Sri Lanka going round in circles over human rights

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) on Tuesday issued its findings on Sri Lanka during the ongoing session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

In its report, the Committee said it was concerned about the lack of a comprehensive register of disappeared persons and the limited progress in clarifying their fate and whereabouts, noting that the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) had only traced 23 disappeared persons out of the 16,966 received cases. 

It also stated its concern about the high level of impunity, reflected in the lack of progress in the investigation and prosecution of alleged enforced disappearances, including those that occurred during the armed conflict.

The Committee also said it was concerned about the accidental discovery of at least 17 mass graves which underscored the limited forensic capacity among competent authorities and the absence of centralised ante-mortem and post-mortem databases as well as a national genetic database.

It urged Sri Lanka to strengthen the capacity of competent national institutions to locate and identify mass graves, seek and conduct exhumations, and develop a comprehensive strategy for the search for, identification, excavation, and investigation of identified burial sites.

This comes days after the UNHRC adopted a new resolution on Sri Lanka without a vote to extend for two more years the mandate of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This means the Government will have two years before a comprehensive review of how it addresses human rights issues in the country.

The reality for any party that takes power in the country is that it has to address human rights issues that remain unaddressed for decades. It is not the doing of one government or of a few individuals, this is an issue that the citizens of the country need to collectively come to understand as one that cannot be sidestepped forever, if there is to be genuine interest in reconciliation in the country.

The NPP Government which won overwhelmingly at the Parliamentary election from the North and East of the country promised to address human rights violations/disappearances, etc. but so far not much has changed.

There were promises to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) but other than appointing an expert committee to review the law, it remains very much in place and people continue to be detained under the PTA.

There was also the pledge to set up an independent prosecutor office which too has made little headway.

The Government, during its submission to the UNHRC was firm that it will only be through the domestic process that human rights violations will be investigated, and those found guilty punished. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath who addressed the meeting said State institutions have already been de-politicised and strengthened and there is more scope for independent and fair investigation in the country than ever before.

The problem with this position is that neither the UN nor the countries that have been calling for international investigations into Sri Lanka are willing to take it seriously. They see a lack of credibility in the domestic process as well a lack of faith in the system by families of victims of alleged war crimes/disappearances.

Hence for the Government both convincing international partners as well as the family members of victims to keep faith in the local system is a challenging task.

Successive Governments have used the UNHRC sessions to buy time, but justice has not been delivered. The NPP, unless it acts with sincerity and firmly, will tell the UNHRC the same story two years down the line with little to show for progress.