{"id":42029,"date":"2012-05-19T08:53:39","date_gmt":"2012-05-19T08:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=42029"},"modified":"2012-05-19T08:53:39","modified_gmt":"2012-05-19T08:53:39","slug":"clinton-urges-sri-lanka-to-prosecute-war-criminals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/clinton-urges-sri-lanka-to-prosecute-war-criminals\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinton Urges Sri Lanka To Prosecute War Criminals"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Ashish Kumar Sen<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0The Washington Times –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister\u00a0G.L. Peiris<\/a>\u00a0on Friday apprised Secretary of State\u00a0Hillary Rodham Clinton<\/a>\u00a0of the steps his government is taking to hold accountable those responsible for committing war crimes during a three decade-long war with Tamil rebels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did discuss accountability and informed them of the machinery that has been set up to deal with that,\u201d\u00a0Mr. Peiris<\/a>\u00a0told reporters on Friday evening.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hillary Clinton<\/p><\/div>\n

Sri Lankan President\u00a0Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/a>\u00a0in 2010 appointed a\u00a0Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission<\/a>\u00a0to examine the conflict and post-conflict efforts. The\u00a0commission<\/a>\u2019s report, which lists almost 300 recommendations, does not name any officials \u2013 military or civilian \u2013 against whom allegations of war crimes have been made.<\/p>\n

Mr. Peiris<\/a>\u00a0said\u00a0Sri Lanka<\/a>\u2019s attorney general has been tasked with examining the\u00a0commission<\/a>\u2019s report to determine whether there is any evidence that would justify the institution of criminal proceedings and stand up in a court of law.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Obama administration<\/a>\u00a0has urged the\u00a0Sri Lankan government<\/a>\u00a0to develop a comprehensive action plan for implementing steps on reconciliation and accountability for the alleged war crimes.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0United Nations Human Rights Council<\/a>\u00a0passed a U.S.-sponsored resolution in March that also asked\u00a0Sri Lanka<\/a>\u00a0develop such an action plan.<\/p>\n

Mr. Peiris<\/a>\u00a0said he did not present an action plan, but gave\u00a0Mrs. Clinton<\/a>\u00a0a \u201ccomprehensive account\u201d of the steps his government has taken so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said, \u2018This is the work that we have undertaken and completed so far,\u2019 and we gave them some indication of our priorities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the recommendations of the [LLRC<\/a>] which are capable of immediate implementation, the low-hanging fruit as it were,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

State Department<\/a>\u00a0spokeswoman\u00a0Victoria Nuland<\/a>\u00a0said\u00a0Mrs. Clinton<\/a>\u00a0told the minister: \u201c\u2018Good plan, now you really need to make it public; now you really need to show your people, the world, the concrete implementation steps going forward.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Clinton<\/a>\u00a0emphasized the importance of accountability, strengthening public confidence in the process, and speeding up the healing of the country,\u00a0Ms. Nuland<\/a>\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan army declared victory over the rebel\u00a0Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam<\/a>\u00a0(LTTE<\/a>) in 2009.
\nA United Nations panel found credible reports that both the Sri Lankan military and the\u00a0LTTE<\/a>\u00a0had committed war crimes during the final months of the war.<\/p>\n

Human rights groups say the\u00a0Sri Lankan government<\/a>\u00a0has been reluctant to hold accountable those responsible for alleged war crimes during the war. Some of the most serious allegations pertain to the final phase of the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo months after the U.N. Human Rights Council criticized\u00a0Sri Lanka<\/a>\u2019s lack of progress towards reconciliation and accountability for grave human rights abuses, the\u00a0government<\/a>\u00a0has still taken no concrete steps even to implement the recommendations of its own reconciliation commission,\u201d said Alan Keenan, London-based Sri Lanka project director at the International Crisis Group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe absence of any public \u2018action plan\u2019 for implementing thecommission<\/a>\u2019s recommendations reveals Colombo\u2019s continued lack of commitment to meaningful political reform or justice,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Frank Jannuzi, head of Amnesty International\u2019s Washington office, said the international community must immediately begin its own investigation into the war crimes and human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe international community cannot wait while the\u00a0Sri Lankan government<\/a>\u00a0makes empty promises amid smoke and mirrors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Sri Lankan government<\/a>\u00a0opposes an international investigation.<\/p>\n

Mr. Peiris<\/a>\u00a0said his government has completed 90 percent of the work connected to the resettlement of people displaced by the war, including rehabilitating 595 child soldiers.<\/p>\n

In the Tamil-dominated northern province, the economy is growing at a rate of 22 percent in comparison with\u00a0Sri Lanka<\/a>\u2019s 8 percent rate, he added.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0LTTE<\/a>, which recruited child soldiers and deployed suicide bombers, was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the\u00a0State Department<\/a>\u00a0in 1997.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":42030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-from-foreign-media"],"yoast_head":"\nClinton Urges Sri Lanka To Prosecute War Criminals - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/clinton-urges-sri-lanka-to-prosecute-war-criminals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Clinton Urges Sri Lanka To Prosecute War Criminals - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/clinton-urges-sri-lanka-to-prosecute-war-criminals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-19T08:53:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/hillary-clinton-pointing2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"344\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"344\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/clinton-urges-sri-lanka-to-prosecute-war-criminals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/clinton-urges-sri-lanka-to-prosecute-war-criminals\/\",\"name\":\"Clinton Urges Sri Lanka To Prosecute War Criminals - 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