RICE: INCREASE IN HR VIOLATIONS IN SRILANKA!!!

increase in Lanka’s HR violations: rice

Colombo embassy official gets special HR award

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said there had been a sharp increase in human rights violations by Sri Lanka’s warring parties – the government, the LTTE, and paramilitary organizations.

The Secretary of State was speaking at a ceremony held to present awards to US overseas officials for their efforts in addressing human rights concerns.

She said US diplomatic efforts to advance human rights was not just a job for ambassadors, and that was why Human Rights and Democracy Achievement Awards were conferred to outstanding officers serving at US posts abroad.

One of the three officials who received the HR awards was Michael DeTar, the chief of the Political Section of the US Embassy in Colombo

“Michael found creative and pragmatic ways to engage constructively with Sri Lanka while underscoring our human rights concerns. He helped position the US to play a leading role in the stabilization and recovery of the conflict-torn Eastern Province, focusing on disarming and demobilizing paramilitaries there,” Secretary of State Rice said speaking of Mr. DeTar.

She said Michael was also a key actor in the international effort to monitor an official Commission of Inquiry investigating high-profile cases of human rights,

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abuse, and had responded quickly and effectively when journalists and other activists were threatened or arrested.

“The Sri Lankan Government adopted Michael’s proposed road map to induce a paramilitary aligned with the government to release its child soldiers. Using his extensive network of civil society and media leaders, Michael enriched our reporting on human rights conditions in Sri Lanka, he has not only reported, but has also has acted. And so I am delighted to bestow the 2008 Human Rights and Democracy Achievement Award on Michael De Tar,” she said.

The Secretary of State said the United States remained committed to championing what President Bush had called “the non-negotiable demands of human dignity.”

“As Secretary of State this is my last ceremony to present these awards on International Human Rights. I just want to say that in doing so I myself have been inspired by the stories of these extraordinary people. It is one thing to sit in the halls of Washington or in the halls of Congress or even in the White House and to talk about the importance of liberty and freedom, to talk about the God-given right to it, and to express, as the President did, that America can never rest as long as any man, woman, or child lives in tyranny. But all of us, whether we are in the White House or in the State Department or in the halls of Congress, are inspired by the true stories of those who take great risks to advance the cause of freedom. And that is why we created these awards, because we wanted to give a face and a story to the struggle for human rights around the world,” Secretary Rice said. (US State Department website)