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Chief Minister welcomes findings of OISL, calls on Sri Lanka to implement recommendations

The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council welcomed the findings of the report of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Investigation on Sri Lanka released last week.

Extracts from the statement made by CV Wigneswaran at the Northern Provincial Council on Tuesday reproduced below.

“We also  welcome the finding  that  the  investigations  into  international  crimes of the scale  that  had  taken  place  during the  period investigated "will require  more than  a domestic  mechanism"  and, the  need  to  form  a mechanism  which would  give confidence  to  the  victims  of such  violations,  confidence  in  the independence  and impartiality  of  the  process.  To that end the report has suggested  the  adoption  of international best  practices of "integrating international  judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators.”

“We urge the  Government  to  implement  the  recommendations of the Report immediately by embarking  on a transitional  justice  process  which  takes  into account  the  scope  and  breadth  of the  violations,  the  diverse  nature parties and  offending individuals, the  need for time-boundedness in accountability,  justice and reconciliation, the need  for  addressing causes  of  the  conflict  and the need for a victim centered approach.  As a Province which is home to the bulk of victims of mass atrocities and the scene of the last stages of the war, we strongly urge the Government to take note of observations made by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantee of non-recurrence that ‘measures intended to promote fundamental rights, the design implementation of these measures call for consultative and participatory methods. This has not been the hallmark of past Sri Lankan efforts.” 

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