Transitional justice processes are don’t constitute a witch-hunt, a visiting UN expert observed here on Monday, voicing concern about frequently heard pledges in Sri Lanka to protect “war heroes”.
“This seems to misrepresent the target of transitional justice accountability measures by suggesting it is a generally anti-security agenda, and also by forgetting that no one who has committed violations of human rights law or of the laws of war deserves to be called a hero,” said Pablo de Greiff, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.
During and after Sri Lanka’s civil war, human rights organisations accused the armed forces of committing grave human rights abuses. The allegation evokes a vehement denial in the country’s Sinhala-majority south, especially within the Sinhala polity. Sharing his observations after a 14-day visit to the island, Mr. de Greiff observed that Sri Lanka continued to deprive itself of the benefits of transitional justice. Emphasising that it was not just the minorities, but also the majority community that stands to gain from a credible transitional justice mechanism, he said that at least two major instances of violence in the island in 1971 and in 1987-89 affected only the majority Sinhalese community.
Basic rights
Pointing to pending concerns around the release of military-occupied private land in the north and east, the repeated calls for repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), and persisting surveillance in the former war zone, he said: “Each of these issues involve questions of basic rights and thus, the continued failure to achieve progress in fully addressing them constitutes a denial of justice.”
On whether the Sri Lankan government had the political will to address the problems, the UN expert said the government had invited him five times to the country and provided him with information, reflecting its openness and willingness to engage in dialogue. “But on the question of political will, it remains to be seen because so much remains to be done,” said Mr. Greiff, who will present a detailed report to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2018.