TNA calls for implementation of Geneva resolution-... wants special UN Office to monitor implementation of Geneva Resolution
By Shamindra Ferdinando-March 12, 2017, 10:14 pm
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has demanded the full implementation of the Geneva Resolution 30/1 of Oct 2015, which calls for a hybrid war crimes court among other things.
The TNA called for the establishment of a special UN office here to supervise the implementation of the Geneva Resolution.
The four-party TNA has stressed that Sri Lanka should be given additional time to implement Geneva Resolution on the basis that it would fully implement its own pledge. The controversial resolution called for Special Counsel’s Office of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorised prosecutors and investigators.
The TNA parliamentary group comprises 16 members representing the ITAK, PLOTE, TELO and EPRLF. EPRLF representative MP Nadesu Sivasakthi has disagreed with the TNA’s stance. Sources said that a section of the TNA strongly opposed Sri Lanka being given additional time under fresh conditions.
The TNA reiterated its demand close on the heels of President Maithripala Sirisena ruling out foreign judges’ participation in the proposed judicial mechanism. Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe, too, asserted that foreign judges’ participation wasn’t practical therefore not possible.
The TNA made its position clear on the Geneva Resolution 30/1 following a meeting in Vavuniya over the weekend. The TNA stressed that all obligations in terms of Resolution 30/1, co- sponsored by the Sri Lankan Government, must be fully implemented. A senior spokesman for the alliance said: "These obligations must be fulfilled under strict conditions, under the monitoring of an office of the UN High Commissioner for Human rights, which must be established in Sri Lanka."
The TNA said the UNHRC should ensure that, in the event of the Sri Lankan Government failing to fulfil its obligations by way of an appropriate mechanism, victims would receive the intended benefits of the fulfilment of such obligations, by way of international mechanisms.
