Colombo accused of attempts to nobble Navi Pillay's budget

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 October 2011, 15:07 GMT]
Crediting Latin American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, along with Zambia for the Human Rights Watch praise on UN Human Rights Council [UNHRC] for launching international investigations in Côte d’Ivoire, Libya and Syria, appointing an investigator to monitor developments in Iran, and extending the mandates of rapporteurs for Myanmar, Cambodia, Somalia and Sudan, The Economist, in an article in the 8th October edition, accused Sri Lanka of colluding with two other countries in "underhandedly' attempting to manipulate the Agency's budget, allegedly to limit Navi Pillay's efforts to focus on allegations of war crimes against Sri Lanka.

"In October one group, under the politically correct rubric of promoting transparency and accountability, sought (so far unsuccessfully) to nobble the budget, and thus the independence, of the Office of the High Commissioner, Navi Pillay. The main instigators were Cuba, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, all of which strongly oppose an interventionist approach to human rights, The Economist said.

The article said that Navi Pillay has "outraged the Sri Lankan government by calling for an independent investigation of alleged atrocities and war crimes by both sides in the war against the Tamil Tigers."

The Economist noted that the insults hurled by the pro-government [Sri Lanka] media villifying her as "a bullying, racist “Tamil Tigress,"" nevertheless, in the UN world of human rights, count as compliment to Navi Pillay's efforts.

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Economist:

A tigress and her tormentors