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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001266 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS, G, AND DRL/SEA 
NSC FOR NSC/DEMOC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM MOPS CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: RESPONSE ON PRESIDENT'S HUMAN RIGHTS 
ROUNDTABLE AT 2007 UNGA 
 
REF: A) STATE 125456 B) COLOMBO 1225 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Ambassador, Embassy staff, and 
Washington-based officials have made a consistent, intensive 
effort over the past year to engage the Sri Lankan government 
on improving its human rights record, and to support and 
defend human rights advocates in the country.  Sri Lanka has 
recently shown some improvement on human rights, with the 
number of disappearances in the country declining.  However, 
the government's performance on human rights still leaves 
much room for improvement.  For a number of policy reasons, 
Embassy recommends against extending an invitation to 
President Mahinda Rajapaksa to participate in the President's 
Human Rights Roundtable at the 2007 UNGA (see paragraph 10). 
End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Ambassador and other EmbOffs have actively sought 
opportunities to encourage Sri Lankan government officials at 
all levels to improve efforts to safeguard human rights in 
Sri Lanka.  Post has consistently conveyed our message, both 
publicly and privately, that the GSL needs to do more to stem 
the tide of human rights abuses.  For example, Ambassador 
held a roundtable discussion on December 21, 2006 with 
representatives of 15 Sri Lankan and international 
organizations on the theme "Defending the Defenders: The 
Struggle of Human Rights Advocates to Safeguard the 
Fundamental Freedoms of Vulnerable Populations in Sri Lanka." 
 Ambassador has also given many interviews to the local media 
on the importance of progress on human rights, including with 
the Tamil daily Thinnakural and the Indo-Asian News Service. 
 
¶3.  (U) The Embassy and senior Washington-based officials, 
such as Assistant Secretary Boucher, have argued strenuously 
for media freedom in Sri Lanka.  Specific interventions by 
Ambassador led to new deliveries of newsprint to 
Tamil-language newspapers in Jaffna after a de facto embargo 
on newsprint supplies led to an acute shortage, stifling 
independent voices there.  Ambassador has demonstrated 
support for the staff of two particularly beleaguered Tamil 
dailies by visiting their editorial offices and allowing 
photos of the meetings to be published. 
 
¶4.  (U) Our Public Affairs section has regularly distributed 
publications with human rights themes, including USINFO 
articles and Electronic Journals, also employing Selective 
Dissemination of Information techniques to get out our human 
rights message. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) USAID has provided start-up help, institutional 
capacity-building and infrastructure to several organizations 
active in human rights in Trincomalee, Jaffna, and Colombo. 
These include communications and office equipment, 
instruction, training materials, and other help.  Recipients 
have included human rights NGOs in Jaffna, the Civil 
Monitoring Commission in Colombo, which tracks disappearance 
cases, and civil society organizations such as the Muslim 
Rights Organization and Muslim Peace Council.  The Ambassador 
also visited the Civil Monitoring Commission and invited the 
press to photograph the meeting to demonstrate U.S. support 
for that organization's efforts. 
 
¶6.  (U) In response to a number of politically motivated 
attacks on non-governmental organizations and serious 
incidents, including killings of humanitarian workers, 
Ambassador and USAID worked intensively with a number of 
other bilateral donors and international organizations to 
draft a set of Guiding Principles for the work of NGOs based 
on Secretary Rice's Guiding Principles. 
 
¶7.  (U) Following a meeting in March 2007 between SCA PDAS 
Steven Mann, Ambassador, and President Rajapaksa, Embassy 
 
COLOMBO 00001266  002 OF 002 
 
 
forwarded a list of 355 alleged cases of disappearances to 
the Presidential Secretariat for the GSL to examine. 
President Rajapaksa promised to look into these cases.  To 
date, we have received partial information on 14 of the 355 
cases. 
 
¶8.  (U) One of our most important recent initiatives was to 
join with an ad-hoc consortium of other donors to found and 
support the International Independent Group of Eminent 
Persons to observe and assist the Presidential Commission of 
Inquiry into Human Rights Abuses.  This Commission is 
investigating sixteen of the most notorious cases of 
assassination and mass killings that have occurred in Sri 
Lanka since August 15, 2005. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) We have placed particular emphasis on violations by 
armed paramilitary groups suspected of maintaining links with 
the military.  Ambassador has been a strong advocate for 
holding human right abusers accountable for their crimes. 
There has been some recent progress in reducing the number of 
abductions, especially in the capital, but that improvement 
has not extended to the conflict-affected areas in the North 
and East of Sri Lanka.  Human rights abuses in Jaffna are of 
grave concern and continue unabated. 
 
RECOMMENDATION 
-------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Embassy recommends against including President 
Rajapaksa in President Bush's roundtable discussion on human 
rights on the margins of the UNGA this year.  Despite some 
recent evidence that our efforts have contributed to limited 
progress, the government's record on human rights and 
fundamental freedoms still leaves much to be desired.  In 
Embassy's view, extending an invitation to President 
Rajapaksa to sit at a roundtable with President Bush and 
other human rights advocates from around the world is not 
warranted at this time and would undermine the message that 
the roundtable is intended to send.  An appearance by 
President Rajapaksa at this venue would carry other important 
risks with it. 
-- The international press would strongly criticize us for 
providing this forum to a government that has a weak human 
rights record. 
-- It would undercut our tough message to the GSL that it 
needs to improve its performance on human rights. 
-- The U.S. Congress had been critical of the GSL human 
rights record.  Influential members, particularly on the 
Senate side, might consider Rajapaksa's inclusion in a 
roundtable on this level provocative. 
-- Finally, it would run counter to our policy not to offer 
meetings to the GSL at the most senior levels until we see a 
significant improvement in human rights conditions in Sri 
Lanka.  Embassy believes this test has not yet been met. 
BLAKE