Shenali D Waduge

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has long been accused of double standards, politicization, and selective justice. The UNHRC Head is currently in Sri Lanka on a 3 day visit with a tight schedule. But when that schedule fits in traveling to the North by helicopter to lay flowers for dead LTTE terrorists – we must lodge our protest. This is not a gesture of reconciliation—it is an insult to the victims of LTTE terror. It is a clear violation of the UN’s own stance against glorifying terrorism. We not only take offence but we demand an immediate explanation from the OHCHR office and all parties involved in organizing this itinerary. Why does the UNHRC Head have time to lay flowers for terrorists but not to visit the graves of victims of LTTE? If at all he should be searching the graves of 40,000 claimed to be killed during the last phase, not some unverified grave site of 1990s. We don’t expect a visiting UNHRC head to be laying flowers for terrorists especially when there is a bigger conflict unfolding in the Middle East. If the visiting UNHRC Head’s itinerary includes laying flowers as a symbolic gesture of goodwill for the dead, then he must lay flowers for victims of terror not the terrorists.

A Legacy of Bias: From 2006 to Present: Every UNHRC head since 2006 has demonstrated overt bias against Sri Lanka. Despite the end of a 30-year conflict in 2009—during which the Sri Lankan state defeated one of the world’s most ruthless terrorist organizations, carried out the world’s largest humanitarian rescue operation & rehabilitated & reintegrated close to 12,000 LTTE cadres—the UNHRC has relentlessly pursued Sri Lanka, using flawed reports and unverified allegations, demanding domestic reforms & restructuring to undermine its sovereignty.

The UNHRC appears either unwilling or unable to distinguish between the legitimate right of a sovereign state to carry out counter-terrorism operations and the deliberate, unlawful acts of terrorism committed by LTTE banned by 32 nations. By drawing moral equivalence between a state’s lawful military operations and the LTTE’s brutal terror campaign—and then disproportionately targeting the Government of Sri Lanka for alleged human rights violations—the UNHRC undermines both international law and its own credibility.

Three major reports—the 2011 Darusman Report, 2012 Petrie Report, and 2015 OHCHR Investigation (OISL)—form the backbone of this campaign. All three were:

• Initiated without UN General Assembly or Security Council approval
• Funded and published under the Secretary-General’s office without mandate
• Based on anonymous testimonies sealed for 20 years
• Denied Sri Lanka the right to cross-examine or respond
• Darusman & Petrie Report were not published officially but leaked to the public

These reports violated UN Charter Articles 2(1), 2(7), 7, 22, and 100, among others. Despite this, successive UNHRC heads weaponized these flawed documents to justify political interference and externally driven reforms.

Selective mourning: glorifying terrorists, ignoring victims The High Commissioner’s decision to lay flowers at a site allegedly linked to 19 unverified deaths (and no confirmed evidence of a mass grave) is not only premature but deeply insulting & absolutely unwarranted. If he wants to lay flowers there are plenty of places to commemorate the dead. How can some unverified site with 19 skeletons be more important than the thousands of innocent lives lost at the hands of the LTTE? From over 300 such attacks by LTTE over 30 years…

• 149 Buddhists hacked to death at the Sri Maha Bodhi in 1985
• 600+ unarmed policemen executed by the LTTE in 1990
• 147 Muslims massacred inside Kattankudy Mosque in 1990
• Entire Sinhala and Muslim villages wiped out across the North and East (ethnic cleansing)
• 113 killed when LTTE attacked Central Bank in 1996
• 33 student Bhikkhus pulled out of bus & murdered in Aranthalawa 1987
• Hundreds of villagers killed in the Kent & Dollar Farms throughout the 1980s
• LTTE attacked & bombed buses trains, airports, public places – killing thousands of unarmed innocent civilians. Why can’t the UNHRC head place a single flower for them

Why is the UNHRC not laying flowers at these grave sites? Why does the itinerary ignore these massacres entirely? Why does the UNHRC never meet with the families of these victims?

This is not justice—it is propaganda. It is not human rights—it is human wrongs.

What about Iran-Israel Crisis: At a time when the world is on the edge of a catastrophic regional & global war, with grave human rights violations occurring daily, the UNHRC head has chosen to spend his time attending an event for dead LTTE terrorists in Sri Lanka. This shameful prioritization reveals everything about the UNHRC’s misplaced agenda.

Why is there no emergency session to resolve the Iran-Israel crisis? If Ban Ki Moon could appoint a panel immediately after Sri Lanka’s conflict concluded why doesn’t the sitting UNHRC head do something to address the conflict unfolding in the Middle East – the logistical nightmare that would impact the economies of the entire world. Is this issue not more important than travelling all the way to Sri Lanka to lay flowers for dead LTTE?

Double Standards and Cowardice This pattern of selective accountability shows cowardice. The UNHRC dares to attack small, sovereign nations like Sri Lanka, but refuses to hold powerful countries accountable. Sri Lanka defeated terrorism. That should be acknowledged—not punished.

Meanwhile, those who funded, trained, and armed the LTTE walk free. LTTE are not punished for recruiting children. The families of 5000 missing Sri Lankan soldiers are denied answers. Tamils, Sinhalese & Muslim victims of LTTE never get a hearing in Geneva. Annually, UNHRC ears are only for LTTE fronts & pro-LTTE activists.

Where is the UNHRC’s impartiality? Where is the justice for all?

We Demand Accountability from the UNHRC :

1. An apology for the selective glorification of LTTE-linked grave sites.
2. Refusal to visit massacre sites and meet with families of Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim victims of the LTTE.
3. A full audit of how the Darusman, Petrie, and OISL reports were commissioned, funded, and used outside of UNGA & UNSC mandate.
4. A UNGA-led legal review of all resolutions and reports against Sri Lanka.
5. Reaffirmation that non-international armed conflicts fall under domestic jurisdiction.
6. Review on how human rights laws have replaced international humanitarian laws for selective justice.

Timeline of UNHRC Targeting Since 2009

• 2012: Resolution A/HRC/19/2 – the first against SL
• 2013, 2014: Further resolutions despite domestic reconciliation
• 2015: OISL Report based on sealed testimonies
• 2021, 2022, 2023: Renewed resolutions despite no war since 2009

The UNHRC has become a tool of political coercion. If it wishes to restore credibility, it must first respect its own Charter, uphold impartiality, and stop glorifying terrorism under the guise of human rights.

Sri Lanka is not currently a member of the UNHRC and therefore has no vote nor influence over the Council’s resolutions, despite being a subject of repeated and intrusive scrutiny. This makes the ongoing pressure not only unfair but undemocratic

UNHRC/OHCHR unashamedly are showing their bias & double standards because the UN system is ill-equipped to take action against its illegalities. How else did 3 legally questionable reports (Darusman, Petrie, OISL) end up being used against a UN member sovereign state.

Sri Lanka deserves justice—not judgment.

Shenali D Waduge