Statement by H.E. Ambassador Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at the Seventh Session of the Human Rights Council prior to the adoption of the Resolution titled  “Mandate of the working group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination”, A/HRC/7/L.7/Rev.1.

Mr. President,  Sri Lanka shall vote in favour of the resolution for two reasons. Firstly, those of us in the global South have had in our lifetime a very traumatic experience of the use of mercenaries emanating particularly from an alliance between corporate business and certain metropolitan centres.  We remember the murder of Patrice Lumumba and the use of mercenaries on the continent of Africa in the 1960s.

Sri Lanka shall support the amendment to draft resolution L.24 and it does so not because it belongs to the Islamic or Arab world or indeed to the African continent. Sri Lanka supports the amendment because it believes that the amendment rounds off the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, makes it fuller, enriches it and brings in the dimension of responsibility and merges it with the dimension of rights.  

We are all too well aware, Mr. President, that there have been occasions in history when the notion of rights has been abused grossly. One calls to mind the example of states’ rights being used to defend segregation. So it is necessary not to have a perfect balance but to recall responsibility while we insist on the primacy of rights. Now I think that the amendment actually does this.  

The distinguished speaker who preceded me mention the spirit of flexibility which characterized their original initiative. But I must say in defence of those who have moved the amendment that at least half a dozen synonyms for the term abuse of the right of freedom of expression were proffered by those who moved the amendment but they were all rejected, Mr. President. So flexibility has not been the monopoly of one side in this debate, therefore, Mr. President, I urge that this not been seen as a zero sum game. It not be allowed to be a matter for polarization. If we regulate certain things minimally we may be able to prevent them from being enacted violently on the streets of our towns and cities. It is in this sprit, Mr. President, that Sri Lanka intends to vote in favour of the amendment to draft resolution L.24. 

Thank you, Mr. President.   

Sri Lanka co-sponsored the resolution, Human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation, which was tabled by Germany and Spain, A/HRC/7/L.16.