Pillay pulls no punches

Monday, 2 September 2013 00:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Says UN never called for investigations only on Lanka Army
Calls for international investigation likely to continue without credible national mechanism
Makes rallying call for witness protection laws in the pipeline since 2007
Says no officials asked for lifting of confidentiality clause in UN Panel of Experts report
Military court of inquiries “not transparent or independent”
Slams alleged reprisals against people who spoke with her in NE

By Dharisha Bastians The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay’s remarks at the conclusion of a weeklong fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka provided strong cues that her oral report to the Human Rights Council later this month will be critical of the country’s post-conflict human rights condition. Navi Pillay, who left Sri Lanka early Sunday, is scheduled to make an oral presentation on her Sri Lanka Mission when the UNHRC sessions open in Geneva in late September. Her full report will be presented to the Council in March next year. At a no-holds-barred press briefing before she left the island, Pillay warned of calls for an international inquiry into allegations of civilian casualties during the last phase of the war unless a credible national mechanism to address accountability issues was established by the Government.

The cornerstone of the process was legislation to protect witnesses and victims willing to come forward, the UN Envoy said in her concluding remarks in Colombo on Saturday (31). “The reality is that there is no protection here for witnesses and victims to testify and have some confidence in the process,” High Commissioner Pillay said. The Witness Protection Act that has been in the pipeline since 2007 has to be adopted, Pillay asserted. Despite remarks made by senior Government officials ahead of her visit, Pillay said no Government officials requested the UN lift the 20-year confidentiality guaranteed for sources in the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts report during her visit. She said that the report was subject to the UN standards on confidentiality. “In the Sri Lankan context, where there is no protection for victims and witnesses and since there have been reprisals against people who have cooperated with the UN mechanisms, the Secretary General in his judgment has placed an embargo on some of that material,” the UN High Commissioner explained. Responding to a question by a journalist, Pillay emphasised that neither she nor the UNHRC have called for an investigation a scrutiny or an investigation just on the excesses of the Sri Lankan Army. “We call for investigation into all killings, all deaths, all disappearances – wherever the perpetrators are,” she observed. Addressing the issue of alleged reprisals against those who made representations to her during her visit to the former conflict zones, High Commissioner Pillay said she found the incidents disturbing. “That does not happen on my missions. To me this just does not happen during my missions. Which is why I am stressing that there must be freedom of speech to address their concerns to an important visitor invited by the Government,” she charged. The Government had flatly denied the allegation of reprisals, she said. Asked how she authenticated the allegations made about reprisals following her northern tour, High Commissioner Pillay said: “What do you do when you receive a complaint? You investigate. All I am calling for is an investigation into these reports of intimidation. If I am faced with a bare denial, then I report what I am told by members of the community.”