TNA backs draft resolution call for inquiry by Pillay’s office

Tuesday, 11 March 2014 01:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Pledges to push for Int’l Commission of Inquiry into alleged abuses during war
Points to ongoing land-grabs, militarisation, sexual violence in North and East
Draft resolution trying to vest Pillay’s office with investigative mandate: Amb. Ravinatha

By Dharisha Bastians The country’s main Tamil Party has rallied behind the US backed resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council late Sunday (9), saying the inclusion of an inquiry by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was a welcome move. In a statement co-signed by Tamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan and Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, the party said that it looked forward to revisions to the draft by the resolution’s co-sponsors that would “clarify and strengthen the scope of the investigation.” In their statement the two leaders said the TNA had been carefully studying the US sponsored draft resolution that has been co-sponsored by the UK, Macedonia and Mauritius. The Tamil party said it would keep pushing the international community towards the swift establishment of an international commission of inquiry, in respect of past violations committed by both parties to conflict and ongoing violations in Sri Lanka post war. “The passage of a resolution on the lines of the draft under consideration will be a significant next step by the Human Rights Council toward reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka,” the TNA statement said. The draft resolution submitted last Monday (3) calls on the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights to monitor and assess progress in Sri Lanka’s domestic investigations and investigate allegations of major rights abuses in war time and more recent violations that have occurred in the five years since the war ended. The Government has rejected the draft resolution outright and said it attempted to interfere with Sri Lanka’s constitution. Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, told an informal meeting of the Council during an intervention last Friday that the US draft resolution sought to vest the Office of the High Commissioner with an investigative mandate. The Lankan Envoy said Sri Lanka had made “significant progress” through the implementation of the National Plan of Action of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, The TNA disagrees and pointed to ongoing land-grabs, militarisation and reports of alleged sexual violence in the former war zones. The Tamil Party says the Government is aggressively engaged in changing the demographic composition of the Northern and Eastern Provinces and debasing the cultural and linguistic identities of those areas. “Of particular concern to the Tamil people is the mass scale appropriation of land by the military, the overbearing presence of the military in civilian life and the increasing reports of sexual violence targeting Tamil women in the north and east,” the statement from the two leaders said. The TNA said these actions by the Government do no inspire the confidence of the Tamil people in the state. Reiterating its position against the targeting of religious communities in the island in recent times, the TNA statement said that the Government had “colluded and presided” what it said was an appalling increase in religious violence.

Cameron “personally pushing” for inquiry in Lanka resolution

British Prime Minister David Cameron is personally pushing for the support of several member states at the UN Human Rights Council this month, to authorise an international inquiry about alleged crimes committed during the war in Sri Lanka. The Belfast Telegraph reported yesterday that he had personally written to several fellow leaders to solicit support for the resolution on Sri Lanka at the Council. On a visit to the island in November for a Commonwealth summit, Prime Minister Cameron warned President Mahinda Rajapaksa that he had until this month to set up a credible domestic inquiry, the newspaper reported. The newspaper reported that Downing Street had made clear Cameron believed the Sri Lankan Government had “failed” to meet his demands and was keen for an international probe to be up and running within 12 months.