Pasumai Thaayagam, an NGO based in India, called on the UN Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Al Hussain ensure the months up to September are used to release a stronger and more comprehensive OISL report, while holding Sri Lanka to account to address immediate human rights concerns.

The NGO urged the Council to place pressure on Sri Lanka to take meaningful action on the release of human rights defenders, highlighting Ms Jayakumari, and demilitarisation of the North-East.

See full statement below:

Pasumai Thaayagam congratulates the High Commissioner on his appointment and welcomes his report. We take this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to both Mr Zeid Raad al Hussain, and the former High Commissioner, Madam Navi Pillay, for their important and dedicated work towards the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka.

While we remain optimistic about the Council’s commitment to accountability and justice in Sri Lanka, we share the deep disappointment and concern of war-affected communities and victims with the delay of the investigation’s report. The High Commissioner’s recommendation for the delay was made on the basis of a change in context in Sri Lanka and the possibility of strengthening the report, but we are concerned that the government has still not made specific commitments in cooperating with the inquiry. In order for this delay to be in accordance with the investigation’s purpose of accountability and not another opportunity for impunity, the Sri Lankan government must allow a robust in-country evidence collection process, ensuring investigators, in addition to UN working groups and Special Rapporteurs, free and unfettered access to witnesses and victims.

The delay should also not permit pressing human rights issues in Sri Lanka to go without redress for six months. Pressure must be placed on the Sri Lankan government to take meaningful action on: the release of human rights defenders like Ms Jayakumari; the release of Tamil political detainees; the return of lands illegally acquired by the military; the resettlement of IDPs; the de-militarization of the North East; and the de-proscription of Tamil diaspora groups.

After years of failed domestic mechanisms, justice delayed cannot be justice denied once more. We call on the High Commissioner and the Council to ensure that the next six months are used to release a stronger and more comprehensive report, while also holding Sri Lanka accountable to address immediate and pressing human rights concerns in the spirit in which the delay was granted.