LLRC report presented to UK parliamentarians

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The report of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was presented to members of the British Parliament yesterday (Tuesday), the Sri Lankan High Commission in Britain said.

High Commissioner Dr. Chris Nonis briefed British Parliamentarians from the House of Commons and the House of Lords, academics and Think Tanks, at an interactive dialogue on the LLRC Report held last afternoon in Portcullis House in the British Parliament. Read More »

The expired ‘new’ report

WEDNESDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2011


The report of the ‘Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’ (LLRC) was presented by the government to Parliament last Friday. The government has opened its ‘magic box’ which it claimed had answers to all the accusations that were levelled against it during the two-and-a-half year period since the end of the war. However, this has been exposed before society as just an empty box that could not perform any tricks.

The only trump card the government held as an answer to the international accusations regarding the conduct of the security forces during the war was the LLRC. What the government expected from the LLRC was not to learn any lessons or for reconciliation but to create a strong reply to the international community. Read more... 

Sri Lanka: Lessons unlearnt and reconciliation deconstructed

20-Dec-2011

Sri Lanka: Lessons unlearnt and reconciliation deconstructed

Guest Column: Dr Kumar David

The LLRC (Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission) appointed by President Mahinda Rajapakse has submitted its report and it is now in the public domain. I do not intend to summarise the 460-pages but only to give my evaluation in a few paragraphs. I will follow this up with a short closing section in which I will make an assessment of what the report’s impact is likely to be on foreign actors. The initial evaluation will be grouped under four headings.

 The Report

The LTTE

 The LLRC denounced the LTTE as killers, terrorists, abductors of children, separatists and heartless maniacs whose actions were solely responsible for the loss of tens of thousands of lives. The full and unmitigated responsibility for the carnage of Tamil civilians is placed on the shoulders of the LTTE, its artillery placements, taking cover close to hospitals, gunning down escapees, and such like acts. I am critical of the politics, militarism and subjugation of the Tamil people by the LTTE, and though I would do it on my own terms, I will not defend the LTTE in the face of these denunciations. I agree with the conclusion that the LTTE violated human rights and committed war crimes. Hence one duty of the Commission has been achieved; unfortunately the remainder of the report vitiates this. Full Story>>>

Canada commends LLRC report

WEDNESDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2011
The Canadian government has commended the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) for its final report and urged the Sri Lankan government to implement its recommendations. 

 But Canada also opined that the report does not “adequately address” the allegations of human rights violations relating to the final stages of the war.
“The final report of the LLRC released on December 16 is a potentially important contribution to Sri Lanka’s much-needed political reconciliation.  The Commission can be commended for making substantive recommendations in many sensitive and far-reaching areas,” Canada’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Bruce Levy told the Daily Mirror.‪ 

‪”At the same time, however, our initial reading of the report supports the view that the serious allegations of intentional wrong-doing on the part of some elements of Sri Lanka’s military have yet to be adequately addressed,” High Commissioner Levy said.
‪ 
“We encourage the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure expeditious action in response to the report.  Canada will also continue to press the Government of Sri Lanka to address the critical issue of accountability, the resolution of which will be a crucial building block in Sri Lanka’s long-term stability,” he added. (Ayesha Zuhair)

U.S. urges Sri Lanka to address Human Rights issues

R.K.RADHAKRISHNAN   December 20, 2011

The United States has urged the Sri Lankan Government to fulfill all of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation report and also address those issues that the report did not cover.

“We’re still studying the full report, I do have to say that we have concerns that the report, nonetheless, does not fully address all the allegations of serious human rights violations that occurred in the final phase of the conflict. So this leaves questions about accountability,” U.S. department of State spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters in response to a question in Washington DC on Monday.

To another question, she said that the Sri Lankan government’s preliminary action plan did not provide the kind of detailed roadmap that the U.S. had hoped to see for fulfilling all of the Commission’s recommendations.

Rajapaksa view

The US State Department was unfair in the observations made about the government's response to the report of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) said President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing select Sri Lankan editors at Temple Trees on Tuesday morning.

President Rajapaksa said that on the matter of accountability a clear statement on how the government intends acting on LLRC recommendations was made by the Leader of the House when the report was tabled in Parliament.

Mr. Rajapaksa also said that there is an unfair selectivity in dealing with Sri Lanka on this matter by referring only to last phase of a conflict that went on for nearly 30 years.

Some countries were having commissions sitting for several years on armed conflicts caused by them, he said.

Mr. Rajapaksa also observed that while raising issues of accountability with Sri Lanka, the US had recently brought provisions in law to detain persons for any length of time outside the normal law.

Explaining Sri Lankan position further, Minister of External Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris reiterated that the Leader of the House Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva had clearly stated the manner in which the government would act on these matters.

"There was no question of the government trying to evade matters of accountability that had been mentioned in LLRC recommendations, as this matter had been clearly explained by the Leader of the House when tabling the report in Parliament," Prof. Peiris said.

On the alleged absence of a comprehensive plan for implementation of the report, Prof. Peiris said this criticism was not justified as the focus of this comment was confined only to the closing stages of the conflict.

There was a lack of a uniform approach on these matters with regard to Sri Lanka, Prof. Peiris said. Standards that are being required from Sri Lanka are not demanded from places where other conflicts have taken place.

It is necessary that the values and standards in relation to such conflicts that are being demanded from Sri Lanka should apply to all, the Minister said.

SRI LANKA: The report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation -- the issuing of the report is a non-event

December 19, 2011

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There was no reason to expect much from the report of the LLRC as this commission had no mandate to investigate and to file a report on the basis of investigations. It was a mere commission of gathering some views but even in that the people who were most affected, that is those who are from the north and the east, did not have genuine freedom to give a narrative of what they knew about what had happened to them and those known to them.

The commission having had no mandate to investigate was, from the beginning, subjected to manipulation by those in power who used the commission to state the government's point of view about the incidents relating to the period between 21st February, 2002 and 19th May, 2009. The commission in its final report has reproduced quite faithfully the government's version as told by 'those witnesses' who came before the commission to narrate the official version.

The very absence of the affected population made the possibility of any independent report quite impossible. Therefore there is no reason for disappointment in this final report as the whole exercise relating to this commission was meant to be a farce, particularly to counter the criticism from UN agencies and other outside agencies for a credible inquiry. The appointment of the commission gave credence to the argument that, as the Sri Lankan government itself is having a commission to inquire into whatever allegations of human rights abuses, violations of humanitarian law and war crimes that might have taken place, no international inquiry was needed into these allegations.

Thus, the whole exercise of the LLRC was a delaying tactic to take the pressure off the government in the face of calls from the friends and relatives of the victims, the Diaspora and the international community by providing an excuse that 'since the government is having a commission we should wait for its results'. The LLRC achieved this aim and did undermine the call for genuine inquiries into the allegations of gross human rights abuses.

Having conducted no inquiry by themselves all that the LLRC could recommend at the end of their report is to request the government to conduct some inquiries on some aspects of allegations they have heard at the commission. This is a ridiculous situation because if the government wanted to make some investigations into some matters such as forced disappearances as recommended by the LLRC the government has had ample time to do so. The government had more information about the actual details of what has happened than what the LLRC has, in fact, revealed in their report.

There are other oft-repeated recommendations which in the past have not produced any positive reaction from the government. The purpose of gathering together some nice sounding recommendations to give itself some credibility does not in any way mean that any of these recommendations would be considered or implemented by the government.

There were other commissions such as commissions into forced disappearances which have made far more serious sets of recommendations but none of them were implemented by any of the previous governments. The new report of the LLRC would only add to the government's archives of farcical commissions and the worthless reports of such commissions.

One recommendation of the LLRC can be used as an illustration to expose the farcical nature of this recommendation making process by the commissions. The LLRC recommends the need for an independent police commission. The LLRC knows that there was one such independent commission under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. The LLRC also knows that the 17th Amendment was virtually nullified by the 18th Amendment. Without undoing the 18th Amendment and, in fact, much of the 1978 Constitution itself there is no possibility at all of an appointment of an independent police commission. These are matters of law and the Constitution that the LLRC commissioners could not have been ignorant of.

The LLRC was not meant to be and, in fact, has not been able to contribute any kind of solution to the chaotic conditions of the country which is today a dysfunctional legal system. The people may take some solace in the fact that one more farce has come to an end. But that will not be for long. There will be greater lies and manipulated exercises to deny the people of the right to have genuine inquiries into the tragedy that they nation has become.

Shed LTTE mentality, Rajapaksa tells Tamils

  Dec 20 2011

Rajapaksa's comments came after TNA called for an international inquiry into alleged war crimes. (Reuters)

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa asked the TNA, country's main Tamil political party, to shed the 'LTTE mentality' and join hands with the government to deal with various contentious issues.

Rajapaksa's comments came after TNA called for an international inquiry into alleged war crimes based on the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

"They think and act like the LTTE. The LTTE behaved similarly. They came to talks (with the government), put conditions and withdrew," Rajapaksa said, adding that the alliance has been asked to take part in the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) process aimed at arriving an acceptable solution.

The PSC is to accommodate all political parties represented in national parliament and Rajapaksa has been insisting it to run parallel to the talks with TNA.

TNA, on the other hand, has held they will name their participants only after an agreement is reached on contentious issues during their talks with the government.

Mohan Pieiris to be called before court

20 December, 2011

Missing Journliast Prageeth Ekneligoda

Sri Lankan court allowed to call in Former Sri Lanka attorney general Mohan Pieris as a witness before court to inquire into the disappearance of Journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.

Homagama Magistrate Court gave the order to call him as a witness despite objections by attorney general when a petition filed by the wife of Journalist Ekneligoda was taken up for hearing on Tuesday.

Political asylum

Lawyer appearing for Mrs.Sandya Ekneligoda told court that former attorney general, Mr.Mohan Pieris had made a statement during a presentation at UN Committee against Torture that journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda has sought political asylum abroad.

	Former Attorney General Mohan Pieirs

State counsel requested the court to reject the request by the petitioner on the ground that there is no provision under the constitution to add up new witnesses.

Homagama Magistrate, T.B.A.S.Perera ruled that he has the powers to summon anyone as witness to inquire into a case of disappearance.

Prageeth Eknaligoda, a journalist and a cartoonist who worked in lanakenews has been missing since 24 January 2010.

Tamil Diaspora Has No Faith In LLRC – GTF

Keheliya Rambukwella

Global Tamil Forum (GTF) says the Tamil Diaspora does not have faith in the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) even though it has not yet been made public.
Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the media on Thursday that the government would be releasing the report soon, without providing an accurate date.
Suren Surendiran, a member of the British Tamils Forum which is affiliated to the Global Tamil Forum, expressed his disappointment in the LLRC and the attempts at reconciliation being made in the country.
He told The Sunday Leader that the British Tamils Forum did not believe the President or the government was serious about working towards solving the Tamil grievances. He stated that three years have passed since the end of the war and little or no work has been done for them. He accused the government of being more interested in ‘land grabbing and colonising the Tamil areas’.
When asked if he felt that the LLRC report would go a long way in solving these problems, he responded that even before the report is released the British Tamils Forum has fundamental issues with it. Surendiran accused the Commission of being ‘government agents who have defended the government’s actions’. He drew attention to the fact that the Commission had no authority in investigating whether or not the government or the LTTE was in violation of international laws during the conflict. Surendiran dismissed the suggestion that the Commission had opened itself up to the public to come forth with evidence, claiming that there had been no credible witness protection in place. He argued that no one would feel safe giving evidence against the government or the army. Surendiran went as far as suggesting that ‘no reasonable person or government or institution will accept the recommendations made by such a notorious Commission’. He further added that even if all the recommendations are implemented by the government they would still not be solving the deeper underlying issues in the country.
Asked how he felt about the continuous delay in releasing the report, Surendiran responded that this is just another example of the power of the President. He explained that it is the President who has the authority, rather than Parliament, to decide whether this report in full or in part or at all, is to be made public. He also said that the delay tactic to make the report public was merely a predecessor to the government ignoring any suggestions put forth.
With Surendiran having launched a scathing attack on the Commission, he was asked what measures should be taken to address the problems faced by the Tamil people. He replied that independent international investigations should be carried out in to the allegations of war crimes.
He also called on the President and government to use its two thirds majority in Parliament to implement ‘fundamental constitutional changes to address the grievances and the lack of democratic rights of the Tamil people’. He explained that the President has the support of the Sinhala majority in the country; this would mean that he has the ability to sway the people’s thinking.   He concluded by stating that only when these implementations are made with the government’s sincere convictions can reconciliation be achieved

Tamils demand Action by the International Community – BTF

 Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

Mullivaikal, Mullaithevu war zone on the final days

Immediate international action is what necessary to protect Tamils in the Island of Sri Lanka and to establish Justice and Accountability for the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity committed by all parties involved during the final phase of the war, British Tamils Forum has released its position after a careful consideration and detail study of the report submitted to the Sri Lankan Parliament by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission on Friday 16th December 2011.

Full text of the Press release:

Much awaited Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report was released recently by the government of Sri Lanka appointed commission.  As expected the commission has neither investigated nor dealt with the war crimes charges or the charges of crimes against humanity. Instead of addressing the accountability issues as promised to and requested by the UN secretary general, it has attempted to exonerate the Sri Lankan military from all charges even without carrying out an investigation.  The report has focused on discrediting the evidence based findings of the UN panel of experts report on Sri Lanka instead of using the evidence to further an impartial investigation.

As highlighted by the Human Rights Watch and the Amnesty international, from its inception, the LLRC lacked the mandate, structure, independence and resources to investigate the serious charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. There was no witness protection scheme in place as required by the international standards of investigation.  To the contrary, several witnesses were threatened and intimidated by the Sri Lankan security apparatus.

Tamils Detained by Sri Lankan Army

The commission failed to investigate the charges relating to the number of civilians killed due to its use of heavy artillery on a narrow strip of land where a large number of civilians were holed up.   Nor has it investigated the deliberate targeting of hospitals, and denial of vital humanitarian aid during the last phase of the war.  There was a clear military strategy directed by President Mahinda Rajapakse as the commander- in – chief and his brother Gothabaya  Rajapakse as the defence secretary  to inflict maximum casualties among the civilian population which has been herded within the so called ‘safe’ zone. An exiled Sri Lankan army general has given a sworn affidavit to assert that atrocities against Tamil rebels and civilians were sanctioned at the highest echelons of the government.  The report failed to address the charges relating to the execution of those who had surrendered with “white flags”.

Despite the satellite imagery, video evidence and eye witness accounts of civilians, pointing to the use of heavy artillery and deliberate targeting of densely populated areas, the commission tries to exonerate the Sri Lankan military and its command structure from any responsibility for such crimes.

The report recommends appointment of further commissions, setting the stage for the perpetual formations of such commissions and reports to defer international action, denying justice to the victims. While the Sri Lankan regime is allowed time and space for such dubious eye wash activities, by the international community, it is using the time to permanently change the demography of the Tamil homeland and continues to eliminate, those who are clamouring for democracy and freedom.

Sri Lankan State is colonising the Tamil people’s homeland in the North and East of the island with Sinhalese from the South and building more army camps and Buddhist temples on forcibly appropriated land belonging to the displaced Tamils. The Tamil Homeland is highly militarised and the people are terrorised by “white van” abductions, murder and rape.   Tamil farmers are driven out of their farmlands to give way to Sinhala farmers and Tamil fisher folk have been uprooted from their coastal villages which are now colonised by Sinhala fishermen.  These communities, whose livelihoods are denied to them by the state, live in abject poverty, slowly dying of starvation and related diseases.

Buddhist temple erected in October 2009 in Maathakal, Jaffna

Tamil people in the North and East of Sri Lanka live in an open prison terrorised militarily and marginalised economically, politically and culturally.   The Sri Lankan regime is making living conditions of the Tamil people unbearable so that they leave the island.  It is intimidating and enacting laws to deter the returning Tamils of the Diaspora who wish to rebuild the lives of their kith and kin.

This strategy has a clear objective of eliminating the Tamil identity from Sri Lanka, thus completing the genocide of Tamils paving the way for the formation of a mono ethno Sinhala state.

Time is of essence, as the very existence of Tamils is threatened in Sri Lanka. It is the responsibility of the international community to force the Sri Lankan state to change course. The use of soft options has so far not produced any results but has helped the Sri Lankan regime in its persecution of Tamils with absolute impunity.  It is time for the international community to act decisively and expeditiously to stop the annihilation of Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

British Tamils Forum calls upon the Prime minister of the United Kingdom to instigate an international diplomatic initiative to set up an International Independent investigative mechanism.  Indications are that the Sri Lankan regime will most certainly resist such a move.  We therefore call upon the Government of the United Kingdom to honour their promise made by the foreign affairs minister, to exercise all options available in order to serve justice and to halt the structural genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lankan State.

Posted in News

US voices concern on Sri Lanka war report

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WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday voiced concern over a Sri Lankan commission's report on the end of the island's civil war and urged the government to address human rights allegations more fully.

In a 400-page report released last week, the government-created commission cleared the military of charges that it deliberately targeted civilians as it wiped out the Tamil Tiger leadership in 2009, ending decades of war.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission made some "substantive recommendations" in areas such as media freedom and human rights violations.

"While we're still studying the full report, I do have to say that we have concerns that the report nonetheless does not fully address all the allegations of serious human rights violations that occurred in the final phase of the conflict," Nuland told reporters.

"We urge the Sri Lankan government not only to fulfill all of the recommendations of the report as it stands, but also to address those issues that the report did not cover," she said.

However, Nuland stopped short of endorsing calls by major human rights groups for the establishment of an international investigation into alleged abuses.

"We've long said that it is better for Sri Lankans to take these issues themselves and address them fully. That remains our position," she said.

The United Nations estimates some 100,000 people perished during the 37-year ethnic conflict. Rights groups charge that thousands of civilians died in the final offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sri Lanka has strongly rejected foreign criticism and said that its own investigation will suffice. It narrowly escaped censure by the UN Human Rights Council in September.

SRI LANKA- Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission

Deputy Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC 

December 19, 2011

SRI LANKA

• Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission
• QUESTION: Sri Lanka?
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission has cleared the country’s army of deliberately targeting civilians during the final days of its war against LTTE. Do you have any comments? And where are they heading?
  MS. NULAND: Well, we appreciate the important work of the Sri Lankan Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission. The Commission has addressed a number of the crucial areas of concern to Sri Lankans. In particular, the report recognizes and makes substantive recommendations in the areas of reconciliation, devolution of authority, demilitarization, rule of law, media freedom, disappearances, human rights violations.
  And while we’re still studying the full report, I do have to say that we have concerns that the report, nonetheless, does not fully address all the allegations of serious human rights violations that occurred in the final phase of the conflict. So this leaves questions about accountability and – for those allegations, and so we urge the Sri Lankan Government not only to fulfill all of the recommendations of the report as it stands, but also to address those issues that the report did not cover.
  QUESTION: Has there been any official communication between Washington and Colombo?
  MS. NULAND: There has. Assistant Secretary Blake has been in contact with various Sri Lankan counterparts, as has our ambassador there. I’d also say that we’ve seen the government’s preliminary action plan, but we don’t think it really provides the kind of detailed roadmap that we had hoped to see for fulfilling all of the Commission’s recommendations. So those are the things that we are, in our private conversation, urging them to continue to work on, implementation of the recommendations in the report, and addressing those gaps that the report left.
  QUESTION: Are you looking forward to, or – in your discussions, have you put any time period, any kind of – that – it cannot just go on for next 10 years or 20 years?
  MS. NULAND: No, of course. But we’re looking in the first instance to a report – a response from the Sri Lankan Government to these concerns that we’ve expressed and that a number of Sri Lankans have expressed, to hear what their proposed timetable, as I said, their proposed roadmap is for remediating these issues.
  QUESTION: Thank you.
  QUESTION: Just to follow up, human rights groups in response to this report said that this is time for an independent, international probe into what happened in 2009. Is that the U.S. position? Does the U.S. think that there should be an international effort at this point? Or do you think the Sri Lankan effort is still – will suffice for the time being?
  MS. NULAND: Well, obviously, we’ve long said that it is better for Sri Lankans to take these issues themselves and address them fully. That remains our position, so now we want to see if the Sri Lankan Government will lead their country in the next step to ensure that there is full implementation of the recommendations that we have and filling in of the gaps. So let’s see what they are willing to do going forward.  SRI LANKA(full story)
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• SRI LANKA- Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission Repor

  
  

  Victoria Nuland

  Spokesperson
  Daily Press Briefing

  Washington, DC

  November 3, 2011

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

          

   SRI LANKA
  

  • Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission Report
  • QUESTION: On Sri Lanka?
    QUESTION: Sorry, (inaudible). I mean, has there been anything – has anything happened in the last 24 hours on this whole issue which we’ve been talking about since Monday? In other words, has the Administration done anything in the past 24 hours to: one, stop the Palestinians on their – in their UN bid or for UN – for recognition at various UN agencies; two, done anything to stop the Israelis from expanding settlement expansion – stop accelerating settlements; and three, done anything to protect U.S. interests in UN agencies that it might have to withdraw from if they recognize Palestine?