- Demand made by dozen US bipartisan lawmakers
A total of 12 Members of the United States (US) Congress have urged the US Secretary of State Antony John Blinken to ensure that the US holds Sri Lanka (SL) accountable under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).
Led by Democratic Congresswoman Summer Lynn Lee from Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District for over a decade, they have called upon the US Government to “formally hold Sri Lanka responsible for its human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law carried out against the Tamil people”.
In their bipartisan letter, they have called on the administration of US President Joseph Robinette Biden Junior to follow Article 30 of the UNCAT and hold the island nation which has “consistently failed to make tangible progress toward justice and accountability.”
Article 30 (1) of the UNCAT reads: “Any dispute between two or more States Parties concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention which cannot be settled through negotiation shall, at the request of one of them, be submitted to arbitration. If within six months from the date of the request for arbitration the Parties are unable to agree on the organisation of the arbitration, any one of those Parties may refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by request in conformity with the Statute of the Court.” Article 30(2) of the UNCAT reads: “Each State may, at the time of the signature or the ratification of this Convention or accession thereto, declare that it does not consider itself bound by Paragraph I of this Article. The other States Parties shall not be bound by Paragraph I of this Article with respect to any State Party having made such a reservation.” Article 30 (3) of the UNCAT reads: “Any State Party having made a reservation in accordance with Paragraph 2 of this Article may at any time withdraw this reservation by notification to the Secretary-General of the UN.”
In their joint letter addressed to Blinken, the Members of the Congress representing both the Democrats and Republicans demand that the State Department hold Sri Lanka legally accountable to the UNCAT. “In our view, the impunity enjoyed by Sri Lankan perpetrators, which has also enabled Sri Lanka’s economic and political crises, is counter to America’s commitment to upholding human rights and democratic principles and must be stopped,” the lawmakers led by Congressional Representatives Lee and William Leslie Johnson (Republican - Ohio) wrote. The dozen signatories allege the Government and the military of Sri Lanka to be committing serious international crimes.
“The Sri Lankan Government and the military are credibly accused of committing international crimes during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Of which, particular concern are Sri Lanka’s actions from January through May 2009, when the Sri Lankan military intentionally shelled Tamil civilians and civilian objects, including hospitals, in the so-called ‘no fire zones’”.
In their letter, they also pointed out the sexual abuses carried out by the military against the Tamil population during the war.
“The Sri Lankan Government and the military raped and sexually mutilated hundreds of Tamil women and girls before or after killing them, extra-judicially executed LTTE members who had surrendered with white flags, and forcibly disappeared both LTTE members and Tamil civilians whose fates remain unknown”.
Writing about the numbers killed during the final phase of the war, the Congressional lawmakers say that in the last five months, the number of Tamil people unaccounted for and presumed to have been killed, to be from 40,00 to 169,766.
Speaking about the lack of accountability, they say that Sri Lanka is harbouring a culture of rewarding people who have committed grave human rights violations rather than face trial. “Instead of investigating and prosecuting allegations independently, the Sri Lankan Government has rewarded many alleged war criminals with high ranking political or military leadership positions, which some still hold today”.
The US lawmakers’ letter to Blinken also speaks about the persistent militarisation in the North and the East, perpetuated land grabs, displacement, and the repression of the right to memorialise.
Expressing their deep sense of anguish about the impunity, the Congressional representatives have called it unfortunate.
“That the Sri Lankan Government and the military could commit such horrific crimes against the Tamil people with total impunity is, unfortunately, unsurprising, given Sri Lanka’s long history of torture and related human rights violations. Tamils have long been subjected to the Sri Lankan security forces ‘almost universal practice’ of the torture and ill-treating of those in their custody, even before the armed conflict began in 1983”.
Laws like the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 as amended (PTA) have been used to facilitate such violations against the Tamils, their letter says. Adding further, their letter says that the PTA has been used since 1979 to disproportionately target Tamils and Muslims including human rights defenders and journalists, with arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced disappearances, and torture.
Holding successive Sri Lankan Governments responsible for the failure to make tangible progress towards justice and accountability, including non-recurrence, reconciliation, and a political solution, the signatories emphasise that such failures underscore the need for international action to achieve meaningful justice for Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka.
“Since 2011, civil and criminal cases on behalf of Tamil victims and survivors have been filed in third party States, including the US, against Sri Lankan political and military leaders responsible for international crimes, including torture”. Commenting strongly on the inaction of the State and the lack of political will, they allege that legal actions have not achieved justice, said the Congressional representatives. “Consequently, no alleged Sri Lankan Government or military perpetrator has been held responsible for international crimes in or outside Sri Lanka”.
Therefore, they have urged the State Department to follow Article 30 of the UNCAT and hold Sri Lanka formally responsible for breaching its Treaty obligations regarding torture. Also, they have suggested a three pronged strategy to ensure accountability and to end the culture of impunity, and save the alleged perpetrators.
Suggesting to achieve this through formal negotiations in the first place, if those negotiations fail or become futile or deadlocked, the next step shall be through arbitration. In the event of the dispute not being resolved within six months, the US lawmakers have said that their Government should bring a claim against Sri Lanka to the ICJ.
The joint letter has been signed by Representatives Lee, Johnson, Danny K. Davis, James Patrick McGovern, Jamin Ben Raskin, Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, Cori Anika Bush, Deborah Koff Ross, Donald Gene Davis, Jeffrey Neale Jackson, George Wilmarth Nickel the IIIrd and Bradley James Sherman.
(The writer is the World News Editor of The African Gazette)
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.