Sri Lanka’s rare ‘TJ moment’

Wednesday, 18 May 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

With the commitment of the new regime towards protecting human rights, ensuring accountability for war crimes and investigating truths about the past, Sri Lanka is at this moment in an ideal situation to ensure that transitional justice is served to its victims of its many years of violence, according to Howard Varney, an international expert on transitional justice, speaking recently at a workshop on ‘Effective Implementation of Language Policy,’ organised by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo.

Howard Varney is a senior program adviser with ICTJ. His areas of expertise include truth-seeking, national prosecutions, institutional reform, reparations, and public interest litigation. Howard is a practicing advocate at the Johannesburg Bar. His legal practice includes human rights, constitutional, and administrative law.

As a consultant for ICTJ he has assisted with the development of transitional justice initiatives in several countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and the Balkans. He continues to represent victims of past conflicts in the courts of South Africa to vindicate their rights.

Varney who was recently in Colombo, his fourth time in Sri Lanka, spoke about his experiences in the South African Truth and Reconciliation process as a lawyer who supported victims in their search for justice.

The CPA workshop on ‘Effective Implementation of Language Rights in Sri Lanka’ held on 31 March was attended by a number of academics, activists and media persons as well as dignitaries such as the High Commissioner of South Africa and the Minister of National Dialogue, who later in the day discussed with the program team and representatives of the Official Languages Commission and Human Rights Commission as to ways of stronger and more effective implementation of existing official Language Policy regulations.

View an in-depth interview with Howard Varney at http://www.cpalanka.org/interview-prospects-for-transitional-justice-in-sri-lanka/.