Act on pledges

TOP rungs of the Sri Lankan Government will return to Colombo this week with their heads held high after the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) supported their lobbying for a domestic mechanism that could at long last bring sustainable peace to Sri Lanka. However, they also bring on their shoulders the responsibility of accountability and implementing their promises, which is the only chance to give solace and justice to millions of all ethnicities.

The road has been a difficult one, especially when the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for a “hybrid court” that sent ripples of concern across the majority of the Sri Lankan public. The report submitted by the UNHRC contained horrific accounts of human rights violations, including abuse, torture, abductions, extrajudicial killings and recruitment of child soldiers. The details roused fresh sympathy but the core of the report was very much what was detailed in previous documents by the UN. What caught the attention of the world was the Sri Lankan Government’s changed response to the report and its attempts to assure the international community of its sincerity.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera led the way at the UNHRC, telling members of the measures planned by the Government that orbit a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a permanent office for Missing Persons, special powers to be vested so criminal procedures can be conducted against specific cases of abuse where evidence is found and accepting international assistance to strengthen judicial process. This initial message was later tinkered with when the resolution co-sponsored with the US and 24 other countries were discussed at informal meetings on the sidelines of the Geneva sessions. Samaraweera also outlined plans back home to hammer out the contours of a domestic mechanism and put it in working order within 18 months of UNHRC approval.

Parallel to Geneva, President Maithripala Sirisena and Samaraweera led a high-level delegation to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York where they repeated Colombo’s stance on making space and improving accountability. Sirisena told the UNGA in his address that his Government remains committed to ensuring the rights of all communities so they may live together as equals in a united country. 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) also chose to support the US and Sri Lanka sponsored resolution passed on 1 October despite vehement disapproval by some members who chose to make separate representations. This effort by the TNA to build bridges has to be commended, especially when it faces such strong opposition internally and externally. 

It seems at long last a platform for consensus has been built. But now comes the hard part. When diplomacy ends the work must begin. By taking all responsibility for accountability onto its shoulders the Government has also placed itself at the very centre of delivering its promises to the people. 

At this moment hopeful eyes of its own people are turned on the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe duo. Their formation of a giant National Government made most sense when looked from the dimension of reconciliation. Resources, internationally and locally, are being mobilised in the hope of genuine pledges being carried out. Colombo now has to end its mixed signals and deliver on its promises; its efforts in doing so will decide the legacy of this Government and, more importantly, the future of Sri Lanka.