Human Rights
The UN Report and its Repercussions
“As one resident of the north put it – “things look better but feel worse”. Civil society actors have reported that the population in the north have welcomed the Report, even felt empowered by it on the grounds that it acknowledges and records their journey to hell and back in the last days of the war”
“As one resident of the north put it – “things look better but feel worse”. Civil society actors have reported that the population in the north have welcomed the Report, even felt empowered by it on the grounds that it acknowledges and records their journey to hell and back in the last days of the war”
The release of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Panel Report on Allegations of War Crimes (Report) in the last phase of the war has generated more heat than light. Understandably. The three person Panel has found credible evidence of war crimes by both the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE. It calls for an independent and effective national mechanism as well as an international mechanism to oversee the work of the national mechanism and conduct independent investigations. It also calls on the GOSL to return remains to the families of victims, to issue death certificates and to apologise. The Report is also critical of the ongoing Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and points out that the LLRC does not meet the international standards set for accountability mechanisms.
The GOSL response has been both predictable and confused. The publicly enunciated official position is that the Report is fundamentally flawed, biased and prejudiced. The GOSL is not going to respond to the specifics of the Report but submit a response identifying the progress made in terms of rehabilitation, return and reconciliation since the end of the war.
The hysterical “patriotic” rhetoric unleashed against the Report and its authors, even ridiculous suggestions that Sri Lanka propose an alternative UN, indicate the domestic political obsession of the Rajapakse regime and its current immature and unprofessional grasp of international relations. It should be noted that whilst the regime maintained at the outset that the Secretary General was violating the Charter when he convened the Panel and subsequently proceeded to attempt to rubbish the credentials of the members of the Panel, the regime subsequently sought to do business with the Panel. Officials of the GOSL met with the Panel in New York and Mr Darusman the head of the Panel had earlier been chosen by the regime to be a member of its Independent International Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), which was attached to a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into 16 egregious cases of human rights abuse.
The regime called for mass demonstrations in Sri Lanka against the Report on May Day. Interestingly, the demonstrations were not the anti- Moon fest expected but rather reflected a change of stance on the part of the regime to distance the Report from the Secretary General and the UN and label the Report the Darusman Report. It appears that saner counsel, reportedly from Mr.Basil Rajapakse has prevailed and the regime’s position is now more nuanced. They will engage with the UN. They are also especially concerned as to what may happen in the Human Rights Council and are focusing on galvanizing Southern opinion, especially Indian, to oppose punitive action against them in any UN fora.
Whilst the Russian and Chinese veto will protect the regime in the Security Council, the Indian position will be critical in ensuring the support of the global South. Delhi is not entirely enamoured of the regime and its Chinese leanings. There are a number of outstanding bilateral issues, which need to be resolved. They range from developmental projects in the war torn north and east, which require GOSL go ahead to Delhi’s priority issue of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the increasingly violent clashes involving fisherman from both countries. There is also the pivotal issue of a political settlement of the ethnic conflict. All of this has now been compounded by the victory of Jayalalitha Jeyaram in state elections in Tamil Nadu. Jayalalitha has openly declared her support for further action in respect of the Panel Report.
It is possible that Delhi will decide to let international events take their course without proactively intervening to direct them in favour of the GOSL as it did in the UN Human Rights Council in 2009. The domestic political factor of Jeyalalitha in Tamil Nadu and the likelihood of her using the Report for leverage with Delhi may ordain this course of action. Were this to be the case and were the US too to push proactively for further action on the Report, the Rajapakse regime will have a serious diplomatic challenge on its hands.
The bravado and bragadaccio notwithstanding, there are key aspects of the Report that the regime must take into account.
To begin with, the Report is in the public realm and whilst there may not be any further action on it in the short term, there could be action in the medium and longer terms. In this respect the Report has a Sword of Damocles quality to it and the regime should respond to it in a manner that lays the matter to rest.
Secondly, the Report does contain a powerful indictment of the atrocities of the LTTE, which is at times lost in the pseudo –patriotic din emanating from Colombo. This is important in that it challenges attempts by Tamil nationalists to equate 2009 with 1983 in the collective psyche of the community. Were this allowed to happen, it will kindle the fires of secession. Both the Tamil diaspora and Tamil political representation in Sri Lanka need to face up to and acknowledge the atrocities of the LTTE if the Tamil polity is to move into a post-conflict as opposed to post-war phase and Sri Lanka towards meaningful reconciliation and national unity.
Thirdly, it is important to recognize that whilst the Report is about Sri Lanka it is also about how internal armed conflicts and the fight against terrorism are conducted. The Report challenges the “Sri Lanka model” of conflict resolution in this regard and upholds the concept of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) civilians. Consequently, it has a relevance beyond the specifically Sri Lankan events it deals with. Therefore it cannot be brushed aside or under.
Finally, impunity and accountability are at the heart of the Report and indeed at the heart of the human rights protection challenge in Sri Lanka. The regime may be able to prevent the establishment of an international mechanism for accountability; it must not, however be allowed to desist from establishing a national mechanism for accountability which meets international standards of independence and effectiveness. In this regard, such a commission should be made up of representatives of all stake -holders – government, opposition and the Tamil polity. Were it to fail in this, the demands for an international mechanism will be that much more difficult to refute.
The simple point is that impunity rules in respect of human rights protection. Commissions have sat, reported and recommended and nothing has come of their labours. The COI report has not been made public in full and nothing has come of the cases it looked into. There are continuing allegations of human rights violations in the north and east arising out of the militarization of those areas. Consequently whilst the regime contends that the priority in the north and east is the addressing of the day to day problems of the people there – not human rights accountability or a political settlement- the daily life of the people in the north and east is interspersed with rights violations which go unaddressed. As one resident of the north put it – “things look better but feel worse”. Civil society actors have reported that the population in the north have welcomed the Report, even felt empowered by it on the grounds that it acknowledges and records their journey to hell and back in the last days of the war.
The Report has repercussions. That reconciliation and unity with accountability are amongst them, will be pivotal for the future of Sri Lanka.
Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu is the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and is a Co-Convenor of the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV). He was a founder member of the Board of the Sri Lanka Chapter of Transparency International. An Eisenhower Fellow Dr Saravanamuttu is the winner of the inaugural Citizens Peace Award made by the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka for 2010.
5 Comments to “The UN Report and its Repercussions”
August 12, 2011 at 2:03 pm
If the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Panel’s report was prepared “illegally” why did the officials of the Government of Sri Lanka meet Mr Darusman in New York?
The Report is an Advisory report meant only for the eyes of the Secretary General. It was the Sri Lankan Govt that leaked the report to the Island Newspaper.It was never intended to be made public.
Another observation is, if GOSL had permitted the Panel to enter Sri Lanka and were permitted to make inquiries without any restrictions, who knows, they may not have made the accusations that the GOSL find unacceptable.
August 12, 2011 at 10:33 am
Dr. Pakyasothi, you are perfectly correct. Ignore what James said. He is a ex uniformed lacky who wants to be in the good book of devils.
May 31, 2011 at 7:24 am
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May 30, 2011 at 9:29 am
I do not agree on the illegality of the report. In any event this is a moot point since the report is out there and public. The regime has to respond to it. The join communique following G.L Peiris”s visit to Delhi is illustrative of this.Re the point about alleged US and Nato war crimes and no report on them, the point is simply that in international relations there are double standards and you require a strong and effective political coalition for action. The UN is what it members make of it. As for people in the north and east being unaware of the report, you must be unaware that it is being translated and serialized in newspapers available there. Finally your “question that this author is supported with shopping by some unseen hand” – I have to admit that your syntax did get in the way of a clear understanding of what you mean. However, if this is some veiled insinuation against me, I shall treat it as beneath contempt!
May 28, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Why has the Author omitted the issue that this report was prepared illegally, i.e. without following proper UN policy and procedures to initiate such a investigation making sure it is fairly necessary for such a report ??? The issue is not minor since key members of the UN such as Russia and China have specifically highlighted that this initiative of an investigation is not fairly necessary or authorized. On other hand then in the same manner similar investigations and reports have to be made on war crimes committed by the USA and NATO on other countries but such move has not happened. It is unbelievable that the people in north and east even are aware of such a report since it is not distributed in that scale at all. Also the point that the report does not point clear directions of credible source clearly indicates that this report is only a makeup story and thereby raises the question that this author is supported with shopping by some unseen hand !!!