URU, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 139: Henvendelse af 20. marts 2017 fra Dansk Sammenslutning af Tamilske Foreninger om nyheder og rapporteringer om forholdene for tamilerne på Sri Lanka

Udenrigsudvalget 2016-17
URU Alm.del Bilag 139
Offentligt

13.03.2017

ADVOCACY NOTE ON SRI LANKA

1) Introduction/purpose of this document

Sri Lanka will again be the subject of scrutiny at the UN Human Rights Council 34

Session held in

Geneva from 27 February to 24 March 2017.

We seek your support in ensuring that the upcoming consideration of Sri Lanka’s progress toward

implementing its commitments under United Nations Human Rights

Council resolution 30/1 accurately

and substantively reflects the situation within the country. This includes both progress

to date and the

significant challenges remaining. We have below outlined some of the key issues we would like you to

consider.

2) OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) 2015

In its resolution A/HRC/25/1 adopted in March 2014 on “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and

human rights in Sri Lanka”, the United Nations Human Rights Council requested the UN High

Commissioner for Human Rights 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

covered by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), and to establish the facts and

circumstances of such alleged violations and of the crimes perpetrated with a view to avoiding impunity

and ensuring accountability, with assistance from relevant experts and special procedures mandate

holders”.

Findings

OISL says the Sri Lankan security forces and paramilitary groups linked to them were implicated in the

unlawful killing of civilians, conducted “in a widespread manner”. Some of these could amount to war

crimes, and / or crimes against humanity.

OISL documented “long-standing patterns of arbitrary arrest and detention” by Government security forces,

as well as abductions by paramilitary groups linked to them.

OISL found there was “widespread, systematic and particularly brutal” use of torture by Government

security forces at the end of the war and after the war.

OISL said the prevalence of often extremely brutal sexual violence was one of its most shocking findings.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

when presenting the OISL report to the Human Rights

Council said:

The sheer number of allegations, their gravity and recurrence and the similarities in their modus operandi,

as well as the consistent pattern of conduct they indicate, all point to system crimes. These he said cannot

be treated as ordinary crimes, but as crimes under international law.

Address:

E-mail:

Mobile:

Ole Worms Vej 11, 7500 Holstebro, Denmark

[email protected]

+45-21 73 41 79

Maheswaran Ponnampalam

Chairman

URU, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 139: Henvendelse af 20. marts 2017 fra Dansk Sammenslutning af Tamilske Foreninger om nyheder og rapporteringer om forholdene for tamilerne på Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system is not currently equipped to conduct an independent and credible

investigation into allegations of this breadth and magnitude, or to hold accountable those responsible for

such violations.

3) HRC resolution

Following the OISL report, the Human Rights Council passed the fourth resolution on Sri Lanka since

2012.

The resolution called for wide-ranging reforms and a domestic accountability mechanism with

international involvement. The consensus resolution was co-sponsored by the Government of Sri Lanka.

After adoption of the resolution, Sri Lanka told the council that it was pleased to join as a co-sponsor “as

a further manifestation of Sri Lanka’s commitment to implement the provisions of the resolution, in a

manner that its objectives are shared by the people and all stakeholders in the country, for their benefit.”

However, in January 2016 President Sirisena announced that he would never agree to participation of

foreign judges. Since then government officials, including the president and cabinet members, have been

increasingly unwilling to consider significant international involvement in the justice mechanism. As

noted recently by Human Rights Watch and others, this directly contravenes the call by the UN High

Commissioner for Human Rights for a ‘hybrid’ justice mechanism given the shortcomings of domestic

institutions to ensure impartial investigations and witness protection, and the Sri Lankan government’s

failure to take meaningful accountability measures since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in May 2009.

Resolution 30/1affirms the importance of participation in a justice mechanism of “Commonwealth and

other foreign judges … and authorized prosecutors and investigators.”

4) Developments since 2015 against commitments made in the resolution

The overwhelming majority of the commitments made in the 2015 HRC Resolution remain mostly or

wholly unimplemented. On only a handful has the government lived up to its word. None of the four key

mechanisms that were pledged have yet been established. And recent reports detailing serious ongoing

human rights violations, including widespread torture, suggest that Sri Lanka’s culture of impunity has

not been addressed. Plainly, the government still has a long way to go in bringing about a process of

accountability and reconciliation that deals, meaningfully and effectively, the country’s recent past. Of

the 25 commitments made, the Sri Lankan government has only fully implemented three, five are

partially implemented and a staggering 17 remain completely unachieved.

By distilling the resolution into 25 key commitments and analysing the progress to date on each Sri Lanka Campaign is

monitoring progress of implementation of the HRC Resolution. See more https://www.srilankacampaign.org/take-action/keep-

the-promise/

Maheswaran Ponnampalam

Chairman

Address:

Ole Worms Vej 11, 7500 Holstebro, Denmark

E-mail:

[email protected]

Mobile:

+45-21 73 41 79

URU, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 139: Henvendelse af 20. marts 2017 fra Dansk Sammenslutning af Tamilske Foreninger om nyheder og rapporteringer om forholdene for tamilerne på Sri Lanka

5) Current situation in North and East

Human rights violations in the North-East continue to date in post-war Sri Lanka, including violence and

harassment by members of the security forces, occupation of traditional Tamil lands acquired illegally,

abduction, unlawful detention, torture and sexual violence of Tamils, and the continued detention of

Tamils under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Based on 41 ITJP interviews of victims alleging torture and ill-treatment after January 2015, the security

forces regularly visit and question Tamil activists about their political and humanitarian activities. Tamil

activists in a broad sense include students, and other young people engaged in political and social activist

activities, women’s activists, journalists and people just are expressing political opinions through their

support for the families of the disappeared, support to Tamil politicians, attendance of LTTE and war

commemorative events, etc. Many former LTTE cadres are still required to regularly report to a local Sri

Lanka Army camp or to the local CID office and, in several cases, failure to do so has resulted in assault,

abduction, unlawful detention, ill-treatment and torture.

Former LTTE cadres are shunned from their communities due to the continuing surveillance and fear of

punishment if they support other former LTTE cadres. The absence of a Disarmament, Demobilisation

and Rehabilitation process following international standards has led to former LTTE cadres living in dire

conditions in the North and the East. Unable to access safe, impartial and professional services many are

in a desperate situation.

The military continues to occupy vast swathes of private and public land, leaving more than 40,000

Tamils still in camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), nearly eight years after the end of the armed

conflict.

The military reduced its visibility – for example, dismantling parts of the network of checkpoints – but

according to news sources, Sri Lanka still maintains more than 150,000 troops in the North.

The limited

changes to the war time deployment of troops prompted a dramatic increase in protests demanding

accountability for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, the release of political prisoners,

answers on the fate of those who ‘disappeared’ in government custody, and the return of land forcibly

appropriated by the military.

As independent observers have noted, the Sri Lankan government has despite its reconciliatory rhetoric

not demonstrated this is spirit. The Committee against Torture recently expressed serious concern that the

Sri Lankan government has failed to carry out and institutional reform of the security sector.

Indeed, the

government has promoted high ranking military officers in charge of military operations at the end of the

http://resettlementmin.gov.lk/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=7&lang=en

http://www.ceylonews.com/2016/12/sri-lanka-says-no-withdrawal-of-troops-as-it-still-risks-threats-from-ex-tigers-video/

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/LKA/INT_CAT_COC_LKA_25983_E.pdf

Para 13

Maheswaran Ponnampalam

Chairman

Address:

Ole Worms Vej 11, 7500 Holstebro, Denmark

E-mail:

[email protected]

Mobile:

+45-21 73 41 79

URU, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 139: Henvendelse af 20. marts 2017 fra Dansk Sammenslutning af Tamilske Foreninger om nyheder og rapporteringer om forholdene for tamilerne på Sri Lanka

war and under whose watch the OISL concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe war crimes and

crimes against humanity had been committed. The arrogance and disregard of Tamil victims of torture,

and other serious violations of international law were demonstrated during the November 2016 UN

Committee against Torture session on Sri Lanka held in Geneva. The Committee was alarmed that the Sri

Lankan delegation included the former Deputy Inspector General of the CID, Mr. Sisira Mendis, who is

known to have overseen and been fully aware of torture being practiced in his own headquarters.

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Mr. Juan Mendez, concluded in his most recent report among

other things that

The issue of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is part of the

legacy of the country’s armed conflict, and one of the reasons why the citizens of Sri Lanka

continue to live without minimal guarantees of protection against the power of the State, in

particular its security forces.

Torture and ill-treatment, including of a sexual nature, still occur, in particular in the early stages

of arrest and interrogation, often for the purpose of eliciting confessions. The gravity of the

mistreatment inflicted increases for those who are perceived to be involved in terrorism or

offences against national security. The police resort to forceful extraction of information or

coerced confessions rather than carrying out thorough investigations using scientific methods.

6) Recommendations

The OISL report, released in August 2015, is the most rigorous and authoritative investigation to date on

recent human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Its recommendations are wide-ranging and many of them are

echoed in Resolution 30/1. There are a number of key recommendations in the report which do not

feature explicitly elsewhere in the resolution. Progress on these has been disappointingly mixed. For

example the OISL recommends the government of Sri Lanka to:

“..order an end to all surveillance, harassment and reprisals against human rights defenders”. There is no

evidence of any such action being taken.

“Review all cases of detainees held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and either release them or

immediately bring them to trial”. This has not happened.

“Invite OHCHR to establish a full-fledged country presence to monitor the situation of human rights”. No

progress has been made on this. The OHCHR office in Colombo has expanded to include several staff to

advise the Secretariat for the Coordination for Reconciliation Mechanisms. However, several voices within

civil society have criticised the current OHCHR presence for its perceived closeness to the government’s

agenda and in particular its approach to the sequencing of truth and justice mechanisms. Furthermore, it is

far from a country presence with the mandate to monitor and establish field offices in the North and East.

Ibid.

Maheswaran Ponnampalam

Chairman

Address:

E-mail:

Mobile:

Ole Worms Vej 11, 7500 Holstebro, Denmark

[email protected]

+45-21 73 41 79

URU, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 139: Henvendelse af 20. marts 2017 fra Dansk Sammenslutning af Tamilske Foreninger om nyheder og rapporteringer om forholdene for tamilerne på Sri Lanka

“Dispense with the current Presidential Commission on Missing Persons and transfer its cases to a credible

and independent institution developed in consultation with families of the disappeared”. Following intense

criticism, including from the Sri Lanka Campaign, the Paranagama Commission’s mandate came to an end

(and was not renewed) in July 2016. Its cases are yet to be transferred to the forthcoming Office for

Missing Persons.

The international community must demand from the Government of Sri Lanka that it follows OISL

recommendations and live up to its HRC resolution commitments by taking immediate and effective steps

to do so. There is no precedence that any government of the past in Sri Lanka has heeded any

recommendations made by the UN or any other international organization.

We are calling on members of the UN Human Rights Council to pass a follow-up resolution which:

Renews the exact terms of Resolution 30/1, with a request to the government of Sri Lanka to

produce a clear timetable for implementation of the outstanding commitments

Establish an international justice mechanism/hybrid court with participation of foreign

investigators, lawyers and judges

Establish a witness protection mechanism in compliance with international standards

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish a full-fledged

country presence with the mandate to establish field offices in the North and in the East to monitor

the implementation of the resolution

Acknowledges the prevailing ground situation in the North and East (including persistent patterns

of serious human rights violations, militarization, surveillance and intimidation) and the barrier

that it poses to lasting reconciliation

Maheswaran Ponnampalam

Chairman

Address:

E-mail:

Mobile:

Ole Worms Vej 11, 7500 Holstebro, Denmark

[email protected]

+45-21 73 41 79