SRI LANKA: GOVERNMENT REACTS SHARPLY TO HUMAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000272

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2018
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV MOPS PTER CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: GOVERNMENT REACTS SHARPLY TO HUMAN
RIGHTS REPORT; EMBASSY STANDS BY REPORT

REF: STATE 24302

Classified By: CLASSIFED BY AMBASSADOR ROBERT O. BLAKE, JR. REASONS: 1.
4(b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On March 14, Foreign Minister Rohitha
Bogollagama called in the Ambassador to register strong
protest to the U.S. State Department's 2007 Human Rights
Report on Sri Lanka. The Minister objected to the report's
sourcing and its negative conclusions, and to the State
Department practice of not sharing the document beforehand
with the government. The Ambassador stood by the report's
conclusions. The Human Rights Ministry intends to submit a
detailed response to the report. The Ambassador's
subsequent, private talk with Tourism Minister Milinda
Moragoda leads us to believe that the Foreign Affairs and
Human Rights Ministers have not regularly shared reports of
our detailed meetings on human rights with the President and
his senior advisor, Basil Rajapaksa. Thus, President
Rajapaksa and his two brothers, Gothabaya and Basil, were
caught off-guard by the report. The GSL's vehement response
to the report may also be due to a plethora of recent
criticism of its human rights record, and its current effort
to extend the EU's "GSP-plus" trade concessions to Sri Lanka.
End Summary.

Foreign Minister Questions HRR's Accuracy
--------------


2. (C) Foreign Minister Bogollagama called in the Ambassador
on March 14 to register strong protest regarding the State
Department's 2007 Human Rights Report on Sri Lanka. The
Minister complained that GSL efforts to address human rights
concerns were not reflected in the report. He said the
report was "superficial" and "based on hearsay," and said the
U.S. should have consulted with the GSL or shared the report
before releasing it. Ambassador responded that the Embassy
chooses and evaluates sources carefully, and explained the
USG's worldwide policy of not sharing reports before public
release.


3. (C) Bogollagama disputed the HRR's claim of an increase
in disappearances, citing ICRC reports that numbers had gone
down over 2007. Ambassador answered that we worked closely
with the ICRC on fact-checking, and there was, in fact, a
slight overall increase in disappearances from 2006 to 2007.
The Minister objected to the use of the term "government
agents" in connection with certain serious human rights
abuses. Ambassador replied that the numerous disappearances
and killings that took place in government-controlled areas,
such as Jaffna and Batticaloa, could only have happened with
the knowledge, if not the active involvement, of security
forces. Bogollagama cited improvement in religious freedom,
pointing to the visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on
Religious Freedom, and denied any Tamil-Muslim problem in the
east. Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona, also in the
meeting, stressed that the GSL takes both human rights and
its important relationship with the U.S. very seriously.


4. (SBU) Bogollagama gave the Ambassador a three and a half
page Aide Memoire (faxed to SCA/INS) entitled, "The US State
Department's report on Sri Lanka is Baseless." The Foreign
Ministry released the statement to the press on March 14. It
opens: "The Government of Sri Lanka is disappointed and
deeply concerned (about the report) which presents a
distorted view of the actual situation in Sri Lanka during
the year 2007. It is unfortunately a litany of
unsubstantiated allegations, innuendo, and vituperative
exaggerations."

Human Rights Minister Echoes
Foreign Ministry Complaints
--------------

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5. (U) Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe issued a
separate statement on March 15 alleging that the Human Rights
report on Sri Lanka contained "numerous inaccuracies and
paints a lopsided picture of the human rights situation in
Sri Lanka." The Human Rights Ministry defended the GSL's
record of cooperation with senior UN officials and Special
Rapporteurs, but faulted the State Department report, saying
it contains "sweeping generalizations and fails to adequately
reflect the difficult environment in which the Government
operates: namely fighting a ruthless terrorist force."
Samarasinghe suggested that "a more productive and
transparent way of issuing a report of this nature would have
been to share a draft with the Government prior to
publication, in order that the views of the Government could
be taken on board and any errors emended (sic)." The Human
Rights Ministry said it intended to submit a detailed
response to the report to "present a more balanced version of
events - one not dependent on partisan political commentary."

Tourism Minister Highlights President's Surprise...
-------------- --------------


6. (C) In a quiet, private meeting, Tourism Minister Milinda
Moragoda told Ambassador that President Rajapaksa and his
influential brothers, Gothabaya and Basil, had been caught
off-guard by the report. Moragoda said he had been asked to
check whether Ambassador had shared any of the principal
conclusions in the report with GSL officials. Ambassador
responded that he had had extensive consultations throughout
the year with the Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as with
Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe. The main points
in the report should therefore come as no surprise
whatsoever.


7. (C) Moragoda noted that Defense Secretary Gothabaya
Rajapaksa was upset with the reference to his exchange with
the Daily Mirror editor. Ambassador responded that the
report's handling of the incident was legitimate and that the
editor in question had been genuinely scared. Moragoda also
expressed concern that the report noted the opening of a
parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of the 2005
Presidential election, specifically allegations made in
Parliament that the Rajapaksas conspired with the LTTE to
enforce a boycott of the election in the North and East,
depriving many Tamils of their right to vote. Ambassador
responded that the Human Rights Report merely repeated a
factual statement.

...And Recommends a New Human Rights
Consultation Mechanism
--------------


8. (C) Moragoda reported that he had told Gothabaya and
Basil Rajapaksa that there needed to be a more systematic
dialogue with the U.S. on human rights issues. He recalled
that in 1989-93 period, when human rights abuses were even
worse, the U.S. Ambassador and DCM met regularly with the
President's Chief of Staff, Bradman Weerakoon. Moragoda
suggested a regular dialogue on human rights between the U.S.
Embassy and the Defense Ministry led by someone who has
Gothabaya Rajapaksa's confidence. He reported that he,
Presidential Chief of Staff Lalith Weeratunga and Treasury
Secretary P.B. Jayasundera planned to meet soon to discuss

SIPDIS
setting up a consultation mechanism.


9. (C) Ambassador replied that such a mechanism would be
welcome, but that the Embassy preferred that this dialogue be
kept private. We were definitely not interested in
participating in another vehicle the GSL would publicize and
try to exploit to show action on human rights, Ambassador
noted. He stressed that what is needed now is not more empty
"process" but real action to address real human rights

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problems, especially disappearances and extrajudicial
killings, child soldiers, and impunity (i.e. the lack of
investigation and punishment for human rights abusers).
Ambassador told Moragoda that a good place to start would be
to punish those responsible for the "Trinco 5" and ACF
massacres in 2006, two of the most high profile cases now
being considered by the Commission of Inquiry. Ambassador
also noted deep U.S. concern about child soldiers and
recurring attacks on media freedom.

Embassy Counters MFA Press Release
--------------


10. (U) In anticipation of the MFA press release, Embassy
issued a press statement on March 14 and called select
newspaper editors to clarify that: we stand by the report;
our goal is always to be fair and objective; we welcome
information from the government and other parties to correct
what they perceive to be inaccuracies; we look forward to
continued dialogue with the government to address human
rights concerns in Sri Lanka. Most newspapers and electronic
media outlets, with the exception of the
government-controlled press, reported our clarification in
the same news cycle as the MFA statement.


11. (C) COMMENT: The level of candor and detail in the 2007
report is, in our view, appropriately commensurate with the
rise in serious human rights violations that have occurred in
2006 and 2007, since the current government came into office.
There are several reasons, including external factors, that
explain why the government has reacted so sharply. First, it
is entirely possible that the Foreign Affairs and Human
Rights Ministers -- reluctant to share bad news with the
Presidential staff -- have not regularly briefed the
President and his senior advisor, Basil Rajapaksa, on our
detailed meetings on human rights. Second, the State
Department report came after several days of bad news for the
GSL on the human rights front, with many independent
organizations releasing equally damning reports timed to
coincide with the March session of the Human Rights Council
in Geneva. Finally, the timing was especially unfortunate
for the GSL, which was receiving an EU trade team that week
to discuss the possible extension of the EU's "GSP-plus"
concessions to Sri Lanka, which are in jeopardy largely
because of human rights concerns.
BLAKE