SLC urges Ban demand ‘full and proper reckoning’ from Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan Campaign called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to demand Sri Lanka provide a “full and proper reckoning” for human rights abuses, as he landed on the island on Wednesday.

Campaign Director of the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice Fred Carver wrote to the secretary general ahead of his visit, stating that “Sri Lanka’s transition from armed conflict to a lasting and a sustainable peace is far from complete, and it is important to maintain the high level of international pressure and scrutiny necessary to see it through”.

"Ongoing violations of human rights, including sexual violence, are still taking place in the north and east of the country,” the letter added. “As a result, the climate of fear which used to grip the entire nation still exists among large numbers of people, particularly in those areas. Here civil society remains under a significant degree of surveillance.”

The organisation also called on the global body for its failures during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009, which saw tens of thousands of Tamil civilians massacred. "We feel it would be appropriate for you to use this opportunity to apologise to the people of Sri Lanka for the United Nations’ inadequate efforts to prevent loss of life in early 2009”, the Sri Lankan Campaign said. “As you yourself said, the 2012 United Nations Internal Review Panel Report demonstrated “that the United Nations system failed to meet its responsibilities.””

The letter called on Ban Ki-Moon to ensure Sri Lanka abides by an United Nations Human Rights Council resolution, stating that it is “essential that you impress upon the Government of Sri Lanka the importance of fulfilling the commitments that it has made”.

“There have been disturbing signs that the resolution will not be implemented,” said the letter, noting “that the Government of Sri Lanka may not be committed to the programme of transitional justice, despite its importance for victims and for reconciliation within Sri Lankan society, and that the Government may feel that it has now done enough to satisfy the wishes of the international community”.

“We trust that you will make every effort to ensure that your visit will not have the unintended consequence of reinforcing this perception, which would only undermine Sri Lanka’s hard-won and yet to be implemented reconciliation programme, and thereby the prospects for lasting peace."

The letter concluded by highlighting the case of Tamil disappearances campaigner Balendran Jeyakumary, who has been repeatedly called in for interrogation by Sri Lankan authorities. “Her case is a totemic one, and her treatment is having a chilling effect,” Sri Lanka Campaign said.
“There are many mothers in Sri Lanka who lost children in the war. The way Jeyakumary has been treated is causing them to lose faith in Sri Lanka’s truth-seeking mechanisms, and to be less willing to participate in the Government’s mechanisms for tracing missing persons. We urge you to raise her case, its wider implications and effects, and the ongoing harassment of war survivors and activists of which it forms a part, with your hosts.”

See the full text of the letter here.