In an op-ed published this week on Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, researchers at Together Against Genocide, Vinesh Mistry and Brami Jegan called on the EU not to miss the opportunity "to insist on meaningful transitional justice, rather than giving its blessing to a government whose commitment to human rights deserves serious scrutiny"

Full op-ed reproduced below: 

by Vinesh Mistry and Brami Jegan

By Dr Arujuna Sivananthan

IMPROVEMENT

Sri Lanka’s 2017 budget seems to be receiving several accolades, not from those outside Sri Lanka or anyone credible within, but from politicians in the ruling coalition. So it should!

The coalition’s attempt to shed its statist skin by expressing an intent to privatise loss making state owned enterprises (SOEs) must be welcomed along with permitting foreign nationals to buy property. It also makes good economic sense.

Dharsha Jegatheeswaran and Gajen Mahendra 

The Ezhuga Tamil rally which drew thousands of Tamils in Jaffna last week, is “the expression of Tamil frustration witnessing the bases of their political power being compromised in favour of perpetuating Sinhala hegemony,” said exiled journalist J S Tissainayagam in the Asian Correspondent this week.

UN member states and Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon must ensure the Sri Lankan government feels the “right combination of encouragement and pressure needed to deepen and sustain the potentially historic transformation,” said Alan Keenan in a piece for Inside Story.

“UN agencies are actively supporting the Sirisena government’s reform agenda, but government efforts have been under-resourced and weakened by mixed messages and confused lines of authority,” said Mr Keenan, senior Sri Lankan analyst at the ICG.

“Clear direction from the president and from prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been lacking.”

The proposal by a Sri Lankan presidential commission for “accountable amnesties” for those guilty of violating international humanitarian law is “not a real way forward” said James Ross, Legal and Policy Director at Human Rights Watch.

Mr Ross said the idea of “accountable amnesties” for such grave crimes was an oxymoron, as he criticised the commission’s recommendations of running contrary to an earlier UN Human Rights Council resolution, co-sponsored by Sri Lanka.

US Ambasador to Sri Lanka Atul Keshap writes on his country's deep connections with Jaffna, ahead of the US Air Force’s Operation Pacific Angel visit to the the region.

The first American missionaries arrived in Jaffna in 1813, when the Rev. Samuel Newell founded the first American schools in Thellipalai. Those schools were the first of hundreds of schools and medical centers that provided for the people of northern Sri Lanka.  Continuing this deep connection between our two nations, this week Jaffna is welcoming the U.S. Air Force’s Operation Pacific Angel, which will renovate schools and provide medical services for nearby communities.

Writing in the Tamil Guardian today, the UK Minister of State for Asia, Hugo Swire recognised progress made by the Sri Lankan government but said "much more remains to be done" in the country.

Expressing agreement with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' oral update on Sri Lanka, Mr Swire highlighted the need for further land releases, repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the development of credible justice processes, in consultation with victims and families in Sri Lanka and the diaspora.

The full text of Mr Swire's op-ed follows:

A long way in a short time, but more needs to be done

Sri Lanka has come a long way since President Sirisena’s election in January 2015. I have been struck by the progress made. No one should underestimate the challenge of dealing with the legacy of a 30 year conflict.  Sri Lanka is in a far better place now than even the most optimistic could have imagined, only 18 months ago. Yet much remains to be done.
 

"With the Sri Lankan government winding back commitments to reconciliation and justice measures, it’s up to the international community to hold them to account," writes Tamil activist Nirmanusan Balasundaram in the Guardian.

"For Tamil war victims and survivors, the statements by the Sri Lankan president and prime minister are indeed disheartening. Apart from a few symbolic returns of occupied Tamil lands and the release of some political prisoners, unsurprisingly, there have been no constructive actions to address wartime accountability or end the culture of impunity."

The Sri Lankan government cannot continue to blame members of the former regime for the lack of progress in furthering accountability said the Global Tamil Forum’s spokesperson Suren Surendiran, in a piece published in Colombo Telegraph on Saturday.

“Barely four months since [the] Government of Sri Lanka internationally committing by co-sponsoring Resolution A/HRC/30/L.29 in Geneva, the U-turn came in spectacular fashion from the highest authority in the country, the President himself,” said Mr Surendiran.

“As if there wasn’t enough trust deficit between communities in Sri Lanka, this major let down, haemorrhaged the trust of Tamils in the new President and in his new coalition government.”