Face The UNHRC Resolution To Restore Credibility
By Jehan Perera -March 10, 2014
Jehan Perera
There was speculation that the ongoing 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council would see the immediate establishment of a high powered international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka and economic sanctions against the country. The unexpected feature of the draft resolution sponsored by the US is the provision to give the Sri Lankan government another year in which to show progress on the matters included in the resolution. Despite this seeming concession, the initial response of the Sri Lankan government to the draft resolution has been negative. The government has rejected the substance of the draft resolution which builds on last year’s resolution as being “fundamentally flawed.” The present draft includes issues of human rights violations and accountability in the entire country, rather than in the North and East alone and does not limit those issues to the last phase of the war.
The government’s rejection of the draft resolution stems from its consistent position that the international community is engaging in unwarranted interference in the country’s internal affairs. It takes no comfort in the extension of its period of probation by one year. The government’s position is that it should not be subjected to yearly and half yearly examinations as a sovereign and independent country. Apart from this, the other key reason for the Sri Lankan government’s unhappiness with the draft resolution is not difficult to fathom. It includes the two main points of the previous two resolutions of 2012 and 2013. It calls on the government once again to implement the recommendations of the LLRC and to set up an independent investigation into alleged war crimes. In addition, the scope of the draft resolution has been widened in scope in comparison to the previous two resolutions.
The issues that the proponents of the draft resolution are considering have been considerably widened in the draft resolution. The draft resolution refers to attacks against religious minorities, journalists, human rights defenders and civic activists, and to crimes that target women wherever they live. In addition the draft resolution proposes an international monitoring of Sri Lanka’s domestic accountability process and calls on the UN Human Rights Commissioner’s Office to do investigations on its own. The draft resolution calls for the establishment of a truth seeking mechanism and national policy to hold individuals accountable for violations of international law. It also calls on the government to devolve powers meaningfully in terms of the 13th Amendment and to empower the Northern Provincial Council with the necessary resources and authority.
