Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Vijitha Herath has reiterated that Colombo will not permit any international role in investigating past human rights violations, as he prepares to address the upcoming 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.
Herath is expected to brief Colombo-based diplomats this week on what the government describes as “progress” in strengthening domestic institutions to address accountability issues, before leaving for Geneva on 8 September.
Among the measures Herath has pointed to are steps towards repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and establishing an Independent Prosecutors Office. He will also highlight what the government calls a crackdown on corruption since the National People’s Power (NPP) administration took office last September.
Despite these claims, Herath made clear that “the Government’s refusal to allow any international role in investigating past human rights violations in Sri Lanka remained unchanged,” a position he told the Sunday Times he would underline during his Geneva address.
Herath’s defiance comes in the face of repeated calls from the United Nations and human rights organisations for Sri Lanka to embrace international involvement in addressing accountability.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, who visited Sri Lanka in June, is due to present his latest report on the island at the Council session. The report, released last month, urges the Sri Lankan government to consider involving international legal experts to advance accountability and to accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
For decades, successive Sri Lankan governments have rejected international involvement in accountability processes, despite repeated UN resolutions mandating stronger monitoring and calls for international involvement.
Tamil families of the disappeared and survivors of wartime atrocities have consistently insisted that only internationalised justice can deliver accountability for mass atrocities and genocide.
