Justice: missing in the proposed Truth Commission

The Presidential Media Unit announced last week that “in a historic step towards transitional justice and post-conflict reconciliation, the Government of Sri Lanka has decided to establish an independent Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation.”

This proposed Commission will be established through an Act of Parliament, currently in the drafting process as a concept paper in consultation with relevant stakeholders. The concept paper, used to prepare the final draft of the Bill for Parliament, would soon be available for comments to ensure an inclusive process in developing legislation that strengthens and safeguards national unity through truth, transitional justice, reconciliation, reparation and social cohesion.

According to the President’s office “a key objective of this process is to establish the truth regarding post-conflict grievances of Sri Lankan citizens, facilitating reconciliation, reparation and sustainable peace. The proposed Commission acknowledges every Sri Lankan’s inalienable right to ascertain the truth, a pivotal aspect for individuals and communities to heal from past conflicts.”

What the statement doesn’t say and what the name of the proposed commission gives away is its dubious intentions. A genuine transitional justice process should have four key elements; truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence. The fundamental element that has been missing until now in Sri Lanka’s apparent reconciliation efforts, including in the new commission, is justice. In the absence of accountability for crimes committed by the State against its citizens, any institution established in the name of transitional justice would remain mere eyewashes meant to appease international concerns and a waste of resources.  

This is not the first time Sri Lanka has toyed with the idea of a truth commission. In 2015, the Yahapalana Government with Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister, promised a comprehensive transitional justice process which included a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In that instance, a separate accountability mechanism that would bring those responsible for serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law was proposed. Due to efforts by a few this was never realised.

Ironically, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Ali Sabry, currently the Ministers of Justice and Foreign Affairs were two individuals who significantly contributed to the derailing of the transitional justice processes under the previous Ranil Wickremesinghe administration. Rajapakshe as the Justice Minister in 2015, along with a Geneva based senior diplomat, was directly responsible for creating strife between then Premier Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena over the proposed domestic accountability mechanism. As Justice Minister, Rajapakshe is on record promising not to allow any legal action against Gotabaya Rajapaksa, one of the main accused in numerous cases of human rights and humanitarian law violations. Ali Sabry remains the personal lawyer to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is now sanctioned by foreign governments for gross violations of human rights. Sabry, while holding office as Justice Minister oversaw the forced burials of Muslims, release of a convicted mass murderer of Tamil civilians under presidential pardon and the persecution of numerous police officers who investigated some of the most heinous crimes committed by his client.

Despite noble proclamations of the Government’s commitment to “ensuring that the proposed independent Commission acts impartially, free from any political influence,” with those who proactively sabotaged the once in a generation opportunity in 2015 for genuine and comprehensive reconciliation cannot be expected to deliver anything but a cruel joke on the tens of thousands of victims of violations in Sri Lanka.