Sunday 12 February 2012 By Namini Wijedasa
For months, Sri Lanka fought off calls for an international probe into war crimes allegations by marching its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission down the catwalk. Look, the government said firmly, let our domestic mechanism complete its work first. It was not something the world could dismiss. International devices gained relevance only if local processes failed. And there was nothing yet to say that the LLRC–despite its limited mandate–would not deliver.
But just two months after the LLRC’s final report was made public, the novelty has worn off. The government is back in defensive mode. In January, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton informed External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris that the US would sponsor a resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) sessions next month. It will reportedly ask the government to “take more concrete action towards reconciliation, including on the question of accountability and implementation of LLRC recommendations.”
