Sri Lankan envoy reflects on ‘very challenging’ first year handling ‘sensitive’ files
GLOBAL
By SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN JUL. 18, 2019
‘This is what we can’t accept’: A unanimous House motion in June called on the UN to investigate ‘allegations of genocide’ against the country’s minority Tamils, a term the South Asian nation categorically rejects.
It’s been a “very challenging” first year for Sri Lanka’s new high commissioner, whose arrival last fall came months before the 10th anniversary of armed conflict ending in the South Asian country that was also rocked by a slate of bombings on Easter Sunday this year.
Since his November 2018 start, Asoka Girihagama said much of his time has been devoted to developing political relationships in Canada against that backdrop, though he says the two nations share strong, and long-standing relations. Canada is also helping to support reconciliation, an ongoing effort between the minority Tamil and majority Sinhalese populations in the island nation still recovering from 26 years of war.
May marked the 10-year anniversary of its end, with commemorations across Canada, which is home to more than 200,000 people of Sri Lankan descent—according to Global Affairs Canada, though the community’s estimates are far higher—with most living near Toronto, and the majority of Tamil origin.
In June, before the House rose, MPs gave unanimous support for a motion that called on the Sri Lankan government to “protect the rights of religious minorities,” and said the United Nations should do an independent investigation “into allegations of genocide against Tamils,” including during the last phase of conflict in 2009.
“This is what we can’t accept,” he said of the term genocide, saying the UN investigation is unnecessary since the country has already supported a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council, which recognized the need for truth, justice, and reparations after the war.
It’s political statements like this that Mr. Girihagama said made for a “very challenging” first year, where he’s been “trying to convince this political leadership in Canada that there has been no genocide in Sri Lanka.”
“I’m really careful about these issues,” he said in a July 5 interview at the downtown Laurier Avenue high commission, because they’re “very sensitive.”
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