Vice-Chancellors & Directors (CVCD) of universities in Sri Lanka have expressed their serious concern on the events unfolding at present with regard to the initiative taken by the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UNSG) to establish a 'Panel of Experts' to investigate and report on the allegations of alleged accountability issues during the last phase of the conflict in Sri Lanka.
The CVCD statement states: 'When the power and authority of the UNSG to appoint such a Panel was questioned by many international legal experts, he explicitly stated that it was an 'advisory' panel who will report to him.
'He has reiterated and maintained this position in his statement issued (as recently as April 25 in his official website). We quote: It is an ".....advisory Panel of Experts who have provided their advice..." and adds that the report is an ".....advisory report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts.....".
'This position was reiterated by the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert O'Blake, during his visit to Sri Lanka in June 2010.
'Subsequent events and the controversy that has developed indicates that the UNSG has deviated from his original position by attempting to thrust his Darusman Report' on the UN and Sri Lanka. This attempt by the UNSG has to be vigorously and consistently resisted, particularly by small nations of the UN. The UNSG should not be permitted to arbitrarily appoint panels and take action on their reports on internal matters of member states without explicit sanction from either the Security Council or the General Assembly,"
'We are concerned that there is a distinct possibility that the UNSG has taken these extra-ordinary measures not in the best interest of ensuring accountability of UN member-nations to the maintenance of accepted international standards of Human Rights nor the conduct of governments during internal conflicts, but at the behest of powerful nations in the West who are guided by their own short or long-term political imperatives and vested interests.
We are concerned that the UNSG appointed individuals to his 'Panel of Experts' who had documented biases against Sri Lanka or its democratically elected government.
'This is a violation of the basic tenets of impartiality in the conduct of international affairs and amount to clearly perceptible issues of 'conflict of interest'.
'We are concerned that all these attempts will be a concerted effort by international vested interests to interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka such that it will culminate in a final objective of regime change that is currently being achieved by violent and military interventions in other parts of the world.'
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