UN role in Sri Lanka’s accountability process
By Neville Ladduwahetty-February 5, 2016, 7:59 pm
After several contradictory statements from the President, the Prime Minister, and spokespersons, finally the Prime Minister has very correctly stated that the "Constitution does not permit foreign judges to sit in judgment" (The Island, February 2, 2016). Elaborating further, the PM stated: "If we are to permit foreign judges to sit in judgment then our Constitution has to be amended with the consent of the people at a referendum". It would also need a 2/3 approval of Parliament.
This position should satisfy the provisions in paragraph 6 of the UN Resolution A/HRC/30/L.29 dated 29 September, 2015 that recognizes "the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism, including special council’s office, of Commonwealth and other judges…". Since the operative word in the above Resolution is "participation" the clarification by the PM was needed in view of calls by the US, UK and others, for foreign judges to sit in judgment during the proceedings. Considering the contradictory statements that have been made on this and other subjects, the concern of the public is that the Government would cave in under external pressure and retract its statement.
According to paragraph 6 of the Resolution the purpose of the accountability process is "to investigate allegations of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, as applicable". As such, the "applicable" parties to the accountability process should be the Sri Lankan Government, the LTTE and their supporters both in Sri Lanka and outside, and the International Community, in particular the UN. Had these parties acted jointly in a decisive manner during the Armed Conflict they could have made a difference to the human rights and humanitarian law violations that are characteristically associated with such conflicts.
ROLE of the UN during the
ARMED CONFLICT
The role of the UN during the final stages of the Armed Conflict when the LTTE held nearly 300,000 plus civilians hostage is contained in the "Report of the Secretary-General’s Internal Review Panel on United Nations Actions in Sri Lanka". This report was prepared by a Panel Headed by Charles Petrie and three staff. Given below are some relevant extracts from this report:
