U.N. Rights Council to Vote on Resolution on Sri Lanka
By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE
Published: March 18, 2013
GENEVA — The United Nations Human Rights Council is preparing to vote this week on a resolution that urges Sri Lanka to deliver on its promises to investigate allegations of mass civilian slaughter in the army campaign that crushed a rebel group in May 2009, and expresses growing international concern over a lengthy catalog of continuing atrocities.
The resolution, sponsored by the United States, calls on Sri Lanka to investigate possible violations of international human rights laws — polite diplomatic shorthand for growing evidence that soldiers killed tens of thousands of civilians in the campaign that crushed the rebels, theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It also cites reports of abuse that has continued since then, including extrajudicial killings, torture, forced disappearances, intimidation and violent reprisals against journalists and human rights activists.
Without some accountability for the civilian deaths, the United States and its supporters argue, there will be no lasting reconciliation to allow Sri Lanka to turn a corner on a civil war that dragged on for 26 years as the Tamil Tigers unleashed extremes of violence to win autonomy for the mainly Tamil northern and eastern parts of the island from its overall Sinhalese majority.
But Sri Lanka’s leaders denounce the initiative as unwarranted and dangerous foreign meddling. The dispute is another chapter in the opposing narratives on how the government ended the war and is now handling the peace.
For four years, the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has insisted that its army carried out a rescue operation of people trapped in areas controlled by the Tigers in 2009, strictly adhering to a “zero civilian casualties” directive from the president. And since the war’s end, the government claims to have made huge strides in resettling more than 200,000 people displaced by fighting, clearing large areas of land mines and pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into rebuilding the social and economic infrastructure of the north and east.
Moreover, Sri Lanka has already embarked on restoring harmony, the government says, pointing to a reconciliation commission set up in 2010 and a national plan of action and national humanitarian plan adopted later to carry out its recommendations. “Sri Lanka needs adequate time and space to resolve such wide-ranging and deep-rooted issues,” Mahinda Samarasinghe, the president’s special envoy on human rights, told the council at the start of its current session.
But that version of events has faced growing skepticism since March 2011, when a United Nations panel of experts issued a report concluding that 40,000 civilians were killed in the closing weeks of the war. The panel said there was credible evidence that the Tigers had committed war crimes, using civilians as a buffer, but most died in sustained army shelling of areas it had designated as no-fire zones.
A day or two before they vote on the resolution, council members will hear a report from Navi Pillay, the United Nations human rights chief, acknowledging significant government progress on rebuilding infrastructure but saying that the steps Sri Lanka’s leaders have taken to investigate abuses are “inconclusive and lack the independence and impartiality to inspire confidence.” Ms. Pillay calls instead for an international investigation, a move that drew a rebuke from Sri Lanka and accusations of bias.
Adding to the heated atmosphere, a new documentary, shown for the first time before the Human Rights Council in Geneva this month, purports to show the flesh-and-blood reality of events reviewed by the panel. The film, “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka,” juxtaposes footage of an army commander asserting that his troops had not used heavy weapons with harrowing video of villagers struck by artillery shells aimed at food distribution points and hospitals.
The documentary confronts official denials of summary executions with trophy videos, apparently filmed on soldiers’ cellphones, showing troops shooting naked, blindfolded prisoners. In the same vein, a series of photos, apparently shot from the same camera, show Balachandran Prabhakaran, the 12-year-old son of Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Tamil Tigers, first sitting in a bunker munching a snack, then lying dead with five bullet holes in his chest.
“We see it as a film of record but also a call to action,” Callum Macrae, who made “No Fire Zone” and two other television documentaries on the same subject, told reporters before its first screening. Digital forensic experts examined all photographs and video for evidence of tampering and found none, Mr. Macrae said.
The film, and the use of United Nations premises to show it, drew swift protests from Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. He did not watch the film, but appeared at the end of its first screening to condemn “footage of dubious origin, content that is distorted and without proper sourcing and making unsubstantiated allegations.”
Council watchers foresee more support for this year’s resolution than last year’s, a prediction that appears to reflect growing international concern about human rights abuses. Beyond the forced disappearances and reprisals, Sri Lanka’s security forces have used rape and sexual violence against Tamil men and women detained as suspected supporters of the Tamil Tigers, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch last month.
Beyond such extremes, analysts say Tamils, who are mostly Hindu, now live in a state in which the largely Sinhalese military is the dominant force in daily life, creating large military settlements, building settler camps and temples for the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese in largely Hindu areas, and taking up economic ventures in the north and east.
“There is a project to undermine the political power of Tamil people in the northern province and Sri Lanka generally,” Alan Keenan, a project director and senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said in a telephone interview. Sri Lanka has a long history of Sinhalese and Tamil militancy against perceived injustice, he noted. “They are playing with fire if they continue so harshly to deny Tamils their rights.”
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11. Political Solution
“As to the proposed Parliamentary SelectCommittee (PSC) the Government is of theview that it is the most appropriate forumon this matter since constitutional reformsneed a two-third majority and a broadnational consensus. While the Governmenthas nominated its representatives to thePSC, the nominations of the oppositionparties are awaited.1.
Both the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and theUnited National Party (UNP) have not nominatedmembers to the PSC. The TNA’s stance is to initiallyreach an agreement on a broad framework and specificissues with the GoSL, which can then be submitted tothe PSC subsequently. The GoSL has not agreed tosuch a position resulting in a stalemate.2.
There are fears that the PSC will merely serve as amechanism to prove that there is a political dialoguerather than one that is committed to arriving at asolution. The current Government established theAPRC in July 2006. It met 126 times over three years.The final report was presented to the President in July2010 but there has been no further action to date.3.
The GoSL has not fully implemented the ThirteenthAmendment to the Constitution. Instead, there areclear signs that the Central Government is taking aseries of measures to take back limited powers thatwere devolved and may even introduce a constitutionalamendment to that effect in the immediate future.Questions are therefore asked what the PSC is meantto achieve.4.
The GoSL should articulate their position on thedevolution of power as the basis of a political solutionto address minority grievances.
12. Elections for the Northern ProvincialCouncil
Provincial elections are envisaged to beheld within the course of this year for theNorthern Province in keeping with theProvincial Councils Elections Act andrelevant judicial pronouncementsinterpreting the provisions of the law.”The delays for this election are unclear given that multipleelections, including local authority and parliamentary havebeen held in the north since the end of the war. Mediareports have indicated the plans to hold Northern Provincialelections in September but the statement here seems toindicate no such date is identified. The GoSL shouldpublicly announce when elections are to be held to ensureall who are eligible to vote are informed and necessarypreparations such as obtaining documents are done inadvance.
13. Reconciliation processes
“it is the Government’s primaryresponsibility to resolve domestic issues.Unwarranted internationalization of suchissues would only undermine the localreconciliation process in Sri Lanka; aprocess that is still ongoing, impactingadversely on the people in the formerconflict- affected areas in their efforts toIt is imperative that the GoSL share publicly but at aminimum inform the people of Sri Lanka including peoplefrom the affected areas as to what is meant by the referenceto a ‘local reconciliation process’. The growth of an anti-Muslim campaign in the South of the country, includingattacks on mosques makes clear the continuing or evenemerging challenges on the ground to which the GoSL’sresponse has been extremely poor.
reap the dividends of peace.”
14. Engagement with Special Procedures
“It would be incorrect to state that we donot engage with Special Proceduremechanisms. During the UPR, we placedon record our continuing engagement withthese expert mandate holders; anengagement we value. We agree that thespecial procedures, while beingindependent, play an importantcomplementary role to the work of theOHCHR. Sri Lanka is however concernedto note several instances where specialprocedures mandate holders have notadhered to the Code of Conduct, and haveon occasion, exceeded their respectivemandates. We therefore emphasize theimportance of the need for the mandateholders to adhere to the Code of Conductas stipulated, in executing their respectivemandates.”It is welcome to hear that the GoSL is open to engagementwith Special Procedures. However this raises questions asto why there continues to be eight pending requests to visitby eight Special Procedures.(See Report of the United Nations High Commissioner forHuman Rights on advice and technical assistance for theGovernment of Sri Lanka on promoting reconciliation andaccountability in Sri Lanka,http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A-HRC-22-38_en.pdf , p.4,)
15. Victim and Witness ProtectionLegislation
“A Cabinet Memorandum titled“Assistance and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Bill” was submittedby the Ministry of Justice and was taken upfor policy approval at the Meeting of theCabinet of Ministers held on 07 February2013.”Several statements on this issue have been made with noprogress on the ground. The most recent statementsinclude:1.
During the Universal Periodic review process in 2008the GoSL stated that “The proposed bill on Victim andWitness Assistance and Protection has receivedconstitutional clearance from the Supreme Court and isbefore Parliament” (Report of the Working Group onthe Universal Periodic Review: Sri Lanka, 5 June2008, para 80).During the 19th Session of the UNHRC (2012), theJustice Minister assured diplomatic missions inGeneva that the proposed witness protection bill wouldbe enacted in Parliament soon.Prior to Sri Lanka’s review in the second cycle of UPR, in August 2012 the Secretary to the JusticeMinistry stated (to a GoSL owned news paper) thatwitness and victim protection law would be introducedsoon.2.
Despite repeated promises during and prior to HRCsessions the proposed legislation has not been enacted.3.
The GoSL should make public the draft Bill.4.
While it’s important to have a law on this issue, a lawin itself will not resolve the challenges. There shouldbe greater attention focused on how to have a strong
victim and witness protection mechanism.
16. Impeachment of the Chief Justice
“On the issue of the removal process of theformer Chief Justice, due process has beenfollowed in accordance with theConstitution of Sri Lanka. Article 107 (3)of the Constitution of Sri Lanka clearlyempowers the Legislature to initiate theprocess to remove the Chief Justice.Following a submission of a motion signedby 117 Members of Parliament, aParliament Select Committee (PSC) wasconstituted by the Speaker, consisting of Government and Opposition MPs, toexamine issues connected with theallegations made against the former Chief Justice. The report of the PSC wassubmitted to Parliament and the matter wasdeliberated upon and debated for two days,one month after submission of the report.Once the resolution to remove the formerChief Justice was passed in Parliamentwith a two-thirds majority of 106 votes(155 members voting in favour and 49against)”1.
The removal of the Chief Justice (CJ) was contrary toa ruling of the Supreme Court that the government hadto enact a law with proper safeguards in order to moveahead with the impeachment process according to theConstitution.2.
The removal of the CJ blatantly violated an order of the Court of Appeal which quashed the report of theParliamentary Select Committee (PSC) finding the CJguilty of misconduct.3.
All 117 Members of Parliament (MPs) who signed themotion are members of the GoSL. All 155 MPs whovoted for the impeachment are members of the GoSL.A majority of the MP on the PSC were from thegovernment.4.
The opposition MPs of the PSC walked out of itsproceedings alleging bias on the part of the GoSL MPsand the lack of a fair hearing. The CJ also walked outon the proceedings on the same grounds.
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