The Effect of the Geneva Convention related to the Ethnic Crisis of Sri Lanka.

Abstract

The Geneva issue arises with the western efforts of restoring “human right tactics” to demean Sri Lanka’s success on the international stage against the LTTE. The LTTE was ranked as the most ruthless and dangerous terrorist organization in the world at the time. They fought against Sinhala people. And the Geneva problem is not a simple case for both Sri Lanka’s economic and cultural perspectives. The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of Geneva Convention in relation to the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka. The Geneva report recommends the investigation of the alleged human right violation in Sri Lanka since 1982. The latest Geneva report on Sri Lanka was released on September 16 in Geneva during its currently ongoing 30th session. But the present report is no different from the controversial Darusman report. In this study I wish to examine what the Geneva Convention is, how it can affect the Sri Lankan perspectives and why it became a blemish for the development process of Sri Lanka in many cases. Here, secondary data have been used which is appropriate to the topic and to conduct a qualitative data analysis. The study shows that according to the present context of the Geneva resolution and its impact on Sri Lanka the government has to agree with the principle of free and fair inquiry in the alleged war crimes. And the most controversial recommendation in the Geneva report is the “hybrid” court of inquiry which raised the doubt of the extent of involvement of the foreign judges and the demarcation of jurisdiction. The research concludes that the main economic impact of Geneva Convention related to the Sri Lankan ethnic crisis will be losing potential opportunities which will affect the tourism and foreign direct investment. And also it could affect Sr Lankan exports to western countries which are main markets for our manufactured exports. Not only that, this problem will also affect Sri Lankan independence and sovereignty as a nation.