When the national unity government came to power in January 2015, many believed it would be the end of the international community’s concerns over alleged war crimes and accountability mechanism.
Many international players pushing for accountability in Sri Lanka, including the US and the UK, had a friendly approach towards the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration as the new government claimed it was ready to ensure rights of all ethnic and religious minorities.
The term ‘post-war accountability’ was anathema to the Rajapaksa government as its leaders were busy basking in the glory of triumphalism and Sinhala-Buddhist supremacy. Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, at one point, refused to even acknowledge that civilian parties were caused harm during the final phase of war.
Hope
It was in this context that the new government’s rise to power gave off a glimmer of hope to the international community: Their faith was buttressed when the Sri Lankan government, in October, 2015, co-sponsored a resolution initiated by the US and a few other countries in order to promote reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka.
Co-sponsoring the resolution, however, was a great responsibility for the newly appointed Sri Lankan government. It was, in a way, a gamble in the local political domain.
By co-sponsoring the resolution, the Sri Lankan government unconditionally agreed to implement a number of proposals to ensure accountability and strengthen reconciliation, including the setting up of a special judiciary mechanism with the involvement of foreign judges and prosecutors.
The other commitments included the establishment of a commission for truth, justice, reconciliation and non-recurrence, an Office of Missing Persons (OMP) and an Office for Reparation and to implement fully and credibly to advance accountability for serious crimes by all sides and help achieve reconciliation.
It was obvious that such commitments were hard to digest by the majority Sinhala-Buddhist voters who viewed the calls for accountability with suspicion. The issue of prosecuting members of the security forces over war crimes is a concern for the traditional Sinhala-Buddhist electorate. That was one reason why the government had to tread carefully on the accountability front.
Review
The progress made by Sri Lanka on the implementation of the recommendations made by the October 2015 session will be reviewed by the member nations and other international stakeholders at this month’s session of the UNHRC.
The biggest problem for the Sri Lankan government at the March UNHRC session would be its inaction on the ‘hybrid’ judiciary mechanism to prosecute war crimes.
The government appointed a Consultation Task Force (CTF) on reconciliation mechanisms to seek public views and prepare a report last year. The Task Force, in January, this year, presented its report to the government with the setting up of a “hybrid court” with international judges as its main recommendation.
From the government’s perspective, the establishment of a ‘hybrid’ judiciary mechanism is a hard pill to swallow. It will give the ultra-nationalist camp supporting former President Mahinda Rajapaksa ammunition with which to attack the current administration on many fronts. It will also make the government highly unpopular with the Sinhala-Buddhist electorate that amounts to 69% of the total eligible voters in the country.
This concern has pushed the government to reject the Task Force’s proposal for a hybrid court. Several key members of the government, including Cabinet Spokesman Minister Rajitha Senaratne, bashed members of the task force, calling them ‘NGO members’ with agendas, just for recommending a hybrid court.
These remarks and the government’s resistance to a hybrid judicial mechanism may cause problems for the Sri Lankan delegation, led by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, at the March session of the UNHRC.
Solutions
Another problematic area is the government’s failure to formulate a political solution to the North and East problem. The key stakeholders of the problem, including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), have so far failed to arrive at a consensus on the nature of the political solution.
The slow progress with regard to the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), as promised in 2015, will also be an issue.
The Sri Lankan government to Geneva will have to justify the government’s failure to make significant progress on the TRC front before the Council.
The issue of ‘Police abuse’ may also be raised at the UNHRC session in March. Security sector reform was one of 25 undertakings by Sri Lanka in the Human Rights Council resolution adopted by consensus in October 2015.
Human Rights Watch, an international human rights watchdog, has claimed that the Sri Lankan government has failed to repeal the abusive Prevention of Terrorism Act or take serious measures to reduce torture in custody.
“It’s crucial that the Human Rights Council consider closely whether Sri Lanka made progress in the security sector as well as its other commitments such as transitional justice,” said Brad Adams, Asia Director of the Human Rights Watch last week.
“Nearly 18 months after making important promises to the council, Sri Lanka’s leaders appear to be backtracking on key human rights issues, including reforming the police.”
The Minister of Law and Order, however, has embarked on a comprehensive programme to address the issues in the Police sector.
In November, last year, a new division was established under the provisions of ‘Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act’, No. 4 of 2015 to assist and protect victims of crimes and witnesses. SSP Jayantha Gunathilake was appointed the head of the new unit.
In addition, the government also introduced a code of conduct for Police officers, last year. The National Police Commission was appointed under the provisions of the 19th Amendment to strengthen the Police service and ensure checks and balances.
Aside from the progress on the law and order front, legislations such as the OMP and the RTI bills will help the Sri Lankan delegation convince the member nations of the UNHRC of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration’s will to implement a comprehensive mechanism for reconciliation and accountability.
Quite obviously, the Sri Lankan government’s desired outcome at the March 2017 session would be to get the UNHRC to agree to a simple extension of time to implement reforms, claiming the government has already embarked on the process, but it needs “time and space” to proceed with it.
It has been reported that the Sri Lankan government may seek an extension of a further 18 to 24 months to implement the co-sponsored resolution. They will also call for financial support for the processes of this implementation.
However, it is important to understand that convincing member nations of the UNHRC to give the government more ‘time and space’ will not be an easy task: This is the government’s third year in power and various groups have been exerting pressure on the UNHRC to tighten its hold on Sri Lanka on the accountability issue.
There is the risk of a fresh resolution on Sri Lanka, to exert more pressure on the government to implement the recommendations of the previous with ‘international monitoring’.
Developments
In an important development, Tamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan, a key stakeholder of the UNHRC issue, met with a delegation of Senators from France at the Opposition Leader’s office in the Parliamentary complex, on Monday.
At the meeting, Sampanthan briefed the delegation on the constitutional making process, stating that the new constitution should possess features that will give more powers to the provincial councils concerning matters of socio-economic development.
Commenting on the UNHRC session, Sampanthan stated that very little had been achieved on the UNHRC 30/1 resolution, which was cosponsored by the Sri Lankan government.
Sampanthan went on to state that an extension of time to the government to fulfill its commitment to the resolution should be granted only under strict conditions. He also asserted that the resolution should be implemented in its entirety and that the government should take all steps necessary to ensure reparations, guarantees of non-recurrence, accountability, and justice.
The France delegation comprised Marie-Christine Blandin, Senator of Nord Department, Chairwoman of the France-Sri Lanka friendship group, Mean-Marin Schuh, Ambassador of France to Sri Lanka, Mireille Jouve, Senator of Bouches-du-Rhone Department Patrick Chaize Senator of Ain Department, Olivier Delamare Debouteville, Senior advisor and Isabeele Miscot, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of France.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, eight Parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have written to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) chief requesting him not to give more time to the Sri Lankan Government to address the accountability issue.
The TNA in the letter said that the UNHRC had already given the government ample time to address the accountability issue and has added that giving more time will set a bad precedent.
The letter was signed by TNA Parliamentarians S. Sritharan, S. Yogeswaran, C. Nirmalan, S. Adaikalanadan, K. Kodishwaram, S. Siddharathan, S. Viyalendran and S. Anandan.
Interestingly, TNA Leader R. Sampanthan, Parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran and six other MPs had not signed the letter. They are of the belief that the UNHRC should only grant more time to the Sri Lankan government on a condition that it would be carried out with international monitoring. However, the statement by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera at the 34th session of the UNHRC, has outlined the Sri Lankan government’s position. ‘We expect the draft legislation on the Truth-Seeking Commission to be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers within the next two months. Our resolve to bring justice to the victims of human rights violations remains firm,’ his statement read.
While taking the allegations of continuing incidence of torture seriously, it is reiterated that the Government maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards torture as also demonstrated by the President’s participation against torture last year. Although the National Human Rights Commission has recently indicated to us that there is a downward spiral of incidents, even one incident of torture is one too many. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, the Police Commission, the Ministry of Law & Order and other relevant agencies are working together to prevent and combat torture. As in many other areas, this too is an area in which we require technical assistance, and I hope that countries with experience in this area will come to our assistance.
Constitution drafting
The Constitution drafting process is for us both central and essential not only for democratisation, but also for ensuring non-recurrence of conflict. As this Council is aware, the Parliament of Sri Lanka, in April 2016, unanimously adopted a Resolution to prepare a draft Constitutional Bill for the consideration of Parliament. As we approach the 70th year of our nation’s Independence, we seek, for the first time in our country’s modern history, to engage in this process wholeheartedly as an exercise that would unite our people who have been divided for far too long.
The Parliamentary process and referendum are for us, imperative. We want to ensure that this Constitution, the 3rd Republican Constitution, unlike those before, that did not involve consensual and consultative processes, would reflect the true aspirations of our people.
An exercise where, after years of conflict, the executive, legislature and sovereign – that is the people of our country – will unite to define and chart our nation’s future, guaranteeing equal rights, justice, and dignity for all citizens, honouring the multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual character of our nation, upholding the right of citizens to participate more fully in decisions that impact their lives, and guaranteeing non-recurrence of conflict.
This statement by the Foreign Minister indicates that despite opposition, Sri Lanka will press ahead with its request to ‘festina lente’ - make haste slowly to meets the goals set by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, in 2015.
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