Sri Lanka debate

David Burrowes joins calls for a UN Security Council resolution to protect the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. He dismisses concerns that failure to secure such a resolution would be detrimental to the Tamil position.

Mr. David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con): I congratulate the right hon. Lady on the stand that she is taking on behalf of the members of the Tamil community who are spread across the borough of Enfield. The Under-Secretary of State said that she would not want the Government to be in a worse position as a result of a failed UN Security Council resolution. Can the right hon. Lady think of a worse position than the one that the Tamil community are in, as they face slaughter?

Joan Ryan: That is an important point to take on board, but we have to consider whether a failed UN Security Council resolution would be interpreted by the Government of Sri Lanka as a form of approval of their behaviour. Equally, I agree with the hon. Gentleman: how could things be much worse for the Tamil community? That is why I think that, however much blocking there is at the UN, it is time to find a mechanism to open up the issue there. It is time to point to those permanent members of the Security Council that are, through their behaviour, allowing the human rights catastrophe to happen. They are preventing the UN from fulfilling its role, remit, and international obligations, and so are preventing the rest of us members who are party to those obligations from fulfilling ours. If the “Uniting for Peace” resolution offers a way forward, I urge the Minister to look at it.