Thousands of Tamil protestors gathered in Geneva on Monday to call for an international criminal mechanism that will see justice served for mass atrocities committed in Sri Lanka. Protestors from across Europe came to the United Nations Human Rights Council, as member states gathered to discuss a resolution on Sri Lanka. People had travelled from the United Kingdom, France, Italy and across Switzerland to take part in the demonstration, which drew thousands of people. Holding Tamil Eelam flags and placards calling for an international mechanism of accountability, protestors chanted “we want justice” and “stop genocide”.
The Sri Lankan government labelled a draft United Nations Human Rights Council resolution dealing with mass atrocities on the island as “repetitive, judgemental and prescriptive” in comments made during an informal discussion on Monday. In a written statement distributed to member states, Sri Lankan Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha said the current draft of the resolution was “imbalanced” as it was “emphasizing excessively on the criminal justice aspects”. “My delegation is of the view that a lengthy resolution of the nature of the current draft before us which contains 24 preambular paras and 26 operative paras, which is repetitive, judgemental and prescriptive is not in keeping with the spirit of the process of reconciliation and reform that is underway in my country,” he added. “Certain terminology used such as 'verification' is new and intrusive language,” said the statement, and added that the resolution “must also observe clear, cogent language that the people of Sri Lanka find respectful”.
The former commander of the Sri Lankan army reiterated his rejection of the OISL report, stating Sri Lankan troops did not target Tamil civilians during the final stages of the armed conflict. Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told the New Indian Express that the Sri Lankan army had saved Tamil civilians. "It was the LTTE which fired on civilians trying to flee to the army-controlled lines and killed them,” said the recently promoted commander. “The Lankan armed forces on the other hand had a policy of welcoming them and providing them safe shelter." "We were constantly telling the civilians to come out, assuring them that they will be well treated and looked after. With the result, people kept coming out," he said. The OISL report stated that “civilians heeded the Government's call to proceed to NFZs”. It went on to state “almost immediately after their creation, the NFZs, including protected civilian objects, such as hospitals, came under sustained fire from the Sri Lankan security forces”.
The UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances or Involuntary Disappearances is to visit Sri Lanka from November 9 - 18, the chair, Ariel Dulitzky, told the UN Human Rights Council on Friday. Urging that all states should prioritise the search of disappeared persons, Mr Dulitzky told the Council, “one person is probably being disappeared in one of your countries as we are talking." “The time for words and promises is over. It is now the time for action on behalf of relatives to support their fight for truth, justice, reparation and memory,” he added.
The World Bank on Saturday urged the Sri Lankan government to make "a transformational change" to the economy by increasing private sector led growth. Visiting the island recently and holding meetings with senior government officials and the president, Maithripala Sirisena, the World Bank's vice president, Annette Dixon said they were committed to helping the new government implement policy reforms. “This is a crucial moment in Sri Lanka’s history to make a transformational change by fostering more inclusive, private sector-led growth and re-balancing public and private interests” Ms Dixon was quoted by LBO as saying.
Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera said the large scale violations by the country's security forces as outlined in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), were due to soldiers most probably following orders. "Many of these soldiers did not do these things out of their own accord," Mr Samaraweera said in an interview to Sri Lanka's Sunday Times. "The soldiers who may have been involved had no personal grudge against those victims. They were acting on orders they received. In such an investigation, I would say identifying the command structure is more important," he said. "I read a report by the British on the Iraq war which says the soldiers were carrying out orders which emanated from the political leadership." "Particularly a professional disciplined Army like ours, other than a few miscreants would not have carried out such vast scale violations unless they were given political orders."
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson, Rupert Colville, said they hoped the UN Human Rights Council would take the recommendations made in the OHCHR Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL) report "very seriously". “It will take time for everyone to digest the contents of such a big report covering such a range of issues occurring over a nine-year period," Mr Colville told Sri Lanka's Sunday Times via email. "Obviously we hope that the 47 states that make up the Human Rights Council will take the recommendations in this report very seriously, but we are not in a position to predict what they decide to do." "We understand that some States are likely to submit a draft resolution in the next few days. So that will be an important next step," he added.
Together Against Genocide (TAG) released a report last week, detailing the danger faced by Tamil witnesses of mass atrocities committed by Sri Lankan troops during the final stages of the armed conflict. The report, released at the Geneva Press Club on Wednesday, stated “that Sri Lanka is not a safe place for witnesses or victims seeking justice”. “If prosecutions are conducted in Sri Lanka, the vast majority of witnesses who contributed to the OISL will not be able to provide evidence,” it added. “The victims who participated in the OISL process will be dis-enfranchised; and any further ‘consultation process’ that requires Tamil victims to come forward and self-identify themselves to GoSL as seeking justice will place those victims at further risk of persecution.” The OISL report , which detailed the crimes committed during the final stages of the armed conflict, had also said there was an “absence of any reliable system for victim and witness protection, particularly in a context where the threat of reprisals is very high”. “A consultation process that requires Tamil victims to come forward and self-identify themselves to the Sri Lankan government as seeking an international mechanisms for justice will place those victims at further risk of persecution,” said TAG.
The National Freedom Front's Wimal Weerawansa has requested the speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament for a debate on the recommendations of the OHCHR report, which includes the call for a hybrid justice mechanism. In a letter the former minister said the government had already agreed with the UN Human Rights Council to form a branch of the International Criminal Court in the country, under the name of a hybrid court. Mr Weerawansa, who won the second highest number of votes in Colombo, said he and the people would not allow for such a court to be established.
The Tamil National People’s Front has stressed the need for a criminal judicial process following the findings of the OISL report. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the party’s leader Gajen Ponnambalam welcomed the report’s finding that a domestic investigation mechanism would not suffice. Mr Ponnambalam said that while the report stresses that it was a human rights investigation and not a criminal one, the stance of Tamil war victims was still that a criminal inquiry must lead to prosecutions for war criminals. The OISL’s suggestions for a hybrid mechanism were also ambiguous, Mr...