“How can we have peace?” New report says survivors’ needs must drive Sri Lanka reconciliation
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
For too long, Tamil survivors of Sri Lanka’s civil war have been missing from the reconciliation debate – suppressed, sidelined or overlooked in favour of intermediaries.
Launched today, the Sri Lanka Campaign’s new report available here [1], “How can we have peace?” gives voice to these survivors, who set out, in their own words, their views on justice and accountability. [2] It draws on statements made by nearly 200 survivors, taken at several focus group sessions across Sri Lanka’s Northern Province about a month after the country’s new President, Maithripala Sirisena, took office.
They identify nine factors that are essential for true reconciliation, including:
· The truth about their missing loved ones
· Acknowledgement that war crimes took place in the final stages of the war
· Prosecution of senior political and military commanders of the Sri Lankan Army and LTTE
The report has been released to coincide with the International Day for the Right to Truth, created by the United Nations to honour victims of gross human rights violations and promote the right to truth and justice. Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights Council deferred the publication of its investigation into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka in 2009. Sirisena has repeatedly stated his preference for a domestic accountability mechanism.
The Sri Lanka Campaign has used the report to create a “Manifesto for Peace” [3] and a petition [4] so that people around the world can express their support and stand with Sri Lanka’s survivors.
Infographics from the report, including views on who should be prosecuted, are featured below [5].
Fred Carver, Sri Lanka Campaign Director, said:
“This report seeks to put survivors at the heart of discussions over Sri Lanka’s future. These are the people, above all others, that a meaningful reconciliation process must satisfy. They want truth, justice, compensation, and acknowledgement – with truth being the most important.
“They completely rejected a purely domestic accountability process and who can blame them given the repeated failures of the past. Regaining their trust will take political will and time. In the interim, the international community needs to step up to ensure that justice is served.
“It was humbling to see how little desire there is for revenge. All they want is for crimes to be acknowledged and for those they hold most responsible to be brought to justice: former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Commander of the Armed Forces Sarath Fonseka, and TMVP leader Col. Karuna (Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan). ”
