Nobody can do a better job than us - Paranagama response to Zeid criticism

The head of Sri Lanka's Missing Person Commission, Justice Maxwell Paranagama, rejected UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussain's call to disband the commission established by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and establish a new, more credible mechanism to deal with the issue. “We have been very transparent in our functioning. There were no armed forces or police personnel in the room where people testified. We held several sittings in the Tamil-speaking North and East and Colombo and examined 19,000 people including 16,000 from the North and East. The response to our call for testimonies was so good that if we sent out notices to 300 for a session, 1000 would turn up, and no one was turned away. Transport was arranged for people to go back to their villages if the sittings went late into the evening,” Mr Paranagama told The New Indian Express on Thursday.

‘There can never be immunity for serious crimes’ in Sri Lanka – Former UN human rights chief

The former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said “ there can never be immunity for these very serious crimes ,” which were committed in Sri Lanka. Speaking in an interview to Thanthi TV last week, Ms Pillay stated “the law is clear, nobody can grant amnesty, no government can grant amnesty for these serious crimes”. In a wide ranging interview the former UN human rights chief explored the question of whether a genocide had occurred, stating that it was up to a court of law to make the final decision. She said a court would have to find if “there was a deliberate intention to destroy for instance the Tamil population,” adding “I notice that even the discussion on evidence of sexual violence against woman and girls is reported to be systematic and intentional to destroy the Tamil group”. “The genocide convention is clear, the intention is not required for destruction of the whole group,” added Ms Pillay, in response to the question that not all Tamils on the island were killed during the final stages of the armed conflict. “ So it does not require the intention to destroy the whole of the Tamil group. The fact that some were killed and others not does not retract from the statute, which says “destruction in whole or in part of a group” ”. She also noted that “ even failure to stop genocide from happening is a crime ”. “This is what the International Court of Justice said about Serbia,” added Ms Pillay. “So failing to prevent. So if you acknowledge and fail to stop your soldiers from committing these crimes then that is also a crime of genocide, a crime against humanity .” Ms Pillay also spoke on the role of the international community, highlighting in particular India’s failure to stop the massacres from occurring. India “could have helped to prevent the deaths of almost 40,000 people,” she stated.

TAG calls for UNHRC to pursue recommendations of OISL report

Together Against Genocide called on member states of the Human Rights Council to pursue recommendations of the UN report into Sri Lanka’s atrocities vial a full range of domestic and bilateral measures. Welcoming the UNHRC resolution on Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights, TAG expressed regret that “the government of Sri Lanka has refused to de-militarize the North and East.” Highlighting the Sri Lankan prime minister’s recent comments indicating he would protect “southerners”, TAG said “there is thus deep and legitimate doubt among the community of survivors and...

SLFP thanks Maithri for 'achievements' at UN

The SLFP's vice president, Nimal Siripala de Silva thanked President Maithripala Sirisena for his "achievements" at the UN and said Sri Lanka's delegation had been successful in watering down the resolution to some extent, the Daily Mirror reported. However the minister said the implementation of recommendations given by the OHCHR Investigation in Sri Lanka (OISL) would create legal issues and be problematic to implement. “The UNHRC report says that Sri Lanka needs to adopt feasibility legislation, specific legislation to facilitate a hybrid court mandated to probe war crimes committed by security forces personnel. We will need to change our Constitution in order to make room for a hybrid court, and we can’t make these happen overnight,” he said to press on Thursday.

Ranil confident about lifting of GSP+ sanctions

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government would request the EU to reissue the GSP+ trade concessions, as the human rights issue "had come to an end", the DailyMirror reported. Speaking to trade unionists on Wednesday, the prime minister said Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera would make the request from the European Union on Thursday. Earlier this year the prime minster had pledged that the concessions would be restored after September's UN Human Rights Council session. The previous government had blamed Mr Wickremesinghe for the concessions being withdrawn, after the EU stated it was concerned over human rights abuses.

Deeply concerned about serious weaknesses in the resolution says Wigneswaran

Welcoming the fact that the UN Human Rights Council is today expected to adopt a resolution calling for accountability in Sri Lanka, the chief minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran said he however remained "deeply concerned about some of the serious weaknesses in the resolution, which unless addressed could lead to the failure of this whole process." "The importance of creating a mechanism which can gain the support and confidence of the victims cannot be overemphasized. The resolution's failure to clearly propose such a mechanism is a matter of grave concern," he wrote in a letter sent to key UNHRC member states on Wednesday. "The resolution is important in that it sets a number of markers and makes a number of key recommendations - but it largely relies on the goodwill of the government to implement those recommendations." "Regrettably the government's successful attempt to remove from the resolution several key references to ongoing abuses of human rights, the militarization of the north and east and other key issues does not inspire confidence in that goodwill."

Ranil reiterates foreign judges will work under 'Sri Lankan laws and hierarchies'

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said his government had protected Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, by averting an international mechanism to prosecute violations of international humanitarian law and ensuring foreign judges work under 'Sri Lanka's law and hierarchies', reports Colombo Page. Mr Wickremesinghe said that Sri Lanka’s constitution guarantees the country’s sovereignty and that foreign judges would have to work in accordance with Sri Lankan law. He had stated earlier that foreign judges can be consulted but not actually involved in proceedings. The prime minister went on to say that the UN resolution was not about the conduct of the Sri Lankan military “but their primary concern was the impartiality of our courts". Speaking at the National Management Conference in Colombo, Mr Wickremesinghe assured a domestic mechanism would take place and that a “compassionate council” would be set up, and would include Buddhist monks. When questioned over whether the UN resolution would lead to Sri Lankan withdrawing the military from the North and East, the prime minister noted the resolution did not mention any demilitarisation.

Children in Vavuniya call for their imprisoned fathers to be released

Children of Tamil political prisoners held a demonstration in the Eranai Elupikkaikulam region of Vavuniya on Tuesday, calling for their fathers, who have been incarcerated for years without charge under Sri Lanka's draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Sri Lanka seeks to increase number of UN peacekeepers

The Sri Lankan president said his government wants to contribute more troops to United nations peacekeeping missions, addressing the Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping at the United Nations in New York on Monday. Maithripala Sirisena said “Sri Lanka is pleased to reiterate our continued commitment to UN peacekeeping” stating there would be “significant contributions from the Sri Lanka Army, Air Force and Police”. “We are committed to ensuring the best possible training and assessment of peacekeepers in Sri Lanka to uphold the highest standards of peacekeeping,” he added. Mr Sirisena pledged two Combat Transport Companies, two Field Engineering platoons, one infantry battalion, two Special Force Companies, one Combat Engineering Company, three Infantry Battalions, one Explosive Ordinance Disposal Company and one Force Protection Company, in addition to two Formed Police Units. Sri Lankan troops have been accused of sexually abusing Haitian minors whilst on a previous peacekeeping mission. 111 soldiers and 3 officers were repatriated back to Sri Lanka after being part of UN mission in Haiti and were accused of a string of sexual assaults, including rape of children as young as 7 years old. No one has yet been charged with any offences.

Opposition MPs call for referendum on inclusion of foreign judges

Opposition MPs in Sri Lanka called for a national referendum on the inclusion of foreign judges in a domestic justice mechanism as detailed in the resolution to be adopted by the UN Human Rights Council, reports the Daily Mirror . “If the people feel they are fine with the UNHRC recommendations and a court with foreign judges and investigators to probe alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, then the government can go ahead with the proposals. We also request the people to urge their MPs to vote against an Act to be tabled in parliament asking for the approval of the UN recommendations,” UPFA MP, Wimal Weerawamsa was quoted by the paper as saying at a press conference on Tuesday. Urging the government to refrain from co-sponsoring the resolution, MP Dinesh Gunawardane said, “co-sponsoring a resolution is similar to writing one’s own death certificate and is a bad precedent to other countries. This move has also put our allies in a difficult situation."

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