The R2P controversy

One event that made front page news last week was the expulsion of Dr Rama Mani the executive director of ICES from the country following an internal crisis within the organization.The faction opposed to Dr Mani had leaked to the press an e-mail written by her to the International Crisis Group wanting to become the local representative to promote the doctrine of 'responsibility to protect' (R2P for short).

That email basically sealed the fate of Dr Mani because no government can possibly ignore an international NGO which seeks to promote foreign intervention in that country. This talk of a responsibility to protect first came up in this country at last year's Neelan Tiruchelvam memorial lecture which was delivered by Gareth Evans, a former Australian politician turned international NGO operative.

According to the website of the International Crisis Group (ICG), which advocates the responsibility to protect, the right to protect concept arose because of the incidents that occurred in Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo.

The first thing to note is that Sri Lanka is not a Kosovo, Rwanda or a Bosnia where a majority community seeks to eliminate a minority through mass killings; a fact which Gareth Evans, the head of the ICG himself has admitted.

What we have here is a counter-insurgency operation against a terrorist outfit that has been listed as a terrorist group by the USA, Canada, India, Australia, and the EU. This year, the FBI categorized the LTTE as the most dangerous and efficient terrorist organization in the world, ahead of even the Al Qaeda - the main bugbear of the west.

Read more,
http://www.island.lk/2008/02/10/politics3.html