India has abstained from voting on a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution critical of Sri Lanka’s human rights record against its Tamil minority during the country’s civil war that ended in 2009. The resolution, which was sponsored by countries including Britain, Canada, and Germany, was approved on Tuesday, with 22 members voting in favour, 11 voting against, and 14 members abstaining.
#HRC46 | Resolution A/HRC/46/L.1/Rev.1 requests @UNHumanRights to enhance its monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in #SriLanka, including on progress in reconciliation & accountability.
— UN Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) March 23, 2021
➡ https://t.co/iJf1wO3Oq7 pic.twitter.com/QgiwXEPa3h
Shortly before the vote was to be held at the 46th Session of the Council, the Indian mission in Geneva released a statement wherein it affirmed its support for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority for “equality, justice, dignity, and peace.” At the same time, the text also called for ensuring Sri Lanka’s “unity, stability and territorial integrity,” and said that New Delhi’s approach to the issue was guided by these two considerations. India further asked the Sri Lankan government to “carry forward the process of reconciliation” while addressing the “aspirations of the Tamil community,” and urged Colombo to engage “constructively” with the international community.
India’s position is likely guided by the growing importance it has placed on Sri Lanka as an avenue to increasing New Delhi’s footprint across the Indo-Pacific while simultaneously challenging China’s growing assertiveness in the region, including in Sri Lanka. The strategic and economic importance of Sri Lanka was underscored by the recent West Container Terminal deal, a strategically located deep-sea port. India has also donated hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines to Sri Lanka during the ongoing pandemic.
During Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Sri Lanka in January, he called on Colombo to fulfil the Tamil community’s demands for “equality, justice, peace and dignity within a united Sri Lanka”. Accordingly, he called on the Rajapaksa administration to honour its previous commitments to devolving powers to provincial councils in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, such as policing powers and control over land, through the 13th Amendment to the constitution.
Also Read: The Wounds of Sri Lankan Tamils Can’t Heal So Long As the Rajapaksas Are in Power
However, PM Mahinda Rajapaksa has previously said that any resolutions that are “not acceptable to the majority community” of Sri Lanka will not be fulfilled, once again reaffirming his commitment to Sinhala nationalism at the expense of reconciliation for Tamils. Therefore, India likely recognises that placing the responsibility for reconciliation and reparations in the hands of the Sri Lankan government is a long shot. New Delhi has instead prioritised the maintenance of friendly and beneficial strategic, economic, and diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka over the need to protect victims of and persecute perpetrators of human rights abuses.
Moreover, India’s own commitment to Sri Lankan Tamils is shaky at best, considering that there are roughly 100,000 Sri Lankan Tamils in India, with around 19,000 families, or 60,000 people, living in 107 camps across Tamil Nadu, making them the largest refugee group in the country that is residing in camps. Despite many of them first arriving in 1964, several continue to live in absolute squalor with extremely limited job opportunities.
Also Read: India Cannot Leave Its Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees In Limbo Any Longer
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardene extended his appreciation to the countries that both abstained from and voted against the resolution. In an official statement released by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry prior to the vote, Gunawardene claimed that the allegations made against Sri Lanka in Council were “taken for political purposes, by concealing the truth.” In a conference held after the vote, Gunawardene also said that “it is a victory for Sri Lanka that only 22 of the 47 member states of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) have voted in favour of the resolution.” He further mentioned that it is “against the Charter of the United Nations to isolate selected countries of the member states of the Human Rights Commission and file charges against them.”
India’s Statement at the 46th Session of the Human Rights Council before the vote on its consideration of the resolution “Promoting reconciliation, accountability, and human rights in Sri Lanka”.#46HRC@UN_HRC @MEAIndia @IndiainSL @SLUNGeneva @IndiaUNNewYork pic.twitter.com/La4zzIGYVx
— India at UN, Geneva (@IndiaUNGeneva) March 23, 2021
On the other hand, The Global Tamil Forum (GTF), which is the world’s largest Tamil diaspora organization, called the adoption of the resolution as an “encouraging sign to promote human rights and accountability in Sri Lanka,” in a tweet. Likewise, the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party in Tamil Nadu, M. K. Stalin, called India’s abstention from the vote a “betrayal of Eelam Tamils.”
The brutal civil war which was fought for 25 years from 1983 to 2009, resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 civilians from both sides with around 40,000 to 50,000 Sri Lankan Tamils killed in the conflict, according to various estimates. Human rights organizations have accused the Sri Lankan military of committing crimes against humanity, which include indiscriminate shelling, forced disappearances, denial of aid, and sexual violence. The Sri Lankan government has fervently denied claims of human rights violations.
This is not the first time that the UNHRC has passed a resolution critical of Sri Lanka. In 2012 and 2013, the Council had passed resolutions severely criticising Sri Lanka’s human rights record, while urging Colombo to conduct credible investigations. Britain has also previously sponsored similar resolutions critical of the island nation’s human rights performance at the Council, in 2014, 2017, and 2019 with the latest one being the 2021 resolution.
The resolution will give the UNHRC the mandate to collect and preserve information and evidence of crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s civil war and will establish a central international database for future persecution of war crimes. The resolution also urged Sri Lanka to revise its law on the prevention of terrorism, as the government has been accused by rights groups of using the law to target dissidents and minorities within the country.