The United Nations Secretary-General has been urged to “send a strong message to the Government of Sri Lanka” that it cannot fail to meet commitments to over accountability for human rights atrocities.
“The Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka in 2015 is widely held up as one of the Council’s greatest achievements but to be a true success, Ban needs to use the authority of his office during this visit to help move this political agreement from words to action,” said Ann Hannah, International Advocate at Freedom from Torture.
“Ban has a responsibility to show survivors that the UN will not fail them again as it did in 2009. We have already documented 248 cases of torture since the end of the conflict, including 17 cases under President Sirisena’s leadership. Without long-term and firm UN support and monitoring it seems likely that accountability processes will stall, torture will continue and peace will be undermined.”
Freedom From Torture said Mr Ban’s visit is “an opportunity for him to show that his promises that the UN should deliver human rights for “the most vulnerable” are more than an empty diplomatic initiative”.
“Ban must send a strong message to the Government of Sri Lanka that a failure to address accountability, in line with human rights obligations and in consultation with survivors as promised in Geneva, is unacceptable,” the organisation continued.
During his visit he will meet with both Sri Lankan government and Tamil politicians, with justice mechanisms and reconciliation the main topic of discussion.
“If Ban does not convince the Sri Lankan government of the need for full delivery of the resolution, including promises of an internationalised justice process, he is telling survivors from Sri Lanka, and from other conflicts, that when the UN Charter talks about ‘We the peoples’ it doesn’t mean them.”,” Ms Hannah concluded.