Another blow in Geneva

The administration of President Ranil Wickremesinghe was dealt yet another devastating rebuke by the international community this week with the adoption of a resolution on ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ at the UN Human Rights Council. 20 countries voted in favour of the resolution, 20 abstained and only seven voted against the resolution. 

Resolution 51/1 passed, further strengthens the international evidence gathering mechanism on human rights and humanitarian law violations in Sri Lanka. Just as Res 46/1 of last year, the Sri Lankan Government has no role nor relevance in the implementation of Res 51/1 which established an evidence gathering mechanism at the office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights.

Foreign Minister Ali Sabry failed to convince the council that the current administration has taken any significant and genuine steps towards ensuring reconciliation, accountability and human rights in the country. Continuing the same lines as his two immediate predecessors, Minister Sabry harked on sovereignty, constitutional limitations and mandate of the council rather than offering meaningful means of addressing Sri Lanka’s outstanding human rights issues.

It is ironic that in 2015, the Government under Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe reversed the trajectory towards extra territorial jurisdiction and promised a transitionary justice process. Yet today the Wickremesinghe administration is repeating the same rhetoric as in 2012-2014. In 2020 then Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena announced Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from Res 30/1, an action that had little legal effect but made good theatre domestically. With Sri Lanka demonstrating its unwillingness to address heinous crimes and its poor human rights record, it has now been left to international measures to deliver justice for hundreds of thousands of victims.

No other democracy in the world has so many unresolved cases of serious violations. On the issue of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings Sri Lanka has an abysmal record. In 1971 at least 12,000 individuals were killed by the State. The number is estimated to be over 60,000 in 1987-89 and tens of thousands during the ethnic war. In addition, families of journalists, human rights defenders and activists have not found justice for their loved ones.

All the victims of violations in Sri Lanka are citizens of this country. They and their families are owed, at the very least, a semblance of justice from their Government. Hiding behind archaic, outdated and irrelevant norms that have little weight in international law will not help the Sri Lankan Government. If it needs to prevent Sri Lankan officials, military and political leaders being subjected to extra territorial jurisdiction it has to at the very minimum demonstrate that domestic courts are both willing and able to deliver justice. The record of this institution in the past is not promising.

Having witnessed the Sri Lankan judiciary fail victims, especially of State orchestrated crimes, the victims have a right to seek redress elsewhere. In this regard Res 51/1 passed at the UNHRC will give new hope for the many victims of State violence in Sri Lanka. Those who oppose such accountability are either those who perpetrated the violence or those who have an interest in protecting such criminals. It is for this reason that the resolution passed in Geneva should not be an international action against Sri Lankan but a reflection of the Government’s failure to address outstanding issues.