The British Tamils Forum (BTF) welcomed the UN Human Rights Chief's recognition of threats, harassment and intimidation of people who may testify before a United Nations inquiry into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka and called on the UN to ensure the safety of witnesses.
In a statement released shortly after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights oral update on the investigation was delivered at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, BTF stated it, “welcomes the High Commissioner’s recognition of the intimidation and danger faced by these human rights defenders and victims.”
BTF went on to call “upon the Office High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to do everything within its power to ensure the safety of those who testify before the inquiry”.
Earlier today, UN High Comissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said he was "shocked at the ongoing campaign of threats, harassment, intimidation and reprisals by both state and non-state actors since March against civil society groups, human rights defenders and victims’ organisations, including those who might support or engage with the international inquiry."
Sri Lanka has so far refused to co-operate with the UN investigation, reiterating its rejection today. Whilst Sri Lanka has announced a series of domestic investigations since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, the state still rejects all reports that its security forces carried out mass atrocities.
The latest such internal investigation may by used as a “ploy to identify potential witnesses”, warned BTF, urging witnesses to “reserve their evidence for the OHCHR investigation rather than risk exposing themselves to the Sri Lankan state.”
The BTF concluded,
In a statement released shortly after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights oral update on the investigation was delivered at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, BTF stated it, “welcomes the High Commissioner’s recognition of the intimidation and danger faced by these human rights defenders and victims.”
BTF went on to call “upon the Office High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to do everything within its power to ensure the safety of those who testify before the inquiry”.
Earlier today, UN High Comissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said he was "shocked at the ongoing campaign of threats, harassment, intimidation and reprisals by both state and non-state actors since March against civil society groups, human rights defenders and victims’ organisations, including those who might support or engage with the international inquiry."
Sri Lanka has so far refused to co-operate with the UN investigation, reiterating its rejection today. Whilst Sri Lanka has announced a series of domestic investigations since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, the state still rejects all reports that its security forces carried out mass atrocities.
The latest such internal investigation may by used as a “ploy to identify potential witnesses”, warned BTF, urging witnesses to “reserve their evidence for the OHCHR investigation rather than risk exposing themselves to the Sri Lankan state.”
The BTF concluded,
“As the update notes, there continue to be land grabs, intimidation and detention of witnesses and activists, attacks on religious minorities, and impunity for perpetrators of disappearances and killings in Sri Lanka.”See the full statement here.
“Under these circumstances, British Tamils Forum believes that the OHCHR inquiry – which has limited its scope to the period up to November 2011 – can only be a first step towards seeking true justice and a permanent remedy for the suffering borne by the Tamil people.”
“BTF hopes that the OHCHR inquiry will pave the way for further international scrutiny of these ongoing violations of Tamils' individual and collective rights by the Sri Lankan state and an international examination of the root causes behind the decades of oppression and persecution the Tamil people have faced on the island of Sri Lanka.”