Hardly a week before a Sri Lankan government report on its war with the Tamil Tigers is to be handed over to its President, a senior U.S. official brought up the question of human rights at a maritime conference here.
“Another important part of U.S. foreign policy is engagement in support of human rights,” said Robert M. Scher, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and Southeast Asian affairs, at the Galle Dialogue, a maritime security conference organised by Sri Lanka here. “The Obama administration has made it clear that it will pursue policies that include both engagement with those with whom we share interests and on behalf of improvements in human rights. These two approaches are not in competition, but must, by necessity, be pursued in conjunction with each other,” he added.
Mr. Scher also met Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the sidelines of the conference. He was clear what he wanted to convey: “In my meetings here, I will discuss areas of mutual interest and security cooperation, such as maritime security, and I will make it clear that the United States needs to see continued progress in promoting the rights of all Sri Lankans and in taking concrete steps to bring about reconciliation with the Tamil population. Further, we believe that a serious effort by the Sri Lankan government to ensure accountability for serious violations of human rights during the war is critically important, and the only way to truly solidify the peace you and your people worked so hard to achieve.”
The conference, attended by about 20 of the 25 invited nations, witnessed presentation by a Chinese too. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Maldives — the Indian Ocean littoral states — are also participating in the two-day conference, inaugurated on Monday by Mr. Rajapaksa.
On the region itself, Mr. Scher said that over the next 15-20 years most of the growth in Indian Ocean trade flows would be the result of increased trade among Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The U.S. was concerned that the Ocean will provide an easy transit route for clandestine material bound for North Korea, especially nuclear material.
“I would like to applaud the Indian Navy for its successful interdiction in August this year of a ship suspected of transporting weapons to terrorist groups in the Middle East. Additionally, piracy emanating from Somalia is growing due in large part to that country's lack of capacity to counter it. These are just two examples of a threat that affects not just the countries in the region, but U.S. interests as well,” he added.
