vis-a-vis the states on foreign policy matters.
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