GLOBAL

By SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN JUL. 18, 2019

‘This is what we can’t accept’: A unanimous House motion in June called on the UN to investigate ‘allegations of genocide’ against the country’s minority Tamils, a term the South Asian nation categorically rejects.

It’s been a “very challenging” first year for Sri Lanka’s new high commissioner, whose arrival last fall came months before the 10th anniversary of armed conflict ending in the South Asian country that was also rocked by a slate of bombings on Easter Sunday this year.

Since his November 2018 start, Asoka Girihagama said much of his time has been devoted to developing political relationships in Canada against that backdrop, though he says the two nations share strong, and long-standing relations. Canada is also helping to support reconciliation, an ongoing effort between the minority Tamil and majority Sinhalese populations in the island nation still recovering from 26 years of war.

May marked the 10-year anniversary of its end, with commemorations across Canada, which is home to more than 200,000 people of Sri Lankan descent—according to Global Affairs Canada, though the community’s estimates are far higher—with most living near Toronto, and the majority of Tamil origin.

In June, before the House rose, MPs gave unanimous support for a motion that called on the Sri Lankan government to “protect the rights of religious minorities,” and said the United Nations should do an independent investigation “into allegations of genocide against Tamils,” including during the last phase of conflict in 2009.

“This is what we can’t accept,” he said of the term genocide, saying the UN investigation is unnecessary since the country has already supported a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council, which recognized the need for truth, justice, and reparations after the war.

It’s political statements like this that Mr. Girihagama said made for a “very challenging” first year, where he’s been “trying to convince this political leadership in Canada that there has been no genocide in Sri Lanka.”

“I’m really careful about these issues,”  he said in a July 5 interview at the downtown Laurier Avenue high commission, because they’re “very sensitive.”

In May, an Ontario MPP’s private member’s bill called for the creation of a Tamil Genocide Education Week Act, which has been referred to committee.

And, on the heels of Mr. Girihagama’s arrival in early November, the Canadian government issued a rebuke of Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena’s dissolution of Parliament and the prime minister’s dismissal, saying it was “gravely concerned” by the moves, and that Sri Lanka’s “democratic future is at stake.” Mr. Sirisena’s appointed prime minister and presidential-predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa—the man whom many Sinhalese people credit with winning the conflict against the separatist Tamil movement— resigned after a few weeks.

Though the commemorations of the end of the war are expected in Canada every May, and he was briefed ahead of his posting and first visit to Canada, the federal motion caught Mr. Girihagama by surprise in June, saying he “didn’t think that it was such a strong movement in Canada.”

While he didn’t use the word genocide, in a press release Prime Minister Justin Trudeauinvoked the last phase of war in Mullivaikal, where “tens of thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands more displaced and disappeared, leaving lasting wounds in communities across the country.”

Mr. Trudeau and the federal motion also mourned the deaths of more than 250 Sri Lankans killed in April during a string of eight Easter Sunday bombings. Mr. Girihagama called the attack, for which responsibility was claimed by Islamist militants, “unbearable” and a “first” for the island nation, which hasn’t seen such violence since its conflict ended in 2009.

It was “a tough time” in Canada, with the high commission providing support to the local community, which includes Muslim, Sinhalese and Tamil Sri Lankans.

“Now the situation is completely calmed down,” he said, adding “the main threat has been eradicated,” though there are some “operations” still going on.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch called on the Sri Lankan government to do more to protect the Muslim community, citing reports of arbitrary arrests of hundreds of Muslims by authorities under the the Prevention of Terrorism Act after the April bombings.

Mr. Girihagama said none have been arrested “unwarrantedly for a long period.” He acknowledged there is some “action against some religious groups,” but stressed the focus is on “extreme groups” and after undergoing a “legal process,” some are being released.

“The government is very serious about this thing, because we know that the international community is looking at us,” he said, and therefore is not likely to make “wrong movements at the moment.”

While he said there are “some sentiments” against minority religious groups, Mr. Girihagama insists the government is protecting the minorities and need not do anything more than it already is, “because all the communities are protected at the moment.”

Economic diplomacy a ‘priority’

Mr. Girihagama joined the foreign service in 1992, after working as a math teacher. His first post was in Hungary, and he’s also served in embassies in Austria, New Delhi, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates, and he’s also worked as the country’s director general of the South Asia division.

His first ambassador posting was in Oman, from 2011 to 2014, where he said such relations were simpler since the focus could be on trade and consular support. When he was deputy commissioner in Australia, though, there were more sensitive political files, too.

Mr. Girihagama is in Ottawa with his wife, Sudarma, and their 18-year-old daughter Thiyara.

Improving economic diplomacy with Canada is a “priority” for him.

Bilateral trade is “modest but growing” as GAC puts it, with $631-million in total merchandise flowing both ways in 2018, up from $579-million in 2017. Much of the $377.7-million worth of exports to Canada are textiles, but he’d like to see other products increase that share.

At the moment, tea is the country’s “main concern” for market growth in Canada, where he said it currently has about 10 per cent of the market share. Kenya and India are the main competitors but he plans to organize promotional activities “in the near future to increase our share.”

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Hill Times

Source:https://www.hilltimes.com/…/sri-lankan-envoy-reflect…/208733