VOA常速英语2007年-Sri Lanka Scolds Foreign Envoys Over Human Righ

By Steve Herman
New Delhi
14 December 2007

Sri Lanka has been calling in foreign diplomats¹ to express what the Foreign Ministry² calls its "deep displeasure" over remarks by the diplomats' countries about the Sri Lankan human rights situation. VOA correspondent Steve Herman reports from our South Asia bureau in New Delhi.

Both the Sri Lankan government and ethnic³ Tamil rebels have been accused of serious human rights violations⁴ since the resumption of their decades-long civil war.

But Sri Lanka is particularly unhappy at remarks, critical of the government, made earlier this week by a number of countries before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner⁵ Louise Arbor⁶ accused Sri Lanka's domestic institutions of not being able to safeguard human rights.

On Thursday and Friday, the Foreign Ministry summoned top diplomats of the countries that spoke⁷ in Geneva, to express Colombo's displeasure.

In a statement issued Friday, the Foreign Ministry said the accusations⁸ made in Geneva do not reflect the "steady decline of the level of violations" recorded by "independent and highly reliable sources."

Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona tells VOA News he summoned the diplomats to inform them of Colombo's views on human rights.

 

"They have to be sensitized to what we feel about the whole situation, because our whole objective is to work with the international community, not to confront the international community. Our goal is to achieve the best human rights standards in this country," said Kohona.

Top-ranking diplomats of the United States, the European Union, France, South Korea and Sweden were summoned on Thursday. A similar summons went to envoys⁹ from Canada and the Netherlands on Friday. Sri Lanka says it will express its displeasure to New Zealand through that nation's embassy in New Delhi.

The Foreign Ministry statement says "deep displeasure" was expressed to Britain's high commissioner in Sri Lanka, for British comments in Geneva that Colombo interpreted as sympathetic to the Tamil rebels' demand for an independent ethnic homeland.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the rebels are formally known, have waged a violent separatist campaign since the mid-1970s, including assassinations¹⁰ of top government officials in Sri Lanka and India.

Foreign Secretary Kohona says the meetings with the envoys have been positive.

"They were all business-like meetings," said Kohona. "The idea was not to create a confrontation¹¹ but to explain the factual situation on the ground. And some of the ambassadors did indicate that their representatives in Geneva had prepared their statements without actually consulting the ambassadors in Colombo."

The off-and-on again civil war has left dead tens of thousands of soldiers, rebels and civilians¹². Several hundred thousand more people have been displaced from their homes.

1 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

4 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

5 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

6 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

9 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

10 assassinations   

n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most anarchist assassinations were bungled because of haste or spontaneity, in his view. 在他看来，无政府主义者搞的许多刺杀都没成功就是因为匆忙和自发行动。 来自辞典例句
• Assassinations by Israelis of alleged terrorists habitually kill nearby women and children. 在以色列，自称恐怖分子的炸弹自杀者杀害靠近自己的以色列妇女和儿童。 来自互联网

11 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

12 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。