UN Human Rights Committee begins review on Sri Lanka

Thursday, 9 October 2014 00:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Geneva: The United Nations Human Rights Committee on Tuesday opened its 112th session at Palais Wilson, Geneva during which it will review the reports of Sri Lanka and four other countries. Sri Lanka has presented its fifth periodic report to the Human Rights Committee which monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee of 18 international independent experts will review Sri Lanka’s human right record on Tuesday and Wednesday. The last such assessment of Sri Lanka was conducted in 2003. During the session, the Committee will also hear, in closed meetings, from United Nations organisations, specialised agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations and national human rights institutions on the situation in Sri Lanka. Several NGOs have submitted reports on Sri Lanka’s human rights situation and the committee will discuss these reports including a 40-page report from Amnesty International that is critical of Sri Lanka. Ahead of the UN review, Amnesty International said Sri Lanka must stop making empty promises to the international community and the Sri Lankan people on improving the country’s still desperate human rights situation. “More than a decade since the last Committee review of Sri Lanka’s record in 2002, it’s disturbing to see how many rights issues raised then still persist in the country – and how the Government has ignored promises to address them,” said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director. The Amnesty International’s submission to the UN committee highlights a number of human rights concerns in Sri Lanka, including failure to provide truth, justice and reparation to victims of human rights violations and ongoing abuses perpetrated under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. It said a climate of impunity persists; weak domestic mechanisms fail to protect human rights or deliver justice and the organisation remains concerned about the continuing violations of freedom of expression and association; failure to protect minorities from violence and discrimination; pervasive use of torture; continued reports of extrajudicial executions and the failure to address enforced disappearances. The Sri Lankan Government has denied the routine use of torture in the country, and has refused to investigate the widespread reports of the practice or to hold those responsible to account. However, the Commissioner of Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and Attorney-at-Law, Dr. Prathiba Mahanamahewa has asserted that there is nothing to be feared about the report the London-based organisation has submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee.

Tamil diaspora back an undivided Lanka

The Tamil diaspora have expressed backing for an undivided Sri Lanka while seeking lasting peace based on justice, reconciliation and a negotiated political settlement. A leading Tamil diaspora group based in London, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) says it is committed to non-violence and together with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), will work towards Tamil interests. Global Tamil Forum Spokesperson and its Director of Strategic Initiatives Suren Surendiran, presently in Chennai on a private visit, told the Deccan Chronicle that the GTF believes that the meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with the TNA was a significant step. “On the day after his taking charge as PM, Mr Modi had met President Rajapaksa, who was an invited guest at his inauguration event. However, before meeting a formal Sri Lanka’s Government delegation or the official opposition party in Sri Lankan Parliament, PM Modi choosing to meet the TNA underscores the significance. Regarding subsequent events, Rajapaksa has maintained status quo. He has not made any efforts to engage the TNA in any constructive way. The large military presence still continues in the Tamil-dominated north and east. Land-grabbing and government-sponsored colonisation of the Tamil areas with the clear intent to change the demography is still continuing. Vulnerable women, mostly the 80,000 or more Tamil war widows in the north and east, are being harassed and subjected to sexual violence, largely by the Sinhala military,” he said. The GTF Spokesman further noted that the Tamil leadership in the north/east and around the country, including the plantation workers and the leadership of the Tamil-speaking Muslims, should find convergence on the important issues faced by their communities adding that the same should be achieved with the like-minded Sinhala Buddhists and Christians. “While Tamil diaspora is accepted as a stakeholder by most of the international community, India’s recognition will be fundamentally important to strengthen the moderate voices within the diaspora. This, in turn, will broaden the stakeholder base that can add capacity and capability to the struggle, in the most constructive way,” he added. (Colombo Gazette)