OHCHR Investigative Report on Sri Lanka: Responses
(September 17, 2015, Colombo- Toronto – Geneva Sri Lanka Guardian) Responses made by various entities to the fresh OHCHR Investigative Report on Sri Lanka is follows;
[dropcapT[/dropcap]he Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
UN/HR/1/30
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka presents its compliments to
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) and with reference to the latter’s Note dated 10 September 2015
conveying an unedited advance copy of the Report of the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/30/61) and the Report of the
OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) (A/HRC/30/SRP.2) has the honour
to submit the following comments:
The Government of Sri Lanka,
-takes note of the Report of the Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/30/61), and the
recommendations made by the High Commissioner;
-is pleased and encouraged by the High
Commissioner’s recognition of the efforts of the new Government since
the Presidential election of 8 January 2015 in dealing with issues of
concern for the people of Sri Lanka relating to human rights, rule of
law, governance, justice, institutional and legal reform and
reconciliation;
-appreciates the due recognition given
to the Government’s constructive engagement with the High Commissioner
and OHCHR aimed at addressing post-conflict issues that impact on
achieving reconciliation;
-remains firm in its conviction to take
all possible measures to ensure non-recurrence in keeping with the
mandate given by the people of the country twice this year, 2015, at the
Presidential election in January and the Parliamentary election in
August;
-will ensure dialogue and wide
consultations with all stakeholders especially the victims of conflict,
communities, political parties, civil society representatives, the
military as well as the High Commissioner and his Office, bilateral
partners, and other international organistions in putting in place
mechanisms and measures that will facilitate the right to know, right to
justice, reparations and guaranteeing non-recurrence with the aim of
achieving reconciliation and durable peace to ensure long-term progress
of all her citizens;
-takes note also of the Report of the
OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), recognises fully that this
Report represents a human rights investigation and not a criminal
investigation, and will ensure that its content as well as
recommendations receive due attention of the relevant authorities
including the new mechanisms that are envisaged to be set up;
-remains open to continuing its
engagement with the High Commissioner and his Office as well as the
systems and procedures of the Human Rights Council, aimed at taking
steps to safeguard and uphold the human rights of all her citizens.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka avails itself of this
opportunity to renew to the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the assurances of its highest
consideration.
Colombo, 15 September 2015
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva
UN Members Should Back Hybrid Court – HRW
Governments Need to Follow Through to Ensure Justice for Civil War’s Victims – HRW
(Geneva) – The call by the United
Nations’ top human rights officer for a domestic-international hybrid
court to address allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity
in Sri Lanka should receive strong endorsement by members of the UN
Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, Human Rights Watch said today.
On September 16, 2015, the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, released a report
on human rights abuses by Sri Lankan government forces and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during Sri Lanka’s civil war.
His report calls for the establishment of a special court “integrating
international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators” with an
independent Sri Lankan investigative and prosecuting body, defense
office, and witness and victims’ protection program.
“UN member states should strongly
support the UN High Commissioner’s recommendation for a hybrid court as
the best way to provide justice for all the victims of Sri Lanka’s long
civil war,” said John Fisher, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch.
“The Sri Lankan government should build on the goodwill of the
international community and embrace this important initiative.”
The high commissioner’s report to the
HRC, initially due in March 2015, had been deferred until September to
allow Sri Lanka’s new government to act on a 2014 HRC resolution. The
high commissioner’s report concludes that the “High Commissioner remains
convinced that for accountability to be achieved in Sri Lanka, it will
require more than a domestic mechanism. Sri Lanka should draw on the
lessons learned and good practices of other countries that have
succeeded with hybrid special courts, integrating international judges,
prosecutors, lawyers and investigators.”
The report details credible allegations
of laws-of-war violations by both government forces and the LTTE. These
include unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, sexual and other
gender-based violence, the forced recruitment of children, the unlawful
targeting of civilian and other protected objects, unlawful deprivation
of liberty, and the intentional denial of humanitarian assistance.
Although the Sri Lankan government refused to cooperate with the
investigation, investigators for the report received and gathered
evidence from a wide range of sources, including victims, national and
international nongovernmental organizations, forensic doctors, and other
professionals.
The report corroborates past findings
into serious violations during the conflict, including a 2011 report by
the Panel of Experts appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
In offering to provide advice and
technical assistance, the report states that “Such a mechanism will be
essential to give confidence to all Sri Lankans, in particular the
victims, in the independence and impartiality of the process,
particularly given the politicization and highly polarized environment
in Sri Lanka.”
The proposed hybrid court should contain
a majority of international judges and have an international chief
prosecutor to best insulate the court from improper political and other
interference, Human Rights Watch said.
In addition to a hybrid justice
mechanism, the report also recommends that Sri Lanka adopt legislation
criminalizing war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and
enforced disappearances without a statute of limitations, and to enact
command responsibility as a mode of liability. The report also calls on
the government to ratify the Convention on Enforced Disappearance and
the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Discussions over the drafting of a
resolution on Sri Lanka will begin shortly at the HRC. In their official
response to the report, the Sri Lankan government agreed to engage with
the report’s recommendations. The High Commissioner, in his opening
remarks at this session of the HRC, stated that the Council’s
credibility rested on ensuring “an accountability process that produces
results,” and further noted in presenting his report that previous
mechanisms set up by Sri Lanka were “almost designed to fail.”
“The High Commissioner’s call for a
hybrid court is an important step forward, but it only marks the
beginning of the campaign for justice,” Fisher said. “The credibility of
the Human Rights Council and its members depends on ensuring that the
recommendations are reflected in a resolution adopted this session, and
that the council monitors these recommendations until justice is finally
delivered.”
Canadian Tamil Congress Welcomes the OHCHR’s Damning Report on Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Violations
Geneva, Switzerland – The Canadian Tamil
Congress (CTC) welcomes the report of the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (“OHCHR”). The long awaited report, which
was the result of an independent and credible investigation, finally
acknowledges that grave human rights violations committed in Sri Lanka
amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is important that
we thank and pay tribute to the witnesses who made this report possible,
taking incredible risks and re-living their harrowing experiences in
order to provide evidence to the OHCHR.
The report makes findings that the Sri
Lankan security forces as well as some paramilitary groups were
responsible for disturbing violations of international law including
unlawful killings, deprivation of liberty, sexual violence and enforced
disappearances. The Sri Lankan government was also found to have denied
humanitarian assistance and to have conducted indiscriminate shelling
and attacks of civilians and hospitals in No Fire Zones, all of which,
if tried in a court of law, would amount to war crimes and crimes
against humanity. The report also makes serious findings against the
LTTE in respect of forced recruitment and child recruitment and control
of movement.
Given that crimes against humanity can
only be proven in a court of law, one of the most significant
recommendations contained in the High Commissioner’s report is the
establishment of a special hybrid court with significant international
involvement integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and
investigators and the use of international law.
“The levels of mistrust in State
authorities and institutions by broad segments of Sri Lankan society
should not be underestimated,” said the High Commissioner. “A purely
domestic court procedure will have no chance of overcoming widespread
and justifiable suspicions fuelled by decades of violations, malpractice
and broken promises.”
CTC reiterates that any domestic process
is unacceptable and unfit to address the grievances of the Tamil
people. We therefore call upon members of the Human Rights Council to
pass a resolution that adopts the recommendations of the High
Commissioner, guarantees strict timelines for progress to be made and
ensures that Sri Lanka remains an item on the international agenda.
The Tamil community, both in Sri Lanka
and abroad, have waited long enough for justice and accountability for
the violations committed in Sri Lanka. We hope that this report marks
the beginning of a process that will see them receive justice.
Sri
Lankans Without Borders Welcomes UN Human Rights Report on Sri Lanka
Acknowledges the Courage of Witnesses and Other Testimonial Sources
Toronto, Canada – Sri Lankans Without
Borders (SLWB) welcomes the new report of the United Nations Human
Rights Office (OHCHR) Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), presented at
the Thirtieth session of the Human Rights Council on September 16, 2015.
The OISL Report is based on a
comprehensive investigation into “alleged serious violations and abuses
of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka during
the period 2002-11”. The Report identifies “patterns of grave
violations” indicating that war crimes and crimes against humanity
committed were most likely committed by the Government of Sri Lanka and
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Report extensively documents a
number of crimes, the most serious of which include unlawful killings,
sexual and gender-based violence, enforced disappearances, torture,
child recruitment, abduction and forced recruitment of adults, attacks
on civilians and civilian objects, denial of humanitarian assistance,
and violations during the detention of internally displaced persons in
closed camps.
As its key recommendation, the Report
calls for the establishment of a hybrid special court “integrating
international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators, as an
essential step towards justice” given the repeated failure of successive
domestic inquiries in the past. For this reason, SLWB has consistently
maintained that only an international investigation can be fair and
independent enough to deliver the kind of justice and accountability
needed to allow for meaningful reconciliation in post-war Sri Lanka.
While the OISL recommendation to create a hybrid court is welcome, it is
critical that the OHCHR incorporates lessons learned from similar
hybrid courts established elsewhere and plays an active role in
co-designing the establishment and functioning of the proposed court.
SLWB also acknowledges the extraordinary
courage of witnesses and others who provided testimonials to the OISL
investigation team. The Report notes that identifying and protecting
these witnesses was complex due to the lack of access to Sri Lanka,
security and protection concerns, and risk of reprisals. While the
prosecution of alleged perpetrators may take some time, it is imperative
that these witnesses are honored by ensuring that the recommendations
contained in the Report are fully implemented in their lifetime.
SLWB joins UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in his appeal to all communities in
Sri Lanka and in the diaspora to view the report as “an opportunity to
change discourse from one of absolute denial to one of acknowledgment
and constructive engagement to bring about change.”
It is important that Sri Lankan
Canadians do the same by reaching out to each other across political
differences and engage in critical but constructive conversations about
the Report and its recommendations, and work together to achieve genuine
reconciliation in Sri Lanka and in the Canadian diaspora.
Sri
Lankans Without Borders (SLWB) is a registered not-for-profit
organization based in Toronto, Canada that provides an independent,
transparent, and inclusive platform for Canadians to connect, build and
lead initiatives that promote dialogue and cross-community engagement
between Sri Lanka’s diaspora communities in Canada. Building on
universal values of pluralism and equality, as enshrined in the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, SLWB is also committed to a peaceful
and democratic Sri Lanka for all its citizens on the basis of truth,
accountability, and justice. For more information, please visit www.slwb.ca.
Global Tamil Forum welcomes the OHCHR report and calls for its full implementation
The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) welcomes
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report that
strongly indicated war crimes and crimes against humanity were most
likely committed by both sides to the conflict and recommended the
establishment of an internationalised Special Court for criminal
prosecution.
The violations revealed in the report,
characterised by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid,
as “among the most serious crimes of concern to the international
community as a whole”, makes a harrowing reading, presenting evidence of
horrific level of abuses suffered by the Tamil civilians at the hands
of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, including indiscriminate shelling,
extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, denial of humanitarian
assistance, ill treatment of IDPs, torture and sexual violence.
GTF is in full agreement with the
report, which stated, “A purely domestic court procedure will have no
chance of overcoming widespread and justifiable suspicions fueled by
decades of violations, malpractice and broken promises,“ and supports
the establishment of a “hybrid” Special Court, integrating international
judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators.
Member states must ensure that the
forthcoming resolution at the UNHRC clearly articulates the need to
include substantial participation of international personnel at each
stage of the investigation and trial process.
We are grateful to the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights (both past and present), his staff and all
who contributed for the important work that went into producing this
report. Undoubtedly, this whole exercise, the three UNHRC resolutions
passed between 2012 and 2014 and the OHCHR investigation and report,
restores confidence in the UN system as a whole to all communities and
particularly to the Tamil community.
It is important that we acknowledge and
pay tribute to the survivors who bravely came forward to share their
stories and relive their horrific experiences, despite the fear and
uncertainty they face, without which this report would not have been a
reality.
GTF calls the member states of the UNHRC
to adopt a resolution that captures all the recommendations of the
OHCHR report, including establishing a Special Court, and call upon the
Government of Sri Lanka to fully cooperate. As stated by Prince Zeid,
“this Council (UNHRC) owes it to Sri Lankans – and to its own
credibility – to ensure an accountability process that produces results,
decisively moves beyond the failures of the past, and brings the deep
institutional changes needed to guarantee non-recurrence.”
On our part, GTF acknowledges the
violations and abuses suffered by all communities and heeds to Prince
Zeid’s call and view the report as “an opportunity to change discourse
from one of absolute denial to one of acknowledgment and constructive
engagement to bring about change.”
Global
Tamil Forum (GTF) was established in 2009 by a number of grass-roots
Tamil groups following the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. It is
the largest Tamil diaspora organisation with members drawn from five
continents. GTF is absolutely committed to a non-violent agenda and it
seeks a lasting peace in Sri Lanka, based on justice, reconciliation and
a negotiated political settlement. For more information please contact
info@globaltamilforum.org and/or visit: www.globaltamilforum.orgSource: http://www.slguardian.org/ohchr-investigative-report-on-sri-lanka-responses/
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