Human Rights Watch Report Contradictory and Misleading – Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) in Sri Lanka

August 7, 2007
The Human Rights Watch report on Sri Lanka is misleading and rife with contradictions and could  be used by organizations like the LTTE and others that seek support to disrupt democratically elected governments like that of Sri Lanka, SCOPP Secretary General Rajiva Wijesinha said in a letter to the U.S. based human rights group.

Prof. Wjesinha accused Human Rights Watch of being selective in its release in concentrating criticism on the human rights record of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

“Your report is a repetition of the unequivocal criticism of the current Sri Lanka government, that is grist to the mill of not only the LTTE but also others in Sri Lanka who deplore the results of democratic elections and hope instead that agencies like yours will help to disrupt the government,” Prof. Wijesinha said in a letter to Brad Adams, Director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.

The assertion that there has been a dramatic increase in abuses by the government during the past 18 months is designed to imply that the Rajapaksa government has misbehaved from the time it was elected. But that assertion is contradicted in other paragraphs in the release itself as well as in the full report, the Secretary General declared. 

Referring to the report’s assertion that government authorities have forced some to return to areas that remain insecure, the SCOPP Secretary General said: “The selectivity of the report is most depressing and ignores the current situation.”