How legitimate are the recommendations of the “Elders”

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Avnish Jolly

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Aug 7, 2010, 7:29:13 AM8/7/10
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How legitimate are the recommendations of the “Elders”
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/08/07/how-legitimate-are-the-recommendations-of-the-%E2%80%9Celders%E2%80%9D/

Posted on August 7th, 2010
Shenali Waduge

A former presidential spokesman has forwarded a list of
recommendations given in a statement issued on 3rd August 2010 by “The
Elders” calling upon the Governments of India, Japan, China & US to
impress upon GOSL to implement 7 remedial steps that 14 members of the
retired “elders” club have drawn up.

The Elders was founded in 2007 by Nelson Mandela. Its membership has
10 active leaders & 2 honorary members with Desmond Tutu functioning
as its Chairman. Aung San Suu Kyi, Martti Ahtisaari, Kofi Annan, Ela
Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Fernando Henrique
Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Graca Machel and Mary Robinson make up the rest
of the membership.

For these 14 members to spend time, gathering info, analyzing &
rationalizing & to come up with practically the duplicate of
allegations & recommendations been demanded of the GOSL (by the West &
INGOs/NGOs) seems a little too coincidental.

In a world where $1.5 trillion is utilized for military spending (by
the richest countries of the world) could not these Elders demand that
this money be spent towards 1 billion children who currently live in
poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million who live without
adequate shelter, 400 million who have no access to safe water, 270
million who have no access to health services? Would it not bring far
greater merit to these Elders to actually help towards eradicating
poverty, providing education to all, ensuring health & safe drinking
water to all the people of the world?

Why have they not demanded from the 5 permanent members of the UN
Security Council who together account for more than 90% of global arms
sales & who have no qualms about who they sell arms to …why don’t
these Elders send across recommendations to these larger & more
powerful countries for the power to change lies in their hands?

We cannot hide from the reality that manufacture & sale of arms &
ammunition are purely for commercial gains. Why would countries spend
billions to manufacture arms if they were not meant to be sold…would
they care to evaluate who they would sell arms to …would ethics hardly
come into the picture? Would the US that survives on credit facility
given by the Chinese stop purchasing from China because of human
rights abuses….? Global economy is such that countries cannot do
without the other & it is a game of survival where all international
trade, economic, social & other such pacts & agreements cater to
ensuring countries & governments have their way – the issues like
human rights, freedom, media freedom etc…are only ploys to
pressurizing governments that are resistant to the dictates of the
western hegemony.

The case of the example of Israel “cooperating” with the UN is flawed
because the immediate response of the Israeli Government no sooner the
UNSG announced his intention of appointing a panel the Israeli
ambassador (Michael Oren) to Washington was quick to respond “we are
rejecting an international commission. We are discussing with the
Obama administration a way in which our inquiry will take
place….Israel is a democratic nation. Israel has the ability and the
right to investigate itself, not to be investigated by any
international board”. However, since then much lobbying has in fact
led to Israel finally accepting the UNSG panel into the attack on the
Gaza bound aid flotilla, however the Israel Government has stressed
that it would not allow the committee to interrogate Israeli officers,
civilians or soldiers…one wonders who the panel will actually end up
speaking to!

It’s a foregone conclusion that the UN findings will be a watered
down version from the truth…similar other UN findings have helped to
justify this conclusion.

Much of the data the UN has gathered, standardized & published as
statistics have been manipulated to further policy priorities. Some of
these data have been deliberately exaggerated too. Leaked emails have
found key scientists of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change guilty of undermining the case for global warming. So too was
the death estimates in the democratic republic of Congo by the UN. The
UN instead of conducting its own findings had used a report by the
International Rescue Committee which claimed staggering 5.4m deaths in
1998 possibly to justify increasing UN presence in Congo where many
corruptions by UN officials took place. Similar too has been the blown
up versions by UN on the AIDS epidemic where contrary to the
overestimations of deaths, the UN was forced to acknowledge that
deaths had been decreasing. To these gross manipulations by UN
includes the hyped up 0.7% aid target as well as its use of data given
by groups like ICG, HRW which questions the reliability of UN data as
well raise eyebrows as to who really is pulling the strings & who
actually benefits by these manipulations.

The author proclaims that South Africa today is a “vibrant democratic
rainbow nation”….why would statistics then showcase a South Africa
that on an average 50 people are killed every day, South Africa ranks
123rd out of 144 countries in terms of being ‘least peaceful’ ,
according to the June 2009 Global Peace Index. Annually on an average
18,438 house robberies takes place, while there are junctions which
are signposted as carjacking blackspots & areas wherein drivers will
avoid stopping even at red lights due to the risk of hijack.

It is a everyone’s right to form & vocalize their opinions but it is
purely another matter that what they say has to be accepted, heeded or
implemented. Therefore the right to voice & the right to have their
views enacted are not associated with the other. Additionally, we all
have preconceived notions of people in office. More often than not no
sooner they are out of office the true nature of their role, their
policies & their shortcomings emerge not that while in office these
have been submerged. The authors own head – the former President now
taking as a paragon of virtue may need be reminded of her
inadequacies, her own shortcomings, and most of all her own corrupt
regime before she accuse others.

It is in this similar vein that we look upon the list of “Elders”.
Their names unfortunately are synonymous with issues that they cannot
deny their own accountability for. Top on that list is Kofi Annan, the
former UN Secretary General, whose legacy is a list of unimpressive
achievements that covered UN missions in Rwanda, Bosnia, genocide in
Sudan, Congo scandals, Oil-for-Food which all kept adding to the UN’s
ill-repute as an international body that was no better than the
countries & dictators it was pointing fingers at. When Kofi Annan
appoints German activist Achim Steiner as Executive Director of the UN
Environment Program months after Steiner helped award Kofi Annan a
cash gift of $500,000 it again questions the integrity of Annan & why
as an international public servant, Kofi Annan should accept money
from a UN member state, a private foundation whether it is an award or
a gift. How about in 2004, when a report from the UN’s in-house
watchdog revealed that Annan personally dismissed sexual harassment
charges made by an American female UN staffer against the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, Annan overruled the independent UN
investigative panel which backed the women’s claims. Kofi Annan even
sent a condolence message from his office as UNSG to a dead LTTE area
leader. How can Annan be preaching to others?

Then there is another controversial figure – Marti Ahtisaari who is
being accused of being paid by Albanian mafia to produce his
recommendations in favor of Kosovo’s independence.

Desmond Tutu’s hostility towards Sri Lanka a country he has never
visited should be linked to Father S. J. Emmanuel, the former Vicar
General of the Jaffna Diocese who is a key figure in the LTTE
international network & would have greatly steered Tutu towards an
anti-Sinhala & anti-Sri Lanka approach. It is impossible to imagine
who these personages who have not even visited a nation, moved with
ordinary citizens can determine with authority & cry “foul” “ethnic
discrimination” etc…. & even propose solutions for Sri Lanka.

Jimmy Carter a former US President is no better & he may like to
explain why he would support dictators like Marcos & also explain how
his post-presidential meddling in foreign affairs has cost America
dearly both in terms of international credibility & international
prestige.

What these Elders are first requested to do is collect a list of all
Tamils & Muslims holding key portfolios in public & private sector of
Sri Lanka, summarize how Tamils & Muslims are domiciled throughout the
country, compare their income levels against those of the Sinhalese –
they may be surprised that the majority of both Tamils & Muslims are
living amongst the Sinhalese. The most important question these elders
need to ask themselves & document is what instances are there of
Tamils being denied that which Sinhalese are not. Where are Sinhalese
favored above other ethnic groups, do Sinhalese not go through
bureaucracy at Government & private levels, do Sinhalese not get
punished for crimes committed, do all Sinhalese have homes, incomes,
education, water etc….in understanding the reality of the ground
situation all these claims regarding ethnic discrimination etc will
prove unsubstantiated & false. It is by understand the reality that
would necessarily question all those party to these false claims. They
seem to enjoy vilifying Sri Lanka because these are people who are
members of organizations who to maintain their livelihood & means of
income are paid to create strife, create tensions, create situations &
create a scenario of chaos for it would generate the presence of
foreign Governments who are eyeing to broaden their income gamut &
other organizations that enjoy using “humanitarian” issues to prey on
innocent people.

This is the reality of what prevails the world over & how ordinary
people are fooled.

Shenali Waduge
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