* U.S. expresses concern over the consolidation of executive power in Sri Lanka

Nov 02, Geneva: The United States while commending the Sri Lankan government for its development and reconciliation efforts expressed serious concern over the consolidation of executive power, especially in light of Thursday's impeachment motion against the Chief Justice.

The US Ambassador Eileen Donahoe speaking briefly after Sri Lanka's presentation at the Universal Periodic Review of Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday said the U.S. remains concerned by the consolidation of executive power, including the passage of the 18th amendment, and that no agreement has been reached on political devolution.

Special Envoy of the President on Human Rights, Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, who headed Sri Lanka's delegation, delivered the opening statement at the UPR.

In a statement delivered to the Council, the U.S. charged that former conflict zones remain militarized, and the military continues to encroach upon daily civilian and economic affairs. The Ministry of Defense has controlled the NGO secretariat since 2010, the statement noted.

The U.S. noted the steps taken by the government of Sri Lanka to resettle IDPs, foster economic growth, improve infrastructure, and develop a National Action Plan for implementing a number of recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).                                                             Full Story>>>

Dublin tribunal takes up genocide investigation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2012, 01:22 GMT]
“In April 2013, a panel of international experts will be convened as Judges of the 'Permanent People's Tribunal' to examine reports submitted by many specialised working groups on the accusation of the crime of Genocide against the Government of Sri Lanka and on the accusations against various international actors who had supported and prepared the conditions for the Sri Lankan Government to implement this alleged crime,” said a joint statement issued by the 'Permanent People's Tribunal' (PPT) based in Rome on Friday. The move is supported organisationally by the 'Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka' (IFPSL) based in Dublin and the International Human Rights Association based in Bremen (IMRV). Dublin Tribunal was the first independent international undertaking that recognised the need to look into the case of genocide in the island as early as in January 2010. 

Full text of the press statement follows:

Dublin Tribunal Follows Up on Genocide and International Complicity
The People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka-Session II

[L-R] Nicolai Jung of IMRV (Germany), Gianni Tognoni of PPT (Rome) and Jude Lal Fernando IFPSL (Dublin) announce genocide investigation in a joint statement on 02 Nov 2012

The People's Tribunal on Sri Lanka - which took place in Dublin in January 2010 – in its determination, had acknowledged the 'importance of continuing investigation into the possibility of genocide'.

This possibility has become a necessity now, due to the mass of new evidence (substantial, quantitative and qualitative) that has come to light since then. At the time we held the 'Dublin Tribunal', the real casualty figures remained largely hidden. The official UN figure did not exceed 8000 civilian casualties, while some of the British and French press carried reports estimating the total number of casualties at 'up to 20,000'. In fact, the Sri Lanka Government maintained a position of ‘zero civilian casualties’ for the full period of the final military offensive!

However, soon after the Dublin Tribunal, like a dam bursting, details of terrible atrocities and a more realistic estimation of the magnitude of the massacre started surfacing in media. The effective embargo in the international media that existed during the eight months of the military offensive – which had helped to prevent a humanitarian opposition to the war to emerge – was starting to break down, eight months after the end of the military project. One month after the Tribunal - in February 2010 - appearing on Australia’s ABC Television, the former UN spokesman in Sri Lanka Gordon Weiss contradicted the UN estimate of 'no more than 8,000 casualties' stating that ‘anything between 10,000 to 40,000’ civilians may have died during the final siege. Sometime later the Experts’ Panel appointed by the UN Secretary General used the 40,000 figure as its own estimate. On January 2011, the Catholic Bishop of Mannar made a submission to the Sri Lankan Government's own 'Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission' (LLRC) that according to his calculation, 146,679 people are unaccounted for (he used the Government's own statistics to show this). 

It is clear that the difference between estimate of 8,000 to an estimate of 146,679 is a significant one. The casualty figure issue is just one factor – which we have highlighted to emphasise our point. Various other factors - such as an examination of the historical background which had laid the basis to the events that led to the military operations in 2009, as well as, whether or not the continuing issues that the Tamil people in the area concerned are facing at the moment are related to this history, needs to be carried out properly to deal with the overall reality. 

• Dublin war-crimes tribunal final report

Due to the fact that substantial, quantitative and qualitative new evidence has become available, we believe that there are compelling reasons to organise a follow up to the 'People's Tribunal on Sri Lanka' to examine the case of Genocide against the Tamil people. 

In April 2013, a panel of international experts will be convened as Judges of the 'Permanent People's Tribunal' to examine reports submitted by many specialised working groups on the accusation of the crime of Genocide against the Government of Sri Lanka and on the accusations against various international actors who had supported and prepared the conditions for the Sri Lankan Government to implement this alleged crime. 

This follow on session of the People's Tribunal on Sri Lanka (PTSL) will be held in Germany under the auspices of the 'Permanent People's Tribunal' (PPT) based in Rome and supported organisationally, by the 'Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka' (IFPSL) based in Dublin and the International Human Rights Association based in Bremen (IMRV).

2. November. 2012

Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General, Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT), Rome
Jude Lal Fernando, Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL), Dublin
Nicolai Jung, International Human Rights Association (IMRV), Bremen e.V

Contact: irishpeaceforum@gmail.com
imrvbremen@gmail.com

Impeachment: ‘She Got Too Big For Her Boots’ – Mahinda Rajapaksa Talked To Former CJ Sarath Silva

November 2, 2012 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa told former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva yesterday that he was keen to resolve the problems with the judiciary in an amicable way.

Asked why he was moving to impeach the present Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayakewhen she was an eminent judge with excellent legal skill, President Rajapaksa replied: “I didn’t want to, but she got too big for her boots.” (eya tharamata wada idimuna). “But I also want to settle this matter in a friendly way,” he said

The pair met at the funeral of former Attorney General and Acting Chief Justice Rajah Wanasundera yesterday, President Rajapaksa made a bee-line for the former Chief Justice and enveloped him in a warm bear hug. “You don’t even take my calls anymore. Whatever happens you and I are old friends,” President Rajapaksa berated Silva amidst a large crowd from the legal fraternity. Many of lawyers and retired judges present at the funeral urged the President to reconsider the proposed impeachment of the Chief Justice.

The ruling coalition yesterday handed a motion of impeachment to Speaker of Parliament Chamal Rajapaksa against the sitting Chief Justice bearing the signatures of 117 MPs and containing charges of ‘improper conduct’ filed under Article 107 of the Constitution.

SRI LANKA: The attack on the judiciary is a logical extension of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution

Contributors: Basil Fernando-November 2, 2012

The 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which ended all the debates and discussions on the 17th Amendment, brought an end to all independent public institutions in Sri Lanka. From that point on, only one institution remained outside the complete control of the executive president. That was the judiciary. 

True, that institution itself had been seriously undermined since the 1972 and 1978 Constitutions. The 1978 Constitution conceptually displaced the idea of the independence of the judiciary. However, a 200-year-old tradition of an independent judiciary could not be wiped out merely by a constitutional change. At ground level the institution and the people who had been trained under the 'old' framework were still there. More than that, a belief had been created over those 200 years that in court it was possible to obtain justice. And this was difficult to erase. 

This gave rise to a contest between the executive president and Neville Samarakoon QC, the first Chief Justice under the new constitution. One of the issues that no one has yet explained is as to how a person with such legal erudition and integrity as Neville Samarakoon could have not seen the pernicious effect of the 1978 Constitution on democracy as a whole and on the independence of the judiciary in particular. Surely, as one of the leading civil lawyers of the time, he would have had some understanding of the basic principles of constitutionalism. That the ruler cannot be above the law is so basic a premise that it is difficult to fathom how Neville Samarakoon failed to understand it when he agreed to be the Chief Justice under the new constitution, in which the basic premise was that the executive president was above the law. 

The debate throughout the period of the coalition government (1970-1977), particularly within the legal community, was about the attack made through the 1972 Constitution on the independence of the judiciary. It replaced the notion of the supremacy of the law with the supremacy of the parliament. This meant that parliament could make any law, because of the removal of the powers of judicial review that the judiciary had enjoyed until then. In fact, judicial review was what gave the power and the punch to the judiciary. In at least one instance, even in the colonial days, an order by the governor representing the British Crown was declared null and void and quashed by the then Chief Justice. This was in the well known case of Bracegirdle. Neville Samarakoon QC could not have failed to realise that if a similar situation arose under the 1978 Constitution an order of the executive president could not be so quashed by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, as Article 35 (1) of this constitution ensured that no law suits could be brought against the executive president in any court of law. 

Mr. Neville Samarakoon QC and many others like him could have done better if they had initially rejected the 1978 Constitution rather than when they rebelled against the executive president when he began to bring into effect what he designed the 1978 Constitution for, which was to have absolute power. It is said by many who knew Neville Samarakoon QC that he regretted his mistake bitterly until the time of his death. 

It was when J.R. Jayewardene found that the Chief Justice was not under his control that he brought the first impeachment move under the 1978 Constitution. Since then, whenever the impeachment provisions are used, it is done under the same circumstances and for the same purpose. 

The Chief Justices who came after Neville Samarakoon understood the new equation and did all they could to avoid any kind of confrontation. In that way they weakened the judiciary and also the peoples' faith in their independent function. 

When Sarath N. Silva became the Chief Justice he understood the equation very well and made it his business to support President Chandrika Bandaranaike until the very end, up to the point when he realised that the future did not lie with her. Then he shifted his alliance to Mahinda Rajapaksa and kept up the supportive link to the executive until finally, for reasons best known to himself, their relationship faltered. 

Sarath N. Silva makes many speeches now and, at times, expresses partial regret for his allegiance to the executive. However, by then irreparable damage had been done to the power, as well as the image, of the judiciary. 

Over the years this situation led to the creation of disillusionment among the people as well as the lawyers. The following quote from S.L. Gunasekara's recent book Lore of the Law and other Memories reflects the demoralisation caused by the weakening of judicial independence. In answer to a question from a junior lawyer: "Sir, is Hulftsdorp much different today to what it was when you joined the Bar?"  He replied, "When I joined the Bar we had no air conditioners, no computers, no lifts, no ponds inside the Supreme Court premises, no photocopying machines or free trips abroad sponsored by the Government or nongovernmental organisations; but we had justice.........I did not, by this, mean to say that there is no justice whatever done in the courts today, (in that some measure of justice is done) but that the difference between then and now lay chiefly in the fact that while there were doubtless many shortcomings in the administration of justice even in those days which we nostalgically recall as having been the gold old days, that was a time when we almost always won good cases and lost bad cases whereas today, there are so many occasions when we lose good cases and win bad cases that it has now become virtually impossible to properly advise a client about his prospects in a case whether already filed or in contemplation......"

The new impeachment motion

The advantage that President Rajapaksa may be trying to cash in on now as he brings the new impeachment motion against the incumbent Chief Justice may be this disillusionment and demoralization, prevalent among the people as well as among the lawyers themselves about what they see as the deterioration of the judiciary. Perhaps the executive may be seeing this as a suitable moment for striking a final blow against the judiciary and thus complete the process started by J.R. Jayewardene when he filed his impeachment against Neville Samarakoon. 

The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was a determined attempt for the full realisation of the aim of the 1978 Constitution, which was to give absolute power to the executive president. In 1978 this was still a difficult task as there were the habits formed over a long period to trust the local institutions and still a belief in the possibility of justice and fairness was quite alive. Perhaps the executive thinks that the opportune moment has arrived to realise the full potential of the 18th Amendment. 

Already there are public rumours about who the executive is aiming to put in place of the incumbent Chief Justice once the impeachment process is speeded up by the utilisation of the toothless majority that the government has in parliament. If those rumours are correct then the last days of even the limited independence of the judiciary are close at hand. 

However, it may not all go that way. The people may use this occasion not only to critique the absolute power of the executive but also as a critique of the weaknesses of the judiciary itself. They may use this occasion to demand a stronger judiciary. That, of course, implies that the people will have to deal with the displacement of the absolute power notion which was created through the tyranny of a four-fifth majority in parliament that J.R. Jayewardene had in 1978. 

Whichever way, for better or for worse, the present impeachment motion will prove decisive.

IHR vehemently condemns the attempt of the government to impeach the chief justice

Friday, 02 November 2012

Intellectuals For Human Rights (IHR) vehemently condemns the attempt of the government to impeach the chief justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake. IHR strongly believe that this is a direct threat to the independence of the judiciary and therefore the democracy. Independent functioning and check and balance process of the executive, legislator and the judiciary is the key to a democratic society. If the executive and the legislator violate the independent functioning of the judiciary it will lead to a totalitarian regime.

It is clear that there is a serious conflict between the executive and the judiciary over certain government policies which conflict with the constitution. The president and the government seem to expect favourable decisions from the Supreme Court (SC) when matters that SC interpretations are sought. The conflict started after recent supreme court decisions were against the government's wish. The Divineguma Bill is the most recent issue that the government up in arms against the SC.

At a meeting with the constituent parties of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) chaired by President Mahinda Rajapaksa had decided to bring an impeachment motion against Chief Justice and now it has been handed over to the Speaker. Hence, the impeachment is not of certain individuals or not only against the Justice Bandaranayake in particular but a clear showpiece of government attitude towards the judiciary. We, IHR stress that whole processes specially, the objective of the impeachment is not acceptable in any norms and urge the government to uphold the independence of the judiciary.

Dr.Anura Karunatilake

General Secretary

Intellectuals for Human Rights (IHR)

‘Independent civil society activism best tribute to Thamilchelvan’: Tamil Nadu writer

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2012, 23:20 GMT]
Arguing that Sri Lanka’s genocidal war on the Eezham Tamils and the protracted genocide post-2009 was possible only due to the system of global injustice, Tamil Nadu based writer, poet and civil society activist Meena Kandasamy urged the Eezham Tamils in the island, the people of Tamil Nadu, the Tamil diaspora and other solidarity groups to form a ‘global civil society’ so as to politically and ideologically counter the designs of the establishments, in a commentary sent to TamilNet. Writing on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the assassination of S.P. Thamilchelvan, Ms. Kandasamy opines that such activism would be the best tribute to the legacy of the late political leader of the de-facto state of Tamil Eelam. 

Mr. Thamilchelvan was assassinated in a Sri Lanka Air Force bombardment on his bunker in Ki'linochchi, in the early hours of November 2, 2007.

Full text of Ms. Kandasamy’s commentary follows:

Meena Kandasamy

I personally appeal to Tamils around the world to honour the memory of Comrade S.P. Thamilchelvan by observing the anniversary of his brutal assassination by the Sri Lanka Air Force as the day of Crimes against Peace. His unceasing diplomatic efforts were the backbone of securing ceasefire in the war-ridden island, and, the Sinhala ruling elite running the Sri Lankan state who were keen to scuttle the Tamil struggle for equal rights and self-determination, ensured that he was killed like every genuine emissary of peace. 

Five years after his tragic death in a high precision air attack, we are still haunted by the absence of the leader of the political division of the LTTE. Thamilchelvan was targeted and assassinated at his official residence by a calculated air attack. He was slain with his associates inside a bunker which was monitored from the drones, according to eyewitnesses to the tragic assault. The Sri Lanka Air Force had reportedly deployed a specially designed ‘delay-bomb’ that hit his bunker at his official secretariat. It was not a random target by any means.

In hindsight, taking also into account what happened at the final hours of the war in May 2009, especially in the white-flag episode where Thamilchelvan's successor, Mr Nadesan and the Director of the Peace Secretariat was slain in cold blood by the Sri Lankan forces on the alleged instructions by the SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and the way thousands of civilians were massacred, one can clearly imagine how the systematic genocidal annihilation had been planned by the Sri Lankan military in assassinating Thamilchelvan.

The murder of the political leader, most known for his smiling disposition combined with a clear understanding of local and global politics, was an assassination, an act of crime against peace and a crime of genocide as it aimed at a systematic annihilation of the voice of a nation.

As the person in charge of the LTTE Peace Secretariat, Thamilchelvan succeeded not merely in grabbing the attention of the otherwise inert and inattentive International Community towards the oppression undergone by the Tamils under a terrorist state that killed with impunity, but also addressed issues and concerns raised with regard to the liberation struggle such as the question of Tamil-speaking Muslims, child recruitment, abolition of caste differences and the empowerment of women. He combined his personal charisma with a deep-rooted commitment to peace, witnessed in his engineering of the CFA and the functioning of the ISGA. 

Today, as we are faced with a situation where the Sri Lankan Government continues to be in denial not only about the killings of tens of thousands of Tamils in the first five months of 2009, but also where the military state continues to silence the press and the judiciary, where the project of cultural and structural genocide of the Tamils is a part of state policy, remembering S.P. Thamilchelvan's martyrdom will allow us an occasion to share the reality and the history of the Tamil struggle and sacrifice with the people of the world. Marking the anniversary of his assassination, either as a personal gesture or as a public occasion will allow us to appreciate the need for a just peace and political settlement, even as we remind ourselves of the price that the people of Tamil Eelam have had to pay for articulating their nationalist aspirations.

Given the current scenario where international establishments are trying to take Tamils into blind alleys in the name of this or that temporary settlement, it would be apt if the occasion of his martyrdom becomes a day when the Tamils, in the island, in Tamil Nadu and in the diaspora as well as those who are in solidarity with the cause of Tamil Eelam, can come together stocktaking the progress of the political cause which is fundamental for the survival of the Eelam Tamils as a people with self-respect and dignity.

The Sri Lankan state was able to commit such heinous crimes against Eelam Tamils because of this global injustice against a nation and an evolving nation-state. 

The need of the hour, then, is a global civil society activism involving both Tamil and non-Tamil actors that stands independent of establishments, one that can set concepts of the contemporary struggle in the clearest of terms. Only such a force would have significance in a political manner for the people who were subjected to genocide not only by the Sri Lankan state, but also by the global injustice that prevailed at the time of the war, and which is prevailing even now.

The laudatory step taken at the Permanent People’s Tribunal in 2010 urging the International Community to investigate charges of genocide in Sri Lanka and also the complicity of external powers is one such instance where committed intellectuals and independent activists can set a powerful trend. Eelam Tamils and their supporters must initiate and encourage such ventures as a political and intellectual alternative to paradigm set by the establishments. 

At the moment, this can be the best tribute to the legacy of the charismatic political leader of the LTTE.

World divided on Sri Lanka's human rights

Ben Doherty-November 2, 2012 

Mixed results ... members of Sri Lanka's delegation in Geneva. Photo: AFP

Pilloried and praised, congratulated and condemned, Sri Lanka has received a forthright, but divided, assessment of its postwar human rights record.

Sri Lanka, whose 26-year-civil war ended in 2009 with the defeat of the separatist Tamil Tigers, was excoriated by a swath of countries, including the US, Britain, France and Canada, at the UN Human Rights Commissioner's universal periodic review hearing in Geneva. Those countries detailed allegations of continuing human rights abuses, including enforced disappearances, torture and state-sanctioned murders.

Opposition figures have been harassed, detained and prosecuted.  

But the island nation stoutly defended itself, and was backed by Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan and a host of others, which said it had made solid progress since war's end.

Falling out ... Sri Lanka's President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, with Shirani Bandaranakaye after she was appointed as chief justice last year. Photo: AFP

The US ambassador, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, told the hearing Sri Lanka had taken steps to win the peace after the violent end to the war, but flagrant abuses continued.

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"Serious human rights violations continue, including disappearances, torture, extra-judicial killings and threats to freedom of expression. Opposition figures have been harassed, detained and prosecuted. There have been no credible investigations or prosecutions for attacks on journalists and media outlets."

Ms Donahoe brought up the case of the judge Manjula Tillakaratne, who was beaten in broad daylight after he said publicly judges were being pressured by powerful people and were in fear for their lives.

She also mentioned the government's efforts to impeach the country's chief justice, which began on Thursday. The government claims Shirani Bandaranayake has overstepped her mandate, but most observers regard the impeachment as a new front in a long-running battle with the judiciary.

Ms Donahoe said Sri Lanka's former conflict zones in the Tamil-dominated north remained militarised "and the military continues to encroach upon daily civilian and economic affairs".

Britain's ambassador, Karen Pearce, said there should be no impunity for attacks on journalists, rights defenders and lawyers, "nor reprisals against any individual including for cooperating with UN mechanisms".

Sri Lanka's representative, Mahinda Samarasinghe, said his government was concerned, more than any country, with "winning the peace" and building a comprehensive rehabilitation.

"On many fronts progress has been achieved, but we still acknowledge, at the same time, that challenges are ahead of us. We ask our friends in the international community to give us the time and space to make further progress. We are working for a new Sri Lanka, we are working for a united Sri Lanka."

Sri Lanka was defended by many allies, who said the country had defeated terrorism. The country was praised for its efforts to resettle people displaced by the war, for boosting education rates and for opening up the previously war-torn north of the country.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/world-divided-on-sri-lankas-human-rights-20121102-28o4z.html#ixzz2B7KJ4ECv

India Takes Up Fishermen Issue With Lanka

GURGAON | NOV 02, 2012
Strongly taking up the issue of fishermen with Sri Lanka, India today pressed that country to "expeditiously" address the issue of five Indian fishermen in Lankan custody lest it becomes an "irritant" in bilateral ties.

This was conveyed by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to his Sri Lankan counterpart Gamini Peiris during a 30-minute bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional cooperation.

"The issue of Indian fishermen and the difficulties they face when they are apprehended by Sri Lankan Navy and Sri Lankan Coast Guards were raised.

"Khurshid said it was necessary to deal with them humanely and he urged Peiris on the case of five Indian fishermen who still remain in custody there.

"The Minister requested his Sri Lankan counterpart to try and address this issue expeditiously so that this is not an irritant in the relationship," official sources said.

In this context, the two Ministers agreed that it was necessary for the fishermen associations to meet at an early date to try and reconcile divergent interests from different perspectives.

Peiris in his discussion underlined that India was an important partner of Sri Lanka and had an indispensable role as Colombo now faces major challenges as it proceeds to try and reconcile the political situation within the country. 

Briefing Khurshid on the current political situation in his country, Peiris said they had about 296,000 internally displaced persons till last week and they have now rehabiliated everybody. He also mentioned that demining activities have largely been completed.

Sources said he mentioned that the economic growth in Jaffna last year and this year was 26 per cent. He mentioned this while trying to tell Khurshid that Sri Lanka was moving forward on the front of rehabilitating internally displaced.

"He of course said and acknowledged that they are conscious that there are other areas that need to be addressed and there are other goals that need to be achieved. Having said that, that process has been slower than the process related to internally displaced people," a source said.

There was a also a discussion on the LLRC report and the difficulties that the Lankan government is facing in terms of implementing aspects of that report. One of the problems mentioned by Peiris related to land issues.

The two Ministers also discussed the state of bilateral trade and investments. Sources said it was agreed that the next Joint Commission Meeting should be held as early as possible.

Sri Lanka says it has completed rehabilitation of displaced Tamils

Nov 2, 2012

  Sri Lanka on Friday told India it has completed the process of rehabilitating 296,000 Tamils displaced by the civil war and said it was fast-tracking political reconciliation in the island nation.

Foreign Minister GL Peiris also told his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid that de-mining process had been largely completed in the north, the former war theatre.

AP

The foreign ministers held wide-ranging talks on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the 19-member Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation here.

During the talks, Peiris stressed that Sri Lanka saw India as an indispensable partner.

Assuring India of Colombo’s commitment to find an enduring political solution to the ethnic issue, Peiris pointed out that the economic growth in Tamil-dominated Jaffna had soared around 22 percent last year.

But he also admitted that the Sri Lankan government was having “some difficulties” in implementing some of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission like those related to land.

Khurshid urged his Sri Lankan counterpart to fast-track the release of five Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan custody so that it does not remain an irritant in bilateral ties.

U.S. Statement at the UPR of Sri Lanka

U.S. Statement at the UPR of Sri Lanka
14^th Session – November 1, 2012

Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe

Note: An abbreviated version of this text was delivered
at the Universal Periodic Review due to time constraints.

The United States welcomes H.E. Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Plantation Industries and Special Envoy of H.E. The President on Human Rights. and the Sri Lankan delegation to the UPR Working Group.

We note steps taken by the government of Sri Lanka to resettle IDPs, foster economic growth, improve infrastructure, and develop a National Action Plan for implementing a number of recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

We remain concerned by the consolidation of executive power, including the passage of the 18^th amendment, and that no agreement has been reached on political devolution.  Former conflict zones remain militarized, and the military continues to encroach upon daily civilian and economic affairs. The Ministry of Defense has controlled the NGO secretariat since 2010.

Serious human rights violations continue, including disappearances, torture, extra-judicial killings, and threats to freedom of expression.  Opposition figures have been harassed, detained, and prosecuted.  There have been no credible investigations or prosecutions for attacks on journalists and media outlets.  In the past 30 days, a judge who questioned executive interference in the judiciary was severely beaten in broad daylight by multiple assailants and derogatory posters appeared in Colombo threatening the director of an NGO challenging a government bill that would weaken provincial councils.  No arrests have been made.

Bearing in mind these concerns, the United States makes the following recommendations:

1. Implement the constructive recommendations of the LLRC, including the removal of the military from civilian functions; creation of mechanisms to address cases of the missing and detained; issuance of death certificates; land reform; devolution of power; and disarming paramilitaries.
2. Transfer NGO oversight to a civilian institution and protect freedom of expression and space for civil society to operate, by inter alia investigating and prosecuting attacks on media personnel and human rights defenders.
3. End impunity for human rights violations and fulfill legal obligations regarding accountability by initiating independent and transparent investigations, which meet international best practices, into alleged violations of international law and hold those found culpable to account.
4. Especially in light of today’s news of the efforts to impeach the Chief Justice, strengthen judicial independence by ending government interference with the judicial process, protecting members of the judiciary from attacks, and restoring a fair, independent, and transparent mechanism to oversee judicial appointments.

On Sri Lanka Darusman Says Explain 40,000 Killed, Will Check on Petrie Report

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 2 -- The day after Sri Lanka was reviewed, in speeches no longer than 72 second each, in the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review process, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey about the long delayed report into the UN's own actions and inaction in Sri Lanka in 2009, and whether it will be public.

   Del Buey said it is not finished; he did not answer if it will be made public, as was a similar report on the UN's actions and inactions in Rwanda in 1994. 

  Pressed, Del Buey disclaimed any connection between the UPR process and the report, which was supposed to be done by Thoraya Obaid but was switched to Charles Petrie, now working in Myanmar.

   Two hours later Inner City Press put the questions to Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka. 

   Darusman gave a press conference about North Korea at which Inner City Press asked him about disappearances. Afterward, Inner City Press asked him about Sri Lanka and the delayed Petrie report.

  "I need to check," Darusman said, of the Petrie report. Of his two fellow Panel members he said, "We are following this very closely, the former panel members."

  Inner City Press told Darusman of Ban Ki-moon's definition of accountability, provided to Inner City Press on October 17, 2012 by his spokesman Martin Nesirky: it means "not letting deeds go unmarked, unnoticed, sot there is no impunity, so you can move on to reconciliation." It means "different things in different contexts."

  Darusman shook his head and said, "accountability means to explain what happened on the 40,000 deaths." That has not been done. Watch this site.

Sri Lanka’s empty promises and denial of rights crisis exposed at UN

© Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images       1 November 2012

“

Sri Lanka has been making empty promises about human rights for decades. This was made clear by a number of countries which questioned Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in ending human rights violations during the review

”

Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s expert on Sri Lanka

Thu, 01/11/2012

Sri Lanka’s promises on human rights should no longer be accepted by the international

community, Amnesty International said as the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 1 November highlighted Colombo’s continued denial of the human rights crisis in the country and the need for independent investigations into new alleged human rights violations and past war crimes.

The UN examines the human rights situation in each member state every four and a half years, and Sri Lanka has yet to follow up on important commitments made during its first UPR in 2008, when the government was engaged in armed conflict with the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).

“Sri Lanka has been making empty promises about human rights for decades. This was made clear by a number of countries which questioned Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in ending human rights violations during the review,” said Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s expert on Sri Lanka.

“Three years after the end of the civil war, the government continues to stifle dissent through threats and harassment, and has failed to take steps to end enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.”

Human rights defenders have told Amnesty International about a climate a fear in Sri Lanka in which the state does nothing to protect them from threats.

Sri Lanka’s promises on human rights should no longer be accepted by the international community

Following a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution in March 2012 calling on Sri Lanka to address violations of international law during the civil war, government officials and state-run media lashed out at human rights activists. They were called “traitors” and threatened with physical harm by the Public Relations Minister, prompting the UN to denounce the threats and call for an investigation.

The crackdown on dissent has extended to lawyers and members of the judiciary who speak out against abuses of power. A senior high court judge, Manjula Tilakaratne, was on 7 October 2012 attacked and injured by armed assailants after he had complained of attempts to interfere with the independence of the judiciary, a concern raised by some states today. 

The authorities have continued to arrest and detain suspects for lengthy periods without charge or trial under the repressive Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), despite promises during its first UPR to bring this and similar legislation in line with international human rights law. No amendment has yet been made, and today Sri Lanka stressed its need to retain the PTA. Meanwhile, hundreds of people suspected of links to the LTTE continue to languish in administrative detention.

“Four years after the UN’s first review of human rights in Sri Lanka, there has been virtually no progress – as shown today - on any of the commitments the government made to end arbitrary detentions,” said Foster.

Several states today pressed Sri Lanka on its continued use of torture and other ill-treatment, despite government pledges made during the first review to address the problem. Amnesty International continues to receive reports of torture and resultant deaths in custody, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

On 26 July 2012, Sri Lanka published a National Plan of Action as a gesture to the international community that it is moving forward with addressing human rights concerns called for in the UNHRC March resolution. However, this plan is not comprehensive, particularly on issues relating to deaths of civilians, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance. Where investigations are envisioned at all, responsibility has been given to the army and police – the very institutions implicated in these serious human rights violations in the first place.

A culture of impunity persists in Sri Lanka, as the government has not investigated, prosecuted and punished most of the perpetrators of human rights violations.

Two glaring examples of serious human rights violations where the perpetrators remain free from prosecution are the alleged extrajudicial execution of five students by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force in January 2012, and the killing of 17 Action Contre la Faim (ACF) workers in the east in 2006, one of the worst massacres of humanitarian workers in history.

The findings of a 2007 Presidential Commission of Inquiry into both cases have yet to be released.

“The persistent lack of justice in these cases is shocking and flies in the face of repeated promises by the government for the past six years that it would investigate them properly. Victims’ families won’t believe the government until some practical action is taken. As a very basic first step the 2007 commission’s findings should be made public,” said Foster.

In the lead up to this UPR, Sri Lanka’s Attorney General claimed to have directed the police to investigate the two cases.

“Why did it toke so long for the Sri Lankan authorities to order an investigation into cases this grave, and what will happen to the police inquiry when international interest sparked by the UPR dies down?,” said Foster.

After Sri Lanka’s UPR session in Geneva today, the UPR panel is set to release its full report on Monday 5 November 2012. The Human Rights Council is set to formally adopt the outcome of today’s review at its March session next year. The international community must use that to hold the Sri Lankan government to its repeated promises.

Rights groups dismiss claims of progress

FRIDAY 02 NOVEMBER 2012

Sri Lanka yesterday claimed it was making progress on protecting human rights amid a barrage of sceptical questions about abductions, threats to journalists and lack of reconciliation with the Tamil community.

At a review before the United Nation Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mahinda Samarasinghe, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's envoy on human rights, said Sri Lanka was making progress in housing hundreds of thousands of people, de-mining areas and securing law and order. "A country's human rights situation cannot be assessed in isolation and should be examined in the context of the realities on the ground," he said.

But campaigners were not convinced. In advance of yesterday's session, at which around 100 countries tabled questions, around 50 human rights groups made written submissions. In its submission, Amnesty International said: "In 2012, grave human rights violations continue to be reported, including arbitrary arrest and detention by the police and other members of the security forces, enforced disappearances, and torture and ill-treatment."

Questions from various countries focused on efforts at reconciliation with the Tamil community and safety. Norway asked: "What measures will the Government take to ensure that all attacks and abductions of human rights defenders, journalists and civilians are investigated and that those responsible are brought to justice?"

Since Sri Lankan armed forces crushed the remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the spring of 2009, the government has spent millions of pounds on infrastructure and job development  in areas previously controlled by the militants. It has also overseen rehabilitation programmes for hundreds of former LTTE fighters. "In general I think there is tremendous satisfaction withe the big infrastructure projects - roads, electricity and hospitals," said Rajiva Wijesinha, a ruling coalition MP and presidential advisor.

But Tamil leaders say the government has refused to listen to demands for devolved powers. Talks between Tamil leaders and the government broke off earlier this year. "There has been no effort to reach out. It can only be described as 'nil', as 'negative'," said R Sambandan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance.

UN investigators said last year there were "credible allegations" both the Sri Lankan army and LTTE committed war crimes in the final stages of the conflict and that tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed. The panel called for an independent probe, something that was rejected by the Sri Lankan authorities which instead organised its own investigation. That inquiry largely cleared the authorities, who have always dismissed the allegations of war crimes.

Sri Lanka's Rights Record Questioned

November 02, 2012

by VOA News

Members of the Sri Lanka's delegation attend a periodic review of the human rights situation in the Sri Lanka before the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in Geneva, November 1, 2012.

A human rights watchdog says Sri Lanka's promises on human rights should no longer be accepted by the international community.

Amnesty International said in a statement Colombo's "continued denial" of Sri Lanka's human rights crisis, as well as the need for independent investigations into new alleged human rights violations and past war crimes, was highlighted Thursday at the United Nations Periodic Review in Geneva.

Yolanda Foster, Amnesty's Sri Lanka expert, said a number of countries during the review questioned the South Asian nation's "lack of progress in ending human rights violations."

Amnesty International said Sri Lanka's crackdown on dissent has extended to lawyers and members of the judiciary who speak out against abuses of power.

The U.N. examines the the human rights environment in each member state every four and a half years.

Foster said there has been "virtually no progress" on the commitments Sri Lanka made four years ago to end arbitrary detentions.

Amnesty International said a "culture of impunity" persists in Sri Lanka because "the government has not investigated, prosecuted or punished" most of the perpetrators of human rights violations.


Some information for this report was provided by AFP.