Sri Lanka seeks international help in war crime probe

Sri Lanka's new government today appealed the UN and the international community have faith in it and sought their advice, technical support and assistance for a domestic probe into the alleged human rights violations during the last phase of war with the LTTE.

Addressing the high-level segment of the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council here, Sri Lanka's Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera said his government achieved much during its 48 days in office but many more hurdles remain.

"I assure this Council however that the political will and commitment required for this purpose has not diminished in any way," he said. Samaraweera said the government will engage and work in cooperation with a range of international organisations and countries across the world.

"Our approach is to seek solutions to issues through dialogue, cooperation, understanding and learning and not through confrontation," he said. He said the new government commenced a dialogue with South Africa last week to learn from their experience of truth-seeking.

"We are firm in our belief, that, to be successful, the journey of reconciliation and accountability is one that the people of our country must embark upon, on their own. We do possess the competence, the skills, and the human resources required for this purpose," the Minister said.

"But we recognise that in this journey, there is much that we can draw from the experience of others in the international community. We have much to gain from their advice, technical support and assistance," he added.

"The last few years when Sri Lanka moved away from this cooperative approach was an aberration. It was not in keeping with our nation’s interests or with our nation's character and personality," Samaraweera said.

"I urge this Council, the High Commissioner, our bilateral partners, international organisations and also the Sri Lankan diaspora, all who wish our country to succeed, to trust us, have faith in us, support us and strengthen our hand," he said.

Lanka's new President Maithripala Sirisena took power last month after defeating Mahinda Rajapaksa who had vehemently resisted cooperation with the UN mandated probe.
Sri Lanka has been subject to three UNHRC resolutions in 2012, 2013 and 2014 over alleged rights abuses by government troops during the last phase of the three decade-long war with the LTTE in 2009.

In March last year, the 47-member UNHRC adopted a resolution which requested the Office of the High Commissioner to undertake a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka during the period.

Sirisena government, which replaced the regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa, won a temporary reprieve from the UNHRC when it decided to delay the report on Sri Lanka till September.
Justifying the UNHRC's decision to delay the presentation of the report Samaraweera detailed the steps taken by the new government to address Tamil minority concerns.

Tamil groups however remain unconvinced. They took the new government to task over their preference for a domestic mechanism. Tamils say they have been consistently deceived by successive Sinhala majority governments.

Noting that Sri Lanka is a party to all core human rights conventions, Samaraweera said the government will work actively with the treaty body system and revisit and address recommendations made by them.

"Discussions are already underway to look at ways and means of expanding the scope of human rights in line with internationally accepted standards," Samaraweera said.
"Recognising that the previous Government failed to implement the recommendations of the Commissions that were set up at the time, including those made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), action is now being taken to explore steps that can be taken in this regard."

He said the government had  begun discussions regarding the nature of local mechanisms that should be put in place for this purpose including amendments to existing laws.
"The content of the Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka too can be taken into account by domestic investigative and judicial mechanisms which we are in the process of setting up," he said.

The government has also invited the UN Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparations and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, to visit Sri Lanka for consultations at the end of this month.

The government will also receive the Working Group on Involuntary and Enforced Disappearances and having invited expects the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also to visit the island. The government will also invite other special procedure mandate holders as well on a needs-based manner.