The international community must stay “fully engaged” on Sri Lanka to ensure all aspects of a UN resolution are fully implemented said the Global Tamil Forum, in a statement released on Wednesday.
“Sri Lanka has time and time again shown it is both unwilling and unable to investigate allegations of war crimes against its own forces or hold perpetrators of grave abuses to account,” said the statement.
Noting that Sri Lanka had agreed to a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in September last year, the GTF stated that “it appears the government is now trying to back away from this commitment”.
“Given the history of failures of Government Commissions and judicial processes, international participation as specified in the resolution is a must to guarantee the credibility and effectiveness of the Special Court,” it added. “GTF therefore calls upon the Council Members and the High Commissioner of the UNHRC to urge the Sri Lankan government not to renege on this all important commitment to the UN.”
The statement went on to add the “International Community needs to resolutely engage, so that Sri Lanka stays on course towards genuine reform, and implements the resolution it co-sponsored without any exceptions”.
“The High Commissioner’s oral update on Sri Lanka and discussion provides an excellent opportunity to Council Members to raise the specific issues highlighted in this statement and call for accelerated action by the government,” it noted.
“Although far from perfect, GTF endorsed the Guiding Principles of the resolution co-sponsored by the Sri Lankan government, and consistently welcomed the progressive changes implemented in Sri Lanka during the last 18 months,” said the organisation in a statement released whilst countries from around the world meet at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“However, GTF is deeply concerned about the lack of progress on the many issues affecting Tamils in the North and East as reflected in the resolution – such as the release of hundreds of detainees held under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (the Act itself has not been repealed despite repeated promises by the government), the return of land held by the military (large swathes of land is yet to be returned to rightful owners), investigations into the tens of thousands of forcibly disappeared people, and the removal of the military from civilian affairs,” it continued.
“Overpowering militarisation and its pervasive influence in civilian affairs is severely impeding full normalisation in the North and East, and the government has yet to come up with a credible plan for the demilitarisation of the region.”
“The last thing Sri Lanka needs at present is a pre-mature recognition of its perceived progress. The resultant loss of momentum, we are afraid, has the potential to derail the limited progress made so far, leading to the re-emergence of a sense of despair among the Tamil people in Sri Lanka,” it concluded.
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