Tamil National Alliance MP and spokesperson, Suresh Premachandran said the UN Human Rights Council resolution addressing accountability in Sri Lanka was not satisfying and called for it to be strengthened, reports the Thinakurral newspaper.

According to Thinakkural, the Jaffna MP met with representatives at the US embassy on the island, demanding an international mechanism that will address accountability and for the subject of demilitarisation to be explicitly mentioned in the draft resolution.

The speaker for the Northern Provincial Council S Sivagnanam met with the French Ambassador earlier this week, where he described the ubiquitous militarisation in the North and asserted that normality could not return whilst the army occupied the region.

Acclaimed journalist J. S. Tissainayagam, wrote in Asian Correspondent on Wednesday, calling for a strengthening of a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on accountability in Sri Lanka, stating one that does is not “will only enhance turmoil and violence”.

Tissainayagam was detained by Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Division in 2008 and sentenced to 20 years of "rigorous punishment" for inciting "communal feelings". Following international pressure, including a mention from US President Barack Obama, Tissainayagam was eventually pardoned and is currently living in exile.

See his full piece in the Asian Correspondent here.

Extracts have been reproduced below.

Language in the draft resolution now before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for an investigation into past and ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka lacks teeth say critics. A resolution that establishes a weak investigating body will only render ineffectual what the international community says it is working for – strengthening human rights to promote reconciliation in a country recovering from war.

Adding to this, post-war militarisation in the former warzone of northern and eastern Sri Lanka, continues to spawn grave human rights abuses – disappearance, torture and sexual violence. In the face of Colombo’s stonewalling, the only option for justice and accountability for past and ongoing violations was an international investigation.

The TNA met with US and UK diplomats in Colombo, in order to discuss the resolution tabled on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council, reported the Daily Mirror.

The TNA delegation, led by the TNA leader R. Sampanthan and including MP Mavai Senathiraja and MP MA Sumanthiran, met with the British High Commissioner John Rankin and US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires William Weinsteinin on Monday.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror Mr. Sumanthiran said,

“Yes we met the British High Commissioner and the Deputy Ambassador and a US embassy official and discussed the ongoing UNHRC sessions."

A report by the Human Rights Law Centre has found that Autralia’s policy of cooperating with the Sri Lankan government on the issue of asylum seekers’ arrival by boat, prevents genuine refugees from accessing safety and increases the likelihood of being subject to torture.

The country currently seeks to stop boats carrying refugees from entering Australia’s territorial waters, and cooperates with the Sri Lankan government to return the people. HLRC accused Australia of blocking the escape of people in need of protection, saying that historically, 90% of arrivals from the island were found to be genuine refugees.

The Jaffna University Student’s Union has expressed disappointment in the omission of international investigation mechanisms in a proposed draft of the UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka. In a statement released on Monday, the Union said:

“The current draft resolution’s exclusion of proposals for an international investigation mechanism – for which Tamil demands have been firm – has disappointed those affected [by war crimes].”

“It is important to note that in the case of Sri Lanka, a domestic investigation is impossible.”

The former head of the Sri Lankan Air Force, Harsha Abeywickrema, will be appointed as the new chairman of the Bank of Ceylon this week.

Abeywickrama resigned from his post with the air force last week and was in charge of air operations during the final phase of the armed conflict. Under his command, the air force is thought to have taken part in indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

Northern Province Councillor, Ananthi Sasitharan's address at the side event on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council on March 11th, organised by IMADR (International Movement Against all forms of Discrimination and Racism), reproduced in full below:

My name is Ananthi Sasitharan, I am an elected Member of Northern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka. I am here today in front of you as a voice of the oppressed Tamil people in Sri Lanka, and I speak on behalf of thousands of Tamil people that surrendered as individuals and as families to the Sri Lankan government.

Myself and others have filed cases habeas-corpus and continue to receive no justice for the thousands of people that were put in Sri Lankan custody.

Our homeland is completely occupied by the military, that are almost entirely Sinhalese. At any event, the army is there and people are afraid by the army presence - too afraid to talk or do anything. All our native lands are in their hands, as they have occupied everything.

In the North-East, there are a huge number of relatives of missing people; not just of those that disappeared during the war, because even today people are disappearing.
 

Published 14:22 CET

An event held on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council earlier today highlighted ongoing rights violations occurring in North-East of the island of Sri Lanka, calling for a international Commission of Inquiry into abuses committed during the armed conflict and that carry on to this day.

Organised by the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism on the sidelines of the 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council Geneva, the event saw speakers from the North-East who described the violations that continued to take place and called for a international Commission of Inquiry. Speakers that addressed the event included IMADR President Nimalka Fernando, Anne-Kathrin Glatz from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, TNA Northern Provincial Council member Ananthi Sasitharan, Rev. Jeyabalan a member of the Christian clergy in Mannar, Sri Lankan human rights activist and lawyer Niran Anketell, and Sandya Ekneligoda, whose husband Prageeth, a renowned cartoonist, was disappeared.

See live coverage from the event on our Twitter page - @TamilGuardian

IMADR president Nimalka Fernando also told the event how the denial of the right to self-determination was just one of the several violations currently taking place, adding,

“the reconciliation that is needed should also provide dignity to the Tamil Nation on the island.”

Fernando went on to tell the audience,

"The international intervention we are calling for is a just cause, people in Sri Lanka have waited for long enough... The issue is not just about setting up any international mechanism.... We need a comprehensive international investigation that addresses violations before during and after the war."

Anne-Kathrin Glatz from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre noted the plight of IDPs in the North-East, stating that government figures which claim that there were 23,568 were false. She stated that figures obtained from the organisation’s research suggested that there were over 90,000 IDPs.

Also addressing the event was Reverend Jeyabalan from Mannar who spoke of ongoing disappearances in the North-East, including the recent abduction of a Tamil priest.

Speaking on the current situation he went on to add,

“There is a clear attempt to change the ethnic makeup of the North-East through land grabs and militarisation”.

Human rights activists across India have called on the Central government to support an international investigation into genocide in Sri Lanka, urging it not to “hide” behind strategic interests.

According the New Indian Express, V Suresh, national general secretary, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said,

“This is not only an issue of the Tamils’ but a serious human rights violation and with the help of human rights organisations in over 25 States, we will spread awareness so that the whole nation rises against the atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan government.”

“The Sri Lankan government should not be allowed more time for reconciliation initiatives and the investigation should be started immediately. The more the delay, the more the loss and manipulation of evidence.”