Sri Lanka Plans Legal, Political Change to Foster Postwar Reconciliation
U.N. set to release report on Sri Lanka civil war
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera speaks during the 30th regular session at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Sri Lanka told the U.N. Human Rights Council it plans to implement change to foster postwar reconciliation with the country’s Tamil minority. PHOTO: UN PHOTO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By UDITHA JAYASINGHE-Sept. 14, 2015 12:19 p.m. ET
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Sri Lanka told the United Nations Human Rights Council Monday that it plans to implement institutional, legal and political change to foster postwar reconciliation with the country’s Tamil minority.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera outlined the South Asian nation’s plans in Geneva just days ahead of the scheduled release of the UNHRC’s report on its investigation into alleged war crimes and other human rights violations during and after Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Mr. Samaraweera called for a “patient understanding” to give the country time to implement the measures including giving more political power to Tamil regions, establishing a new constitution and investigating wartime disappearances.
The UNHRC findings on alleged human rights abuses is scheduled to be released Wednesday in Geneva. The unveiling of the results is an important step in the island nation’s attempts to take responsibility for its past and punish those guilty of abuse.
Analysts say how the country reacts to the report will also set the pace of reconciliation between the country’s Sinhalese majority and its Tamil minority.
In 2009, Sri Lanka’s former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, brought the island’s civil war to a close in a brutal offensive. The 27-year conflict had pitted Sri Lankan government forces against separatist outfit the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam.
Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil women cry at the graves of their relatives who died in fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels. PHOTO: ERANGA JAYAWARDENA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A 2012 U.N. report estimated that as many as 40,000 civilians died during the last phase of the war, most of them Tamils. The report documented atrocities committed by both sides of the conflict.
The new UNHRC report will be released by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday and debated on Sept. 30.
In Geneva on Monday the high commissioner touched upon the Sri Lankan investigation saying the findings were of “the most serious nature.”
Foreign Minister Samaraweera said Sri Lanka will establish a Commission for Truth, Justice, Reconciliation and Non-recurrence to remedy instances of discrimination to promote reconciliation between the minority Tamil community and Sinhalese majority.
Sri Lanka “remains firmly committed to the welfare of all its citizens, remains open to dialogue, and (is ready) to address difficulties and deficiencies with help and assistance from the international community where required,” he said.
However, Mr. Samaraweera stopped short of outlining what legal action the state was ready to take against those implicated.
Some observers say any investigation and prosecution of alleged war crimes and other human rights violations has to be done outside of Sri Lanka. Some of the people that could be implicated, analysts say, still hold positions of power in the government and military.
”We believe an international investigation is necessary for this process to be acceptable,” said Suresh Premachandran, a member of the Tamil National Alliance, the main opposition party.
