The UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances called on Sri Lanka to consider the integration of international elements into the envisaged judicial accountability mechanism.
The Working Group said it stands ready to continue closely cooperating with the Government of Sri Lanka and to provide its technical assistance as appropriate.
The UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances expressed these views after submitting its report on Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday (Sep 15).
The road that leads to truth and justice is long but is the right one to take, even if it may be painful at times,” the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances said after presenting the report on its visit to Sri Lanka in November 2015.
“After our visit we indicated that the challenge facing the Government of Sri Lanka was to transform its promises into a concrete, comprehensive, legitimate and participatory framework aimed at securing the rights to truth, justice, reparation and memory, and guarantees of non-recurrence for the families of the disappeared and the Sri Lankan society as a whole.”
“Some of the steps taken since then are quite encouraging,” emphasized the experts.
“The recent ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance is a very important measure as it provides the basis for the establishment of a solid legal framework in the areas of prevention, punishment, reparation and non-recurrence of enforced disappearances,” noted the experts. “This ratification should be followed immediately by implementing legislation, and, indeed, practice.”
“These initial steps are important though not sufficient yet. Sri Lanka should continue on this path, with the awareness that more and more complex steps need to be taken to accomplish the huge task it has in front of it and finally deliver truth and justice to thousands of families in despair,” emphasized the experts.
