On Monday, the four-week spring session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) began. The only resolution that has been presented to the 46th session of the council is a draft resolution that was based on a report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which calls out Sri Lankan authorities for the atrocities committed during its civil war that ended in 2009. The document was presented by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Malawi, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. The report “expresses serious concern over emerging trends over the past year, which represent clear early warning signs of a deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka.”
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena rejected the resolution, calling it an “unprecedented propaganda campaign.” He added, “It is regrettable that … elements working against Sri Lanka intend to table another country-specific resolution.” Further, he urged the members to recognise it as a “political move that contravened the very values and principles on which this council has been established.”
The OHCHR report, which was published last month, called Sri Lanka out for failing to take action against the perpetrators of war crimes and human rights abuses during the 37 year-long civil war. This, the report said, had put the country on a “dangerous path”, which could prospectively cause a “recurrence” of the policies and practices that resulted in these atrocities. In the document, UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet said, “Nearly 12 years on from the end of the way, domestic initiatives for accountability and reconciliation have repeatedly failed to produce results, more deeply entrenching impunity, and exacerbating victims’ distrust in the system.” Against this backdrop, she called upon the International Criminal Court to investigate the issue.
Moreover, several “warning signs” were highlighted by the OHCHR report. The list included increasing the influence of the military in the civilian government, revocation of crucial constitutional safeguards, and intimidation of the civil society. To support these claims, it cited the example of 28 military personnel that had been appointed to “key administrative posts”, which included two officials who had been previously accused of participating in the atrocities by a UN report. In addition, it referred to the government’s attacks on independent media houses, civil society groups, and human rights organisations to further its claims.
Following the release of the report, the UN released a press statement that said that the government has created “parallel military task forces and commissions that encroach on civilian functions, and reversed important institutional checks and balances, threatening democratic gains, the independence of the judiciary and other key institutions.”
The resolution presented to the UNHRC included several elements of the OHCHR report. It also focussed on persuading the Sri Lankan authorities to adopt the previous UN resolutions—30/1, 34/1, and 40/1—that called for action to be taken against the perpetrators of violence during the civil war. Moreover, it called upon the OHCHR to assess the actions taken by the country’s atrocities by March and present a complete report by September 2022.
According to estimates by the United Nations and other international agencies, the war led to around 40,000 deaths, the majority of which were members of the minority Tamil community. Due to this, Sri Lanka has been the subject of the UN’s scrutiny on several occasions. In fact, following the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2015 elections, Sri Lanka even became a co-sponsor of the resolution. Thereafter, the erstwhile Maithripala Sirisena-led government vowed to undertake significant reforms and expedite the ethnic reconciliation process. However, intra-party politics resulted in the government’s failure to meet the deadlines presented by the resolution. The final blow to these efforts came with Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who repeatedly clarified his intentions of providing military officials with immunity during his campaign, being elected as President in 2019. Finally, in February 2020, Sri Lanka withdrew from the 30/1 resolution.
Sri Lanka Dismisses UN Draft Resolution Highlighting Abuses Committed During Civil War
Sri Lanka denounced the resolution presented before the UN Human Rights Committee about the 37 year long civil war in the country, calling it an “unprecedented propaganda campaign.”
February 25, 2021
SOURCE: FLICKR