{"id":64258,"date":"2017-03-17T00:03:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T06:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=64258"},"modified":"2017-03-16T16:55:34","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T23:55:34","slug":"a-factual-appraisal-of-the-oisl-report-a-rebuttal-to-the-allegations-against-the-armed-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/03\/17\/a-factual-appraisal-of-the-oisl-report-a-rebuttal-to-the-allegations-against-the-armed-forces\/","title":{"rendered":"A Factual Appraisal of the OISL Report: A Rebuttal to the Allegations Against the Armed Forces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author: Dharshan Weerasekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Commissioned by – The Federation of National Organizations
\nSponsored by \u2013 The Global Sri Lanka Forum<\/p>\n

Editors : \uf0b7 Kalyananda Thiranagama
\n\uf0b7 Raja Gunaratne<\/p>\n

Volume One<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Federation of National Organizations
\nColombo, Sri Lanka
\n27th January 2017<\/p>\n

Dear Mr. Weerasekera,<\/p>\n

Mandate <\/strong><\/p>\n

We wish to draw your attention to the following matters which form the background to our present request. On 9th February 2016, UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Al Hussein ended his official visit to Sri Lanka with a statement where he said inter alia:<\/p>\n

\u2015Let me be as plain as I can: the international community wants to welcome Sri Lanka back into its fold without any lingering reservations. It wants to help Sri Lanka become an economic powerhouse. It wants Sri Lanka\u2018s armed forced to face up to the stain on their reputation, so that they can once again play a constructive role in international peace-keeping operations, and command the full respect that so many of their members deserve.\u2016 (\u2017Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Al Hussein, at the end of his mission to Sri Lanka,\u2018 9th February 2016, www.reliefweb.int )<\/p>\n

We are especially concerned by the High Commissioner\u2018s assertion that there is a stain on the reputation of Sri Lanka\u2018s armed forces. The aforesaid \u2017stain,\u2018 presumably, is the allegation that the armed forced are collectively responsible (i.e. where the purported acts can be imputed to the command structure of the armed forces and thereby the State itself) for war crimes and other serious crimes purportedly committed during the last phase of the war.<\/p>\n

To the best of our knowledge, the only Report especially one with the imprimatur of the UN or any of its subsidiary organs to level the above allegation is the OISL Report (OHCHR investigation on Sri Lanka), released to the public on 16th September 2015.<\/p>\n

The Government of Sri Lanka by note verbale UN\/HR\/1\/30 dated 15th September 2015 endorsed and accepted without reservation the conclusions and recommendations of the said Report. In a one-and-ahalf-page response (it should be noted that the OISL Report is a 260-page document) the GOSL said inter alia:<\/p>\n

\u2015Takes note of the Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), recognizes fully that this Report represents a human rights investigation and not a criminal investigation, and will ensure that its contents as well as recommendations receive due attention of the relevant authorities including the new mechanisms that are envisaged to be set up\u2016 (Note Verbale Ref. UN\/HR\/1\/30)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on 29th September 2015, the GOSL co-sponsored UNHRC resolution A\/HRC\/30\/L.29, which again endorsed without reservation the conclusions and recommendations of the OISL Report. The said resolution was subsequently adopted unanimously by the Council.<\/p>\n

On the above occasion, Sri Lanka\u2018s Permanent Representative to the UNHRC stated inter alia:<\/p>\n

II \u2015You have all seen our written response<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Full Report<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items16\/Volume%20One%20-%20OISL%20Rebuttal%20by%20Sri%20Lanka%20(00000002).pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Also available on the\u00a0The Global Sri Lanka Forum website<\/b><\/p>\n

Volume One<\/p>\n

http:\/\/globalsrilankanforum.com\/downloads\/2017\/GSLF_In_the_Defence_of%20the_Armed_Forces_of_Sri_Lanka_Vol_01.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Volume Two<\/p>\n

http:\/\/globalsrilankanforum.com\/downloads\/2017\/GSLF_In_the_Defence_of%20the_Armed_Forces_of_Sri_Lanka_Vol_02.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Dharshan Weerasekera Commissioned by – The Federation of National Organizations Sponsored by \u2013 The Global Sri Lanka Forum Editors : \uf0b7 Kalyananda Thiranagama \uf0b7 Raja Gunaratne Volume One Federation of National Organizations Colombo, Sri Lanka 27th January 2017 Dear Mr. Weerasekera, Mandate We wish to draw your attention to the following matters which form […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64258","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=64258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}