A draft resolution praising the government of Sri Lanka was submitted to the United Nations today ahead of next week's special Human Rights Council session on the Asian country and its recently ended armed conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels, according to dpa. The draft text was tabled by Sri Lanka itself, with the backing of 12 members of the council, including China, India, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It commends the Sri Lankan government's handling of internally displaced people (IDPs) and its cooperation with UN humanitarian agencies. The draft also praises the "liberation" of Sri Lankan citizens, using the government's language. Earlier Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported aid groups were still being denied unimpeded access to the largest displaced persons camp, housing most of the 272,000 IDPs. As a result, most services to the people were suspended, OCHA said. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it has only been given partial access. An ICRC official in Geneva said the "priority issue" for the organization was to gain "full access" to the camps. The special session will take place on Tuesday at the UN in Geneva. It was called for earlier this week by Germany on behalf of 17 members of the rights council, including the European Union members, Canada, Switzerland and Argentina. Council rules require that a special session have the backing of one-third of the 47 member-states. A draft text being written by Switzerland, which was not finalized or submitted to the UN, deplored "the significant loss of human lives and suffering," and calls on the government to cooperate with aid agencies. The text, obtained by the German Press Agency dpa, also said the countries were "gravely concerned by violations of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law committed during the armed conflict in Sri Lanka and their impact on the civilian population especially women, children and vulnerable groups." The text did not call for an independent commission of inquiry rather opting for the Sri Lankan government to investigate allegations of abuse. One European diplomat said the EU wanted to call for an independent commission, but it was unable to gather enough signatures for such language.
