US to support UN resolution against Sri Lanka

The United States will support a resolution against Sri Lanka to be tabled at the United Nations Human Rights Council sessions later this month to pressure the Sri Lankan government to take prompt measures to implement the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt And Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and address the accountability issues.

Otero calls on President

US Under Secretary for Civilian Security Democracy and Human Rights Maria Otero called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday at Temple Trees – Pic by Udesh Gunarathna

Addressing a press conference in Colombo yesterday at the end of their two-day visit to Sri Lanka US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake and State Department’s Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Maria Otero said Sri Lanka has not shown enough progress in implementing the LLRC recommendations.  

The UNHRC resolution will ask Sri Lanka to take more concrete actions towards reconciliation and especially, addressing the accountability issue and implementing the recommendations put forward by the LLRC.

The US officials met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris yesterday. They held discussions with the main Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday.

The former Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Blake said the US will support a very straight forward resolution that will declare that the government has not done enough to implement the LLRC recommendations and ask the government to address the issue of accountability comprehensively.

Under Secretary Otero said the UNHRC resolution will provide an opportunity for the government to describe the measures it intends to take to “implement the LLRC recommendations and advance reconciliation, as well as address accountability, human rights and democracy concerns.”  During discussions with the President, Otero said, she urged the government to share the details of its plans and begin fulfilling the recommendations suggested by LLRC and credibly address the outstanding issues of accountability.  

“The President assured me that they were looking to implement the LLRC report in a comprehensive manner,” Otero said.  Responding to media, Assistant Secretary Blake said the LLRC report has not addressed the issue of accountability comprehensively and an important part of reconciliation is accountability and investigating the war crime allegations.

 However, the US official ruled out an international investigation into the alleged war crime charges at this time and said that instead the US would focus on the UNHRC resolution.  The US will remain hopeful that Sri Lanka would establish a credible domestic mechanism, the diplomat said. Huan rights groups and several western nations have pushed for the UNHRC to bring a resolution against Sri Lanka based on the report of the Expert Panel appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to investigate Sri Lanka’s accountability in the final phase of the armed offensive against the Tamil Tiger terrorists.

The panel had found credible evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed by both the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan, some of which could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, the U.S. has expressed disappointment that the LLRC report does not fully address all the allegations of serious human rights violations that occurred in the final phase of the conflict.