Govt. denies commission to probe wartime disappearances to please int’l community
Friday, 16 August 2013 03:50
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By Uditha Jayasinghe
The Government has denied it appointed a commission to investigate disappearances during a three decade war to avoid international censure ahead of a visit by UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay later this month.
Sri Lanka’s President appointed a three-member commission to investigate the disappearance of thousands of people during a three decade war on Wednesday. But Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella denied that it was done to appease Pillay to brush up the country’s international reputation ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November.
“We have never agreed to allegations that the armed forces or the Government were behind these disappearances. The committee will investigate incidents that took place in the north and east parts of the country during the last phase of the war but complaints can be made from any period to the commission,” he told media.
Thousands of civilians were abducted by masked armed gangs or simply disappeared during the brutal war between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE). Despite numerous appeals to the Government from the families of the disappeared people, no committee was appointed even though the war ended in 2009.
“The Commission has been given the authority to conduct inquiries and investigations necessary, and submit a report to the President within six months. In President Rajapaksa’s instructions to the Commission, he stressed the necessity to identify the person(s) responsible in cases where abductions or disappearances are found to have taken place and to take legal action against those person(s),” the announcement said.
Families of the disappeared also staged several marches in Colombo and elsewhere demanding investigations, which included handing over petitions with the missing people’s names to the United Nations and the local Human Rights Commission.
In March this year, the Sri Lankan Government also came under pressure at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which passed a second resolution on the country for its lacklustre human rights record, which included ignoring appeals to investigate abductions.
In November 2013, Sri Lanka will host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which is the highest decision making body of the Commonwealth and is keen to improve its international image ahead of the event, say analysts.
