A resolution on Sri Lanka was adopted by the European Parliament yesterday with 60 members voting for it, zero against...!!! THANK YOU EUROPE...!!!

EU Parliament adopts resolution on Lanka

Members call for full implementation of 13th Amendment, rapid progress on IDP issue and continued economic support

By Easwaran Rutnam

A resolution on Sri Lanka was adopted bythe European Parliament yesterday with 60 members voting for it, zero against and 3 members abstaining. The resolution called for the “rapid and full implementation” of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, expressed concern over the situation faced by the Internally Displaced People (IDP) and called for continued economic support for the country. An oral amendment, by one MP, calling for the deletion of references made to journalist Tissainayagam from the final resolution was also accepted.

Speaking to Daily Mirror online from Brussels at the end of the vote, Ms Jean Lambert, Chair of the EP Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South Asia, said that the international community had expressed its willingness to support a humanitarian response for the thousands still in camps before the situation deteriorated further, and that the European Parliament would be looking for rapid progress on this issue.

"What actually counts now is whether the government of

Sri Lanka will show concrete engagement in terms of practical measures to release the IDPs and improve a terrible human rights situation," Ms Jean Lambert told Daily Mirror.

Several members expressed their opinions on the situation in Sri Lanka just before the vote was taken yesterday, and most of them, while expressing approval of the ending of the conflict, noted that the government should now make use of the opportunity to look towards a final political solution.

European Commissioner Leonard Orban, in his speech noted that Sri Lanka had shortcomings on three UN Conventions and so would not be eligible for the GSP Plus facility. But a British MP insisted that the country should be given the trade concession.

Another MP, Geoffrey Van Orden, meanwhile, called on the European Commission to reconsider its findings on Sri Lanka in relation to the GSP plus concession.

Some EU MPs also rejected the notion that criticism of the situation in Sri Lanka was an attempt to show support for the cause of the LTTE.

The resolution adopted yesterday notes that the Sri Lankan government needs to be generous and proactive in addressing the concerns and interests of its Tamil citizens and needs to implement rapidly and fully the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, as well as significant devolution measures, so that the Tamil people too would see the defeat of the LTTE as liberation.

The resolution accepts that large areas of former conflict zones are contaminated by anti-personnel mines and other explosive debris of war, but adds that the government must take all necessary steps to organize the quick return home of the displaced people.

It also noted that the human rights situation was unlikely to improve without the involvement of permanent international observers, particularly from organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The resolution calls on all Tamil leaders to commit to a political settlement and to renounce terrorism and violence once and for all.

The resolution is to be forwarded to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the United Nations Secretary-General, the British Commonwealth Secretary-General, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the Government of Sri Lanka and all other member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

dailymirror.lk