HEALING: Reconciliation process must be credible, internationally and locally
By Arjuna Ranawana –
Arjuna Ranawana
THE spotlight is on post-war Sri Lanka’s process of reconciliation and rehabilitation because of a United States-sponsored resolution passed by the 19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.
It calls for the implementation of the recommendations of the Sri Lanka government’s own Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), for a time-bound road map to bring these into force and “address allegations” of war crimes committed during the conflict. It also asks the UN to provide technical support to the government to implement the recommendations.
Sri Lanka’s 30-year long civil war that pitted the state against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ended in 2009.
The Tigers decimated any groups or leaders within the Tamil community that could challenge their leader, Velupillai Pirubhakaran. The Sri Lankan security forces countered the Tigers with an equal measure of brutality and there were many allegations made against them as well.
What is in sharp focus now is the final phase of the war. Between September 2008 and May 19, 2009, a UN report estimates that around 40,000 non-combatants were killed because of shelling by the Sri Lanka army and by the Tigers using civilians as a human shield.
A panel of experts appointed by the UN found that atrocities committed by both sides could be prosecuted as war crimes and recommended that the UN should set up an international independent mechanism to probe these allegations.
Human rights groups and Sri Lankan Tamil exiles accuse government leaders of ordering the armed forces to kill LTTE leaders who surrendered and also of executing prisoners.
The resolution is certainly only a baby step towards a full-scale war crimes probe. It does not propose any punitive measures on Sri Lanka and will not be legally binding on the administration of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.
There is also no reference to an independent international mechanism to probe violations of international law as recommended by the UN panel. But the US says it hopes this will prompt the government of Sri Lanka to “credibly investigate” alleged violations of international humanitarian law.
Human rights groups inside and outside Sri Lanka will hail this as a victory to protect the human rights of Sri Lankans and aid in the process of reconciliation but may be disappointed by the watered-down nature of the language.
Within Sri Lanka, many Tamil political groups, including some religious leaders, human rights activists and civil society groups, have welcomed the move.
Their main issue with the government is that they have little faith the administration will conduct a fair investigation into the allegations. Sri Lankan administrations throughout the years are not known for probing their own misdeeds, thus the desire for external monitoring of the process.
The Rajapakse government disagrees that the resolution is harmless. A commentator aligned with the administration, Dayan Jayatilleka, writes that it is a “smokescreen for foreign interventionism”.
In Sri Lanka, the response of Rajapakse’s supporters — led by hardline Sinhalese — is less measured. In fact, it has bordered on the hysterical.
The government sponsored demonstrations held before the embassies of the countries supporting the proposal and also helped stage several protests in Geneva.
Effigies of US President Barack Obama were set alight in one demonstration in Colombo.
There is broad consensus that the recommendations of the LLRC should be implemented. Rajapakse has pledged to do so.
Whether this resolution will lead to any kind of international oversight is yet to be seen. Whatever the process, it has to be credible not only in the eyes of the international community but also with the majority of Sri Lankans — for the ultimate purpose of that process should be reconciliation and the restoration of the rule of law.
For now, the UNHRC session has served the Rajapakse administration as a welcome distraction. It has raised the bogey of foreign intervention to get the minds of the people off their hunger, fear of lawlessness, endemic corruption and the culture of impunity.
Thanga / April 4, 2012
Insightful!
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sjv chelvanayakam / April 4, 2012
Another Copy and Paste job by a war expert… Hmm its funny how these Tamil exiles..who funded the Brutal LTTE as you have mentioned.. who are have commited war crimes.. have no responsibility.. Now Look at India and USA screaming at InT Islamist Exiles who funded terror.. They have issued Bountys..saying Wanted Dead.. what a joke from a joker.. ‘A commentator aligned with the administration, Dayan Jayatilleka’ so people who disagree or have a different viwe from socalled experts like you are all aligend with GOSL.. So who are you aligned with???? so much fro democracy and free opinion
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Concerned Tamil / April 4, 2012
Where is the international pressure? Where are the sanctions? All of this UN business is empty words.
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Spam King / April 4, 2012
Fools spring eternal—through all cultures and all eras. No exception for our own. But rather than discount them as burdens, we’d do well to see the blessing. For like the bubbles in the fountain, they add a certain unexpectedness—more three-dimensionality—to life.
Bewildered, bemused, befuddled, benign—fools of every persuasion have proven a mainstay throughout literature. Shakespeare, Molière, Dickens, Twain—all keen observers of human character and relationships—were wont in every work to throw a fool or two into the mix. In the hands of a master storyteller, a fool can be quite instructive. And besides, life just doesn’t look the same without them.
Now where literary forbears once found inspiration for metaphorical musings, scientific moderns are finding grist for the research mill.
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David Blacker / April 4, 2012
As a former member of the Sri Lanka army, I will say, yes we killed, raped, and tortured. But they were all bloody Tamil Tiger terrorists anyway, so who cares. TERRORISTS DESERVE TO DIE! I AM TIRED OF THESE WEBSITES THAT PROMOTE TIGER TERRORISM! WHO IS BEHIND THIS WEBSITE? I WILL SEND A WHITE VAN.
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gamini / April 5, 2012
David, stand in front of a mirror you will see a TERRORIST. I have read your comments with absolute repulsion. Yet you are entitled to view your opinion. This is the difference You and I have. Good luck! mate!
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K. C. John / April 5, 2012
David,
I am grateful to brave men like you who put your life on the line to save us from the scourge of terrorism. You are appreciated for this.
However, were you willing to sacrifice your life so that, eventually, the people of Sri Lanka would lose democracy and human rights?
Now please don’t get me wrong here. I’m not referring to war time human rights. I’m “pragmatic” enough to acknowledge that those will be violated in warfare. I’m referring to the violation of human rights of the citizens of this country post war.
Please think about this, seriously.
Yes, David, terras don’t deserve anything other than death.
Please send your White Van for Karuna and Pillayan without further delay.
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Punchinilame / April 5, 2012
David may have served as a solider but he is a Mad radical. There are
enough Officers in the Army to present a sober view of the battle they
had to fight, and some who are Overseas have come out with reliable
information. The Ch. 4 releases were based on them.
The term “Terrorist” vis-a-vis the Ethnic Issues of SL cannot be rolled into one.
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