UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000193

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM ELAB KDEM KSEP PGOV PREL CE
SUBJECT: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
IN SRI LANKA

REF: SECSTATE 267453


1. Per Reftel, Mission submits the draft report on
Supporting Human Rights and Democracy in Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka is a longstanding democratic republic with an
active multiparty system. For more than 20 years, Sri Lanka
has struggled with an internal war between the Sri Lankan
government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The government of Sri Lanka controls most of the country,
but the LTTE controls roughly 15 percent of Sri Lanka in the
North and East and has influence in an additional 15 percent
of the country. This war and the underlying ethnic and
religious differences that have fueled the war have had a
significant impact on human rights and democracy issues in
Sri Lanka.

The United States has taken an active role in pressing for
greater human rights and democracy initiatives in Sri Lanka.
For most of 2004, U.S. human rights and democracy
initiatives focused on the peace process and on bolstering
democratic foundations such as freedom of the press, fair
labor practices and the rights of women and children.
However, the December 26, 2004 tsunami resulted in rapid and
widespread efforts to ensure that relief efforts were
effective and that the distribution of aid was fair.

In a joint U.S. government effort, which included U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID) and the
military, the U.S. has contributed to the distribution of
aid and supplies to areas devastated by the tsunami.
Additionally, USAID has granted $350,000 to the local office
of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity to
help people displaced as a result of the tsunami obtain
legal services necessary to document land claims and file
missing persons reports. This grant has also been used to
address issues related to an increase in the problem of
human trafficking after the tsunami, discussed more fully
below.

As part of the diverse outreach to address human rights in
Sri Lanka, the Mission organized numerous international
visitor (IV) programs. Through the IV program, two Sri
Lankans participated in the "Student Leaders in Civic
Responsibility" symposium; two more participants attended a
symposium in the United States on effecting political and
economic change; and a Buddhist monk was sponsored to
participate in an IV program on civic education in religious
schools.

In June of 2004, the United States also worked jointly with
North Illinois University (NIU) to establish a program to
help women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka gain greater economic
and bargaining power. Also in conjunction with NIU, the
United States established a training program for NGOs in Sri
Lanka. Through this program, NGOs are able to gain training
on how to better foster human rights and democracy in their
respective areas. After the training, the NGOs are able to
publicize their management training, thereby gaining greater
confidence from their donors and the recipients of their
services.

The United States provided a $5,000 grant to the Sri Lankan
Press Institute, the only independent institution working
for greater press freedoms, so it could begin a library and
purchase textbooks. As part of a separate initiative
designed to help needy women and children, the United States
worked with the International Red Cross to distribute
information to health clinics on the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

One of the major democracy initiatives in 2004 involved the
Sri Lankan national election. The U.S. Government monitored
the election by sending 11 teams to different locations
around the country. (No U.S. government teams were sent
into the LTTE-controlled areas.) The teams reported that
even in the non-LTTE controlled northern part of Sri Lanka
there was evidence of vote rigging and ballot falsification.
However, in the South the election was conducted in a
democratic fashion.

Additionally, USAID granted $600,000 to the National
Democratic Institute for International Affairs to fund the
two largest indigenous election monitoring groups in Sri
Lanka. For the first time, these Sri Lankan NGOs were
allowed in the polling places and were able to observe the
conditions under which the election was conducted in places
that the 11 U.S. government groups were unable to go. In
October 2004, USAID sponsored a national symposium on
electoral reform based in part on the observations of the
local election monitoring groups.

For the second year in a row, USAID conducted a national
survey on the rule of law and the Sri Lankan peace process
with more than 3,500 respondents. The results were used to
provide feedback to the Sri Lankan government on how it can
better implement the democratic rule of law.

In line with the Mission's goal of helping Sri Lankans
achieve a political solution to the ethnic conflict, the
Embassy focused on retraining Sri Lanka police to transition
from a paramilitary organization to one focused on community
policing. With U.S. funds, members of the U.S. law
enforcement community led courses on basic investigative
techniques and management and worked with Sri Lankan
counterparts to integrate the skills and techniques into the
local law enforcement curriculum.

Human rights training is a key component of all U.S.-Sri
Lankan military-to-military programs. The United States has
sent senior Sri Lankan military officers to professional
military education courses in the United States and funded
Sri Lankan attendees at senior service schools.

Sri Lanka is predominately Buddhist, but it also has a
sizeable Christian, Hindu and Muslim population. There has
been documented evidence of harassment of Christians,
especially those belonging to evangelical denominations, by
the Buddhist majority. In 2004, Ambassador Lunstead held
high-level meetings with the President and then-Prime
Minister of Sri Lanka concerning religious freedom.

Throughout the year, U.S. officials met privately with Sri
Lanka government officials to discuss the dangers of
proposed religious "anti-conversion" legislation designed to
make it more difficult for a person to switch from Buddhism
to other religions. To date, the legislation has not passed
and the United States continues to encourage government and
religious leaders to find non-legislative means for
addressing these religious issues

In February 2004, the U.S. Department of Labor's Deputy
Undersecretary for International Labor Affairs, Arnold
Levine, visited Sri Lanka to promote free trade initiatives.
Undersecretary Levine met with the Sri Lanka Labor Minister,
trade unions and the Employers' Federation. He also visited
a textile factory. The U.S. Department of Labor, through
the International Labor Organization (ILO),continues to
fund programs in Sri Lanka designed to eliminate child labor
and help children who are the victims of trafficking and
sexual abuse.

In addition to the efforts of the Department of Labor, in
September 2004, U.S. Department of State Ambassador-at-
Large, Cofer Black, and Assistant Secretary of State for
South Asia Affairs, Christina Rocca, met with Sri Lankan
Government officials to discuss issues related to the LTTE's
recruitment of child soldiers, child labor abuses and
problems related to trafficking of women and children for
the sex trade.

The United States funded a conference for Sri Lankan
criminal justice personnel to enhance their professional
capabilities in regard to the trafficking of women and
exploitation of children. In conjunction with the Sri
Lankan National Child Protection Agency, the Embassy
organized the conference, which featured presentations by
three U.S. government criminal justice personnel working in
this field. As mentioned above, a significant portion of
the $350,000 grant to the American Center for International
Labor Solidarity is also being used to combat an increase in
trafficking after the tsunami.

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