Rajiva Wijesinha

“ But such carelessness and such a preposterous concept of what needs investigation is at best irresponsible in organizations that engage in critiques of the government of their county. Such an approach may however be understandable, given that at least one of the organizations involved is overtly political in its approach, being in effect run by a leading member of the opposition; but it is a pity that such approaches are always thought to be objective by the world at large. ”

“ My understanding of the purpose of this list however is that it serves to draw attention to cases that are, obviously or possibly, violations of human rights. Four government officials killed along with members of the armed forces in the course of performing security duties cannot by any stretch of the imagination be described as cases requiring the attention of the Human Rights Commission, unless of course the Law and Society Trust believes that all violent deaths or crimes imply a violation of Human Rights. ”

“ I should note that the position of the Peace Secretariat has always been that allegations about violations of human rights should be investigated, but it is difficult to do this when they are presented in the form of generalizations, and in accordance with what seems a political agenda. ”

“ Recently I had occasion to draw attention to the role of the Secretary to the Prime Minister of the 2002/2003 government, who has held responsible positions in several Non-Governmental Organizations which have received massive funding in connection with the Peace Process. It would be surprising if any donor seriously thought his approach would be apolitical, but the organizations he is connected with continue to attract substantial funding.
What is surprising meanwhile is that funding for very practical approaches to solving our problems is difficult to obtain. ”

“ When I talked about companies, I was referring in particular to some NGOs that had been arguing for UN intervention, sometimes to the extent of invoking the Responsibility to Protect, sometimes on the basis of wild allegations and unverified statistics.
Your report suggests that the Free Media Movement was one of those I highlighted. ”