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Ex-UN officials and HR advocates urge int’l action on SL

19 Feb 2021

Citing alleged continued reluctance on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to meaningfully uphold the human rights of all, former top United Nations (UN) officials and those involved in human rights related work have called on the international community to take decisive and immediate steps and action at the international level towards ensuring justice and accountability to end Sri Lanka’s periodic cycles of violence, and mass human rights violations and atrocities, and for sustained reconciliation and the prevention of the recurrence of rights abuses and conflict. Sri Lanka, they note, is taking a road that, in reaffirming exclusion and marginalization, weakening the rule of law and hollowing out independent institutions, harassing and persecuting those who seek justice, is sowing the seeds of conflict. Whether Sri Lanka continues on its trajectory towards renewed violence or finally breaks with its tragic history and firmly embarks on the path of sustainable development hinges now on international action, they claim. Issuing a statement in this regard, they note the country’s lack of progress on justice and accountability. They raised concerns over the militarization of civilian Government functions (including the appointment and promotion of senior military officials identified in earlier UN reports as perpetrators of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final years of the conflict); the reversal of Constitutional safeguards (which undermine, among other things the independence of the Judiciary and key oversight Commissions on the Police and Human Rights); new sources of political obstruction of accountability for crimes and human rights violations (including by new Commissions of Inquiry {CoIs} that have intervened in ongoing cases); an increase in majoritarian rhetoric and exclusionary policies targeting the Tamil and Muslim communities; and unceasing surveillance and intimidation of the civil society and the shrinking democratic space (including the continued use of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act {PTA}).  All of these give rise to new and exacerbated human rights concerns that are already reflected in reports of ongoing harassment, intimidation, torture, abductions and sexual violence, they further note. 'Agreement has been reached that the brunt of prevention work is borne by national institutions. But it has been stressed that this presupposes sincere and effective commitment to addressing the root causes of violations and conflict, including through the implementation of transitional justice measures of the sort that the Government had committed itself to establishing in 2015 under the Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1. The previous United National Front (UNF) led Government lacked the ability or the will to achieve sustainable progress in the implementation of these commitments. Despite limited progress in some areas, especially the establishment of the Office of Missing Persons, and the Office of Reparations, the promised Truth Commission and Special Court for International Crimes were never established. The current Government has explicitly rejected these commitments,' the statement noted. They further added that instead of completing ongoing investigations into human rights violations, the President, appointed yet another ad hoc Commission, this time tasked with examining the findings and recommendations on human rights violations of the plethora of previous Commissions. 'This is an exercise of meta investigation that drives Sri Lankan reliance on ad hoc Commissions to a point that would be laughable were it not for the seriousness of what is at stake, the long-delayed respect for the rights of victims. Meanwhile, the Presidential CoI (PCoI) into Political Victimization, after actively obstructing investigations into serious cases of abduction, disappearance and assassination, has recommended not just that the charges against every accused in the emblematic cases should be dismissed and that those that were accused be given compensation, but that charges should be filed against complainants, investigators, and prosecutors. The Commission also recommended the establishment of a further, and rarely used, Special PCoI, with the power to punish Ministers in the previous UNF led Government, and allied Parliamentarians. Those targeted, who now form the core of the political Opposition, face the prospect of being banned from holding public office for up to seven years,' the statement further notes. Sri Lanka has made its justice institutions unavailable to its own victims, they add. 'We therefore recommend Member States to work with victims and their representatives to pursue justice through universal or extraterritorial jurisdiction. Existing international avenues for accountability such as the International Criminal Court should be considered, in the face of Sri Lanka’s opposition to ending impunity. We also support imposing targeted sanctions against credibly alleged perpetrators of international crimes and strengthened monitoring and reporting by a dedicated Special Rapporteur. We call to establish a dedicated mechanism to collect and preserve evidence and to initiate an independent study of international accountability options. We reiterate the calls made to the Government to pull back from its current aggressive policies towards Muslims and Tamils, to desist from using the PTA as if it were a basic public order law, to refrain from instrumentalizing the justice sector, and to cease the threats and harassment of Opposition politicians and human rights and civil society groups, as these are the triggers or vehicles for future violent conflict and rights abuses. Sri Lanka has known not only inter, but intra-communal violence for decades, with victims in every community. This violence has been the main obstacle to the country’s achieving levels of development that reflect the island’s impressive human and natural resources. In 2009 the international community failed Sri Lanka. We must not fail again,' they conclude The signatories include Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Juan Manuel Santos, the former Deputy Secretary General of the UN Jan Eliasson, the former Special Adviser to the Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng, the former UN Assistant Secretary- General and former the Head of the Secretary General’s Internal Review Panel on the UN’s Actions in Sri Lanka Charles Petrie, the former UN HCHRs Mary Robinson, Louise Arbour, Navanethem Pillay and Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the former Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston, the former Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence Pablo de Greiff, the former Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Ben Emmerson, the former Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns, the former Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye, the former Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Maina Kiai, the former Special Rapporteur on minority issues Gay MacDougall, the former Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment Juan E. Mendez, the former Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment Manfred Nowak and the Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka Marzuki Darusman, Yasmin Sooka and Steven Ratner.


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