{"id":114088,"date":"2021-05-07T15:07:28","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T22:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=114088"},"modified":"2021-05-13T04:40:43","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T11:40:43","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-18d-pt-2a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/05\/07\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-18d-pt-2a\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 18D Pt 2A"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The UN High\nCommissioner for Human Rights, (UNHCHR) presented to the 46th<\/sup>\nsession of the UNHRC in February 2021, her report on Sri Lanka. (UN Doc\nA\/HRC\/46\/20). This is the latest in the stream of reports on Sri Lanka since\nSri Lanka won the Eelam war. This report can be read at https:\/\/undocs.org\/en\/A\/HRC\/46\/20<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCommissioner stated that the Report was prepared in accordance with Human\nRights Council Resolution 40\/1 of   2019,\nin which the Council requested the Office of the United Nations High\nCommissioner for Human Rights to assess the situation in Sri Lanka and to\npresent a comprehensive report at the 46th<\/sup> session of UNHRC. The\nreport was formally presented to the Human Rights Council at the 46 session in\nFebruary 2021, followed by an interactive dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Report is\nnot a normal   report, carrying a well\nthought out independent assessment of facts. It is a lament written by the\nTamil Separatist Movement. Here are some of its complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The report\ncomplains that policies are in favor of the Sinhala Buddhist majority. <\/li>
  2. The archaeological\ncommittee for Eastern province is composed totally of Sinhalese including two\nBuddhist monks. Tamils and Muslims are left out<\/li>
  3. President has\nappointed a committee of senior Buddhist monks to advise him.  <\/li>
  4.  Tamil and Muslim minorities are being\nincreasingly marginalized and excluded in statements about the national vision\nand Government policy. <\/li>
  5. Muslims are\nstigmatized as carriers of Covid. <\/li>
  6.  Muslims who died of Covid were cremated, not\nburied as they requested. <\/li>
  7. The national\nanthem was not played in Tamil on Independence Day 2020.  <\/li>
  8. 31 Department\nare now under the Ministry of DefEnece, including police,   telecommunications, ICTA, Department of\nimmigration and emigration.<\/li>
  9. There is\nmilitarization of government functions.<\/li>
  10. Military is\nadministering the Covid   quarantine\ncenters and military officers have been appointed chief coordinating officers\nin all districts to control Covid. <\/li>
  11. President has\nappointed around 28 military persons, to key administration posts. Some task\nforces are composed entirely of military, intelligence and police personnel. <\/li>
  12. The\nGovernment has appointed active and former military personnel, including those\ncharged with war crimes to key positions in the civilian administration.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    1. Some of them,\nsuch as Defense secretary, Gen. Kamal Gunaratne, who commanded the 53rd\nDivision at the end of the civil war, and Chief of defense staff, Shavendra Silva,\nare considered to have committed war crimes in the Eelam war. They were\npromoted to the rank of General.<\/li>
    2. The present\ngovernment has set up a Presidential Commission of inquiry to investigate\nallegations of political victimization of public officials, and armed forces by\nthe previous government. <\/li>
    3. The\ngovernment issued an order to halt the prosecution of former navy commander\nWasantha Karannagoda and Commodore DKP Dissanayake over the disappearance of 11\npersons.<\/li>
    4.  The investigations into the murder of Lasantha\nWickrematunge and Prageet Eknaligoda have been halted. <\/li>
    5. Shani\nAbeysekera has been arrested.<\/li>
    6.  Nishantha Silva left the country.<\/li>
    7. There have\nbeen a series of deaths of criminal gangs in police custody <\/li>
    8. One such\ndeath is that of Makandure Madush. The Report says it was wrong for the police\nto have killed him. Makandure Madush was a leading figure in the underworld. He\nheaded a large-scale heroin racket. He had carried out countless robberies, and\na large number of murders, including those belonging to rival gangs. Makandure Madush\nwas behind many organized criminal cases that took place in Sri Lanka.<\/li>
    9. On the other\nhand, the Report objected to the presidential pardon granted to Sergeant Sunil\nRatnayake,   found guilty of    killing Tamils at Mirusuvil. The exercise\nof presidential pardon must comply with international obligations under\ninternational human rights law and international humanitarian law, said the\nReport. No pardon should be given for those responsible for international\ncr\u00e8mes and gross violation of human rights.<\/li>
    10. The Report\ndraws attention to the tens of thousands of survivors of the Eelam war, \u2014\nspouses, parents, children, and other relatives \u2014 from all communities who\npersist in seeking justice, reparations and the truth about the fate of their\nloved ones.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      The Report\ngoes on to make gloomy predictions.  UN High\nCommissioner for Human Rights stated that she is deeply concerned by the trends\nthat have emerged over the past year, in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka remains in a\nstate of denial about the past, with truth-seeking efforts aborted and the\nhighest State officials refusing to make any acknowledgement of past crimes,\nshe said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There is the\npossibility that Pohottu government will carry out more human rights violations.\n Also that Pohottu will return to the\nearlier policies and practices that led to war. Pohottu   may also take action to stop accountability\nfor past crimes. There is serious risk of future violations. OHCHR calls for strong\npreventive action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There is a shrill call for the UNHRC to take further action on Sri\nLanka. Human Rights Council should urgently pay attention to these early\nwarning signs\nof more violations to come and continue its close monitoring of developments in Sri Lanka.  The Human Rights Council is at a critical\nturning point in its engagement with Sri Lanka, said the Report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Report recommended the following to the UNHCR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Request OHCHR to enhance its\nmonitoring of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, including progress\ntowards accountability and reconciliation, and report regularly to the Human\nRights Council;<\/li>
      2. Support a dedicated capacity to\ncollect and preserve evidence for future accountability processes, to advocate\nfor victims and survivors, and to support relevant judicial proceedings in\nMember States with competent jurisdiction.<\/li>
      3. Apply stringent vetting procedures to\nSri Lankan police and military personnel identified for military exchanges and\ntraining programmes;<\/li>
      4. Prioritize support to civil society\ninitiatives and efforts for reparation and victims\u2019 assistance and prioritize\nvictims and their families for assistance in \nscholarship programmes; <\/li>
      5. Review\nasylum measures with respect to Sri Lankan nationals charged with war crimes. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        The Report also drags in the Member states of the UN. The Report\nwants the Member states of the UN to take action against Sri Lanka. Member states\nare offered three options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Firstly, they\ncould refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court. Secondly, member\nstates could also bring Sri Lanka before their own national courts on the\nprinciple of Universal Jurisdiction. Thirdly, member states could consider\ntargeted sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans on Sri Lankans charged\nwith war crimes. The High Commissioner also asks Member States to work with\nUNHCR and support its investigation into Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The report\nconcludes with un-solicited advice for the government of Sri Lanka. High\nCommissioner recommends that the Government of Sri Lanka should <\/strong>actively\npromote an inclusive, pluralistic vision for Sri Lanka.  It must ensure constitutional and legislative\nreforms. Order all security agencies to immediately end all forms of\nsurveillance and harassment against human rights activists, social actors, and\nvictims of human rights violations. \nLastly, the government of Sri Lanka must follow the recommendations and Resolutions\nof the UNHCR. (Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        KAMALIKA PIERIS The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (UNHCHR) presented to the 46th session of the UNHRC in February 2021, her report on Sri Lanka. (UN Doc A\/HRC\/46\/20). This is the latest in the stream of reports on Sri Lanka since Sri Lanka won the Eelam war. This report can be read at https:\/\/undocs.org\/en\/A\/HRC\/46\/20. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}