FOSUS Report on the House Human Rights Caucus Hearing on Sri Lanka on March 2, 1999

As you are probably aware FOSUS took an active interest in the hearing on Sri Lanka held by the Human Rights (HR) Caucus of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress on Tuesday, March 2 afternoon. As is well known, after the end of the cold war human rights have emerged as a major factor in US foreign policy in general, and foreign assistance in particular. This is especially true for countries such as Sri Lanka that are not viewed as countries of great strategic or economic importance to the US. For such countries human rights play a critical role in deciding US policy. The depth of interest in the subject that prevails in the House can be gauged by the fact that the HR caucus has over 180 members.

For Sri Lanka the hearings were important for two principal reasons. First, as the statement of the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington (see attachment) notes, groups sympathetic to the LTTE had lobbied for the hearings. The intention would have been to damage the image of the country and also paint the LTTE as a respectable organization that should be legitimized in the US when its ban comes up for review next year.

Second, from the point of view of Sri Lanka it was important to make use of the opportunity not only to foil the designs of the pro LTTE lobby but also use it as a forum to demonstrate the positive steps that the government had taken to improve the human rights situation.

FOSUS made two contributions to the hearings. It prepared a brochure (see attachment) that made an attempt to answer some of the frequently asked questions about human rights in Sri Lanka. Second, several FOSUS members attended the hearings.

Only three members of the Congress attended the hearings. Two of them Rep Bill Luther and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. are members of the Sri Lanka caucus established last October. The other was Rep Eni Faleomavaega. Rep Pallone chairs the Sri Lanka caucus. The other two have also shown considerable interest in the affairs of the country. However, the fact that only three members of the Human Rights Caucus decided to attend (and in fact no one person remained for the entire duration of the hearings) shows both the relative failure of those who initially canvassed for such a meeting as well as the difficulty of attracting the attention of individual Reps to issues concerning Sri Lanka.

There were two panels that made presentations at the hearings. Each panel member read out a pre-prepared statement and answered a few questions. Rep Pallone also made a statement, which was very sympathetic to the country (see attachment). The panelist from the State Department gave the official view of the administration. The other speakers were from ICRC (Red Cross), WFP (World Food Program), UNHCR, Amnesty International, and a US NGO forum

that represents "faith-based" NGOs working in developing countries.

The State Department representative was clear in his condemnation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization. He also commended the improvement in the human rights situation in the country. However, he also noted that there were many lapses including the delay in the Chemmani investigation and the widespread election malpractice in the Wayamba elections held in January.

The statements of the other panelist stressed their own particular concerns. For example, ICRC spoke at length about refugees. The WFP addressed the food situation in the war areas. However, in regard to HR, all statements were roughly similar to that of the State Department in both content and tenor. It is worth noting that the NGO Forum made a more balanced statement on this occasion than the one that it made last December in a meeting on Capitol Hill, which criticized the human rights record of the government but totally ignored the violations of the LTTE. This change in attitude probably was in part due to the criticism made by some FOSUS members who were present on that occasion who challenged the speaker.

The overall impression carried away by the FOSUS members who attended the meeting was that the hearing was a fair one. It highlighted the atrocities committed by the LTTE, recognized the efforts made by the government to improve human rights conditions, but also noted that quite a bit more has to be done before the government could be given a clean bill of health on HR.

Human Rights Brochure Please feel free to reproduce and distribute it or send it electronically to persons who may be interested. You are also welcome to send your comments and suggestions to improve it.