Hybrid healer for horrors

Thursday, 17 September 2015

UN rights chief flags horrific violations, strong indication of war

crimes by Govt. forces and LTTE
Zeid hopes Human Rights Council will endorse OISL
recommendations, including hybrid court
UN Rights Chief recommends strong vetting of Lankan military
personnel for peacekeeping missions, military exchanges
Report finds evidence of extra-judicial killings, indiscriminate
shelling by govt. troops
OISL notes repeated shelling of hospitals in the Wanni; serious
doubt they were accidental attacks
Report finds LTTE leaders prevented civilians from leaving the
battle zone
Report finds Karuna group conscripted children after defecting
to Govt; finds Govt. was aware of child recruitment

United

Nations Human Rights Chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein at yesterday's

briefing on UNHRC Report on Sri Lanka.
Dharisha Bastians
reporting from Geneva
The United Nations Human Rights Chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein has called for
the setting up of a special hybrid court comprising international judges
and prosecutors after a report by his Office revealed horrific violations
strongly indicating that war crimes were most likely committed by both
government forces and the LTTE and declared the countrys justice system
incapable of dealing with the seriousness of the crimes.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights yesterday released the long
awaited report of an investigation by his office, into allegations that war
crimes had been committed during the final stages of the Sri Lankan
conflict.
Indiscriminate shelling, extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances,
harrowing accounts of torture and sexual violence, recruitment of children
and other grave crimes had been laid bare in the report, the UN High
Commissioner said.
As he made the 261 page report public, Zeid said Sri Lankas justice system
was not up to the task of dealing with such grave violations.
The inescapable reality is that Sri Lankas criminal justice system is not
ready to handle these types of crimes, High Commissioner Zeid told a
news conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva yesterday.

Zeid said the report had highlighted years of denials and coverups, the
failure to carry out investigations and reprisals against those calling for
justice.
The High Commissioner said that
domestic mechanisms of the past had
suffered repeated failures to bring
justice to victims, leading to skepticism,
anger and mistrust on the part of
victims. Many of the structures
responsible for the violations and crimes
remain in place, the High
Commissioner noted.
The hybrid special court would deepen
national importance while at the same
time maintain international focus on Sri
Lanka, High Commissioner Zeid
explained.
The commitment by the new
Government to pursue accountability through a domestic process was
commendable, Zeid said, adding that unfortunately, Sri Lankas criminal
justice system is not yet ready.
The High Commissioner told reporters that the absence of reliable witness
protection, the inadequacy of the countrys legal framework and the
degree to which the countrys security sector and judicial system had been
corrupted by decades of emergency, conflict and impunity posed
challenges to achieving justice for victims.
The High Commissioner noted that the investigation had been hindered by
the fact that the Sri Lankan Government did not support the probe for
almost entire length of the inquiry.

We were hampered by the inability to access the very people we needed

to meet the most - victims in Sri Lanka, Zeid said.
Hailing victims and survivors for the courage of their testimony that
contributed to the 261 page, two-part report, the UN High Commissioner
said he hoped the report would inspire change that many Sri Lankans had
been aching for.
Sri Lanka will never escape the stinging tentacles of its past unless victims
receive justice and redress, the UN Rights Chief told journalists.
The High Commissioner said he hoped
the UN Human Rights Council which is
sitting in its 30th Session this month,
will endorse the recommendations in
the report. In response to a question
posed by Daily FT about whether his
office would urge the inclusion of the
hybrid court in the draft resolution on
Sri Lanka at the end of the session, Zeid
said consultations on the draft were not
yet underway.
I will expect that there will be a careful
reading of the report the shorter
summary and the longer report. My
hope is that the Human Rights Council
will endorse the recommendations we
have placed in our report. Since we
have not had consultations on the draft
yet, it is a discussion to come. Our hope
is that the recommendation will be
accepted and adopted by principally by
the Government of Sri Lanka but that

the Human Rights Council will see fit to support the recommendations, he
said.
Zeid strongly recommended vetting for security and military officials from
Sri Lanka proposed for international peacekeeping missions or military
exchanges. It is absolutely clear given the findings in this report that there
must be a great deal of soul-searching if the Sri Lanka is going to ensure
non-recurrence. One would hope that within the security services, there will
be a recognition that these methods were they to be proven in a court of
law, do not bring greater stability to a country. It only brings more suffering
and creates more victims, the High Commissioner said.
The High Commissioner took pains to note that the investigation carried out
by his office was a human rights investigation and not a criminal
investigation. But he said it marked the beginning of a judicial process to
confirm that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed
by state actors and the LTTE and paramilitary groups during the Sri Lankan
war.
Zeid said his office hoped this report would lead to efforts to end impunity
for these crimes and create a most intense reckoning with the past.
The recognition that there are simply too many families throughout Sri
Lanka that have suffered appallingly, too many who have disappeared, too
many pushed into exile, too many funerals organised, too much pain felt
and too much lost in terms of Sri Lankas human and economic potential,
for the past not to be stared down, not to be learnt from and atoned for,
the High Commissioner said.
The OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) conducted by a team of seven
investigators and three special advisors, found evidence of extra-judicial
killings and indiscriminate shelling by Government forces with the use of
long range weapons. The report said investigators also found evidence that
top LTTE commanders had prevented civilians from leaving the battle zones
in the Northern Province and said the Tigers had repeatedly set up military

fortifications near civilian areas and medical facilities. In a particularly

interesting finding, the OISL report revealed that it had documented
extensive recruitment of children in armed conflict by the LTTE which
intensified during the final months of the conflict. The OISL also found that
the Karuna group had recruited children after its split from the LTTE in 2004.
Based on the information gathered by OISL there are reasonable grounds
to believe that Government security forces may have known that the
Karuna group recruited children in areas under their control, the report
states.
The findings, if proven amount to a contravention of the UN convention on
rights of the child and its optional protocol and would constitute a war crime
if proven in a court of law, the report
said.
As the High Commissioner issued his
statement about the release of the
report, victim families from North, East
and South of Sri Lanka sat outside Press
Room III of the Palais des Nations,
watching his remarks on the live
webcast. Zeid acknowledged the women
as he left the press room following his
news conference.

Govt. assures due

attention to UN war
crimes report
In what the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights
Spokesman Rupert Colville called a

cordial response, the Government of Sri Lanka replied the OISL report,
noting that it was not a criminal investigation and pledging to give it due
attention.
The communiqu expresses the Governments commitment to ensuring
non-recurrence and pledges wide consultations with stakeholders and
victims.
The following is the full text of the Governments response to the UN report.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri
Lanka presents its compliments to the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and with reference to the latters
Note dated 10 September 2015 conveying an unedited advance copy of the
Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(A/HRC/30/61) and the Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka
(OISL) (A/HRC/30/SRP.2) has the honour to submit the following comments:
The Government of Sri Lanka,
*Takes note of the Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (A/HRC/30/61), and the recommendations made by the High
Commissioner;
*Is pleased and encouraged by the High Commissioners recognition of the
efforts of the new Government since the Presidential election of 8 January
2015 in dealing with issues of concern for the people of Sri Lanka relating to
human rights, rule of law, governance, justice, institutional and legal reform
and reconciliation;
*Appreciates the due recognition given to the Governments constructive
engagement with the High Commissioner and OHCHR aimed at addressing
post-conflict issues that impact on achieving reconciliation;
*Remains firm in its conviction to take all possible measures to ensure nonrecurrence in keeping with the mandate given by the people of the country
twice this year, 2015, at the Presidential election in January and the
Parliamentary election in August;

*Will ensure dialogue and wide consultations with all stakeholders

especially the victims of conflict, communities, political parties, civil society
representatives, the military as well as the High Commissioner and his
Office, bilateral partners, and other international organistions in putting in
place mechanisms and measures that will facilitate the right to know, right
to justice, reparations and guaranteeing non-recurrence with the aim of
achieving reconciliation and durable peace to ensure long-term progress of
all her citizens;
*Takes note also of the Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka
(OISL), recognises fully that this Report represents a human rights
investigation and not a criminal investigation, and will ensure that its
content as well as recommendations receive due attention of the relevant
authorities including the new mechanisms that are envisaged to be set up;
*Remains open to continuing its engagement with the High Commissioner
and his Office as well as the systems and procedures of the Human Rights
Council, aimed at taking steps to safeguard and uphold the human rights of
all her citizens.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri
Lanka avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the assurances of
its highest consideration.
TNA hails report; calls for introspection within Tamil community
The Tamil National Alliance strongly welcomed the OISL report released
yesterday, particularly the reports recommendation for the establishment
of a hybrid court and the incorporation of international crimes into Sri
Lankas laws so that prosecutions could take place.
TNA Lawmaker and Spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran told Daily FT at the Palais
des Nations in Geneva that the party hoped the Government would accept

the UN report.
Sumanthiran said the Foreign Minister in his address to the Human Rights
Council this week had noted that that there was a new Sri Lanka in which
things would be different.
Sri Lanka must now stand up and accept this report and work with the
world community. To that extent, we ask the 47 Member States in the
Human Rights Council to adopt all the recommendations in the OISL report
as a resolution. We ask the Government of Sri Lanka to agree to that so that
we can go forward with one aim. To deal with the past properly, in a manner
that will assuage the feelings of the victims and having dealt with the past
in a meaningful way to move forward into a bright future for all of Sri
Lankas people, the TNA Parliamentarian urged.
He also urged soul-searching within the Tamil community, about the
communitys own failures. We ask the Tamil people of Sri Lanka also to use
this moment as a moment of introspection into our own communitys
failures and create the right culture and atmosphere in which we can live
with dignity and self-respect, as equal citizens of Sri Lanka, Sumanthiran
said. (DB)

Namal claims UN suggestion an insult

MP Namal Rajapaksa yesterday in a tweet claimed that the OHCRs call for
the creation of a hybrid court in Sri Lanka was a complete insult to the
entire legal system of the country.
He said Sri Lanka is fully capable of conducting any domestic inquiry that is
needed.
The double standards practiced by sections of the international community
is injustice in itself. Sri Lanka courts have already demonstrated they have
resources and capability to conduct credible investigations within existing

legal framework, he added.

- See more at: http://www.ft.lk/article/471779/%E2%80%9CHybrid
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