Category: News

On the opening day of the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on September 11, member states were considering yet another report detailing abuses by the Sri Lankan regime.

“One year after the remarkable protest movement demanding deep political and democratic reforms, the transformation that was hoped for to address long-standing challenges has still not materialised,” United Nations Deputy High Commissioner Nada Al-Nashif said. “Accountability is central to secure Sri Lanka’s present and future.”

Predictably, during the interactive dialogue which began immediately afterwards and continued after a break, the government was dismissive, although the issues raised echoed the concerns of numerous Sri Lankans and the evidence of rights violations was extensive.

Verité Research reported that by the end of August, the government had fulfilled only 19.4% of the 36 practical commitments in HRC Resolution 30/1 co-sponsored by Sri Lanka and adopted in October 2015. These fell into five broad categories: rights and rule of law (15 commitments), transitional justice and reconciliation (9), security and demilitarisation (7), international engagement (3) and power sharing (2). There had been “poor” or “no” progress on 61.1% of the commitments after eight years.

Willingness to take action to advance human rights had been confirmed in later resolutions 34/1 in 2017 and 40/1 in 2019, again co-sponsored by the Sri Lankan state. In February 2020, the government withdrew from co-sponsorship of these HRC resolutions. Those in charge have continued to fend off scrutiny by the HRC; supposedly they care deeply about the rights and freedoms of Sri Lankans and do not need any international bodies to tell them what to do. If that were truly the case, those past problems would have mainly gone away but instead most remain and, in certain regards, matters have become worse.

Strong criticism and weak excuses

Nada Al-Nashif outlined key points from the highly critical report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, painting a sombre picture of the many ways in which ordinary Sri Lankans had been let down yet again by those wielding power over them.

Those failed by national leaders include people facing poverty, those wishing to exercise their right to vote in delayed local elections and wanting basic freedoms such as the right to protest, ethnic and religious minorities whose security and dignity is being further undermined, victims of war and their families still waiting for justice or at least answers and often targeted for harassment as well as those wanting the truth about the 2019Easter Sunday bombings.

In reply, Himalee Arunatilaka, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, offered an implausibly rosy portrayal of the situation of the island’s people under the current government. Supposedly economic, social and financial stabilisation, with democratic resilience, had been achieved and tangible progress was being made on human rights. According to her, outside interference was unwarranted (other than, presumably, those forms which might serve the regime’s interests).

A few other states were on the regime’s side including the Philippines, Cuba, Pakistan and China. They took issue with what they saw as unjust attempts to impose accountability from outside. But many HRC members were critical, while seeking to be constructive and couching their criticisms in suitably diplomatic language. These included the government of the UK on its own behalf referring to the uncovering of yet another mass grave and on behalf of the Core Group tasked with examining the Sri Lankan situation. In the view of India’s leadership, not enough progress had been made towards fulfilling the aspirations of Tamils for equality and dignity. The government of Aotearoa New Zealand mentioned that elections were overdue.

Non-governmental organisations too helped to give voice to the fears and sorrows of the numerous Sri Lankans who had been marginalised or victimised by those in charge. These included the International Commission of Jurists and the International Federation for Human Rights. “The High Commissioner’s report gives a glimpse behind the façade put up to cover the deepening impunity, systematic repression of dissent, continuing violations of in war affected regions and communities, and deepening economic inequality in the country,” the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development declared. “In absence of any possibility of accountability through domestic mechanisms, the Council remains an important avenue of hope of justice for the tens of thousands of victims of past atrocities and of successive governments.”

Also on September 11, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances opened its 25th session. Again, Sri Lanka was one of the countries of concern.

Wide coverage of further allegations relating to the 2019 Easter Sunday terror has added to the government’s woes. On September 13, the ambassador claimed that adequate measures were being taken to establish the truth although it is unlikely that many people really believe that the current leadership would be willing to take on the Rajapaksas, who continue to wield considerable power.

Time and again, the regime’s promises of genuine change have proved hollow. Rhetoric and impressive sounding initiatives have come up against harsh reality as large numbers of Sri Lankans continue to face unnecessary suffering with no immediate prospect of an end to human rights abuses.

Source: Ground Views

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) has endorsed calls for an international investigation into the allegations levelled by the new Channel 4 documentary on the Easter Sunday attacks.

Issuing a statement, GTF said that the demand for an international investigation into Easter Sunday attacks is widespread, from senior opposition political leaders to the leaders of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and the GTF strongly supports this demand.

“A new documentary from Britain’s Channel 4 alleges senior government officials close to the Rajapaksa family engineered 2019 Easter Sunday attacks which took the lives of 270 people including 45 foreigners. The implication was a sense of insecurity and blatant communalism were what was needed for the Rajapaksas to recapture power.

The sad reality is that this shocking allegation won’t shock anyone in Sri Lanka. There was some understanding and even acceptance among many that Easter Sunday attacks were not what they were portrayed to be. In fact, loss of human lives and deterioration in inter-communal relations were often viewed as an acceptable price for acceding to political power. This appalling culture was built on the unshakable confidence that the Sri Lankan judicial system will never be able to deliver truth or justice.

The demand for international investigation into Easter Sunday attacks is widespread, from senior opposition political leaders to the leaders of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Global Tamil Forum (GTF) strongly supports this demand.

At this critical juncture, GTF would like to recall the previous Channel 4 video, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” (June 3, 2011) and its impact. The video – featuring Sri Lankan troops executing blindfolded and bound naked Tamil men and women – shocked the world and led to many UN investigations and sanctions. But the Sri Lankan government dismissed the video as fake, claiming it’s all a conspiracy against the country. The majority population, perhaps still in war victory euphoria, chose to ignore the atrocity crimes committed on their fellow citizens.

Sri Lanka has been under the watch of the UNHRC for fourteen years, and yet again, the defining theme of the most recent report from High Commissioner Volker Turk (Sept. 6, 2023) was, “Sri Lanka suffers from a continuing accountability deficit – be it for war crimes atrocities, more recent human rights violations, corruption, or abuse of power – which must be addressed for the country to move forward.”

GTF welcomes the comprehensive report from the High Commissioner, the Joint Statement from the Core Group of countries and India’s intervention during the Interactive Dialogue – all highlight Sri Lanka’s continuing failure to fulfil its own commitments to justice, accountability and reconciliation.

The outright rejection of the key parts of the High Commissioner’s report by the Ranil Wickremesinghe led government shows the prospects for accountability within Sri Lanka are non-existent. In this hopeless reality, the only hope for accountability for the crimes committed in Sri Lanka is through the UNHRC based, Sri Lanka Accountability Project (SLAP), and we are grateful to the High Commissioner for his update on this important work.

GTF would like to take this opportunity to highlight the targeted unlawful activities by some extremist Buddhist monks in the Tamil majority North-East, which involve erecting new temples in areas where no Buddhists live and preventing the locals from continuing with their subsistence economic and religious activities. This has the potential to erode religious harmony and the government seems to be impotent in dealing with it. This is an area that needs added focus from the OHCHR in the future.

Sri Lanka’s unwillingness to address the past but adopt deceptive measures to evade international scrutiny had no limits. When compelled, appointing commissions as time buying exercise was one of them. As stated jointly by the International Commission of Jurists and eight other reputed human rights organisations (Sept. 4, 2023), Sri Lanka has a strong legacy of failed commissions setup between 2006 to 2021 to address serious violations of human rights, and none of which led to any tangible outcome for the affected people.

We have no doubt that the Sri Lankan government’s attempt to manage the serious allegations levelled by the recent Channel 4 video through a Parliamentary Select Committee and investigation by a retired Judge is just one more step in this time-tested tradition.

It is the same discredited approach Sri Lanka followed when dealing with Transitional Justice commitments it made at the UNHRC in 2015. The two institutions it set up in response to international pressure – the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and the Office for Reparations – were overly weak and ineffective to offer any meaningful truth, justice or reparation.

Against this backdrop, Sri Lanka’s present initiative to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission has caused much alarm, rather than offering comfort to the victims and their advocates.

Their worry that the proposed mechanism is not positioned to succeed, but to help Sri Lanka avert UNHRC scrutiny after 2024, is shared by many human rights organisations, including the International Crisis Group (ICG). The ICG report (Sept. 7, 2023) argues that in the absence of major course correction by the state, the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission would have no chance of success and lists many conditions that should be met before the international community endorses the proposed Commission.

GTF shares the sentiments expressed by these reputed human rights organisations and the OHCHR, and strongly believe that without taking decisive steps to end the culture of impunity prevalent in the country, the people of Sri Lanka will only face more doom and gloom in the future.

The critical message conveyed by the Channel 4 videos is just that. If Sri Lanka had addressed the serious accusations aired in the first Channel 4 video, there would not have been the second. Failing to address the crimes alleged in the second Channel 4 video will create fertile conditions for more crimes in the future. That is the destructive power of impunity.

GTF earnestly calls on the people of Sri Lanka and their leaders to rise to the challenge of eradicating impunity for international and domestic crimes.

We would also like to stress it is the responsibility of the international community to ensure Sri Lanka is firmly under their scrutiny, until such time as it recovers from its entrenched culture of impunity.”

Eight days of excavations have yielded the skeletal remains of 14 persons at a suspected mass grave at Kokkutuduvai in Mullaitivu.

Lawyer V.S. Niranjan, who observes the excavations, told the media yesterday (14) that five skeletons believed to be those of LTTE members were located during the day’s excavations.

One of them was of a female and the rest belonged to males, he said, adding that a bullet was found embedded in one skeleton.

The skeletal remains found so far are being kept at the district hospital there.

Excavations there began after water supply workers laying underground pipelines stumbled upon the human remains 200 metres away from Kokkutuduvai central college on 29 June.

Work resumed on 06 September following a court order.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local-Currency (LTLFC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘RD’ (Restricted Default) from ‘C’. This downgrade reflects the challenging economic conditions faced by the nation.

Furthermore, the ratings on Sri Lanka’s local-currency bonds tendered in the domestic debt exchange have been lowered to ‘D’ from ‘C’. However, the ratings for the remaining four local-currency bonds, which were not tendered in the domestic debt exchange, have been affirmed at ‘C’.

The Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) IDR has been maintained at ‘RD’, while the ratings for Sri Lanka’s foreign-currency bonds have also been affirmed at ‘D’.

As a result of these changes, Fitch Ratings has withdrawn all issue ratings of Sri Lanka’s foreign and local-currency bonds, as they are no longer considered relevant to the agency’s coverage.

It’s worth noting that Fitch typically does not assign Outlooks to sovereigns with a rating of ‘CCC+’ or below, reflecting the severity of the economic challenges facing Sri Lanka.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a three-member committee to investigate the allegations in the documentary aired by British television network Channel 4 on the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka.

The committee, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice S.I. Imam, consists of retired Air Force Commander A.C.M. Jayalath Weerakkody and President’s Counsel Harsha A.J. Soza PC.

On September 06, Channel 4 aired a controversial documentary containing startling accusations relating to the bombings on Easter Sunday (April 21) in 2019 which targeted several Catholic churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. The carnage claimed the lives of more than 260 people and left hundreds of others wounded.

Channel 4’s new ‘Dispatches’ investigation titled ‘Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings’ is a nearly 50-minute-long videos with serious, yet straightforward allegations about the attacks. It was based on the testimonies of high-placed whistleblowers who alleged that senior governmental officials were complicit in this heinous act.

The main whistleblower Hanzeer Azad Maulana was a spokesman for LTTE’s breakaway group Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP) led by current State Minister of Rural Road Development Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan.

According to the documentary, Maulana, who has sought asylum overseas after facing fraud charges here, has witnessed a meeting in Puttalam in 2018, between the suicide bombers and a top Sri Lankan intelligence officer prior to the Easter Sunday attacks.

Claiming that he had, on the directives of Pillayan, arranged the said meeting between then-army intelligence chief Major General Suresh Sallay and the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) members including its leader Zahran Hashim, Maulana said the plot to create insecurity in the country to pave way for former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the presidential election later in 2019 was hatched over 2-3 years.

The documentary, which recapped the country’s political situation, also gave a lengthy commentary on former presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s time in power and their attempts to return to power after election defeats.

Recalling the 2009 disappearance of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga who was a prominent critic of the then-government, the ‘Dispatches’ investigation video claimed that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration had formed a clandestine death squad called the ‘Tripoli Platoon’ with the support of Pillayan’s group to crack down on anti-government media persons.

It had interviewed former senior CID officer Nishantha Silva who was investigating the disappearance of Wickrematunga. He claimed that he found phone record evidence putting ‘Tripoli Platoon’ members at the scene and that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had ‘direct monitoring’ of this death squad.

The documentary also presented testimonies from His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, journalist Frederica Jansz who was a witness in the ‘White Flag’ case, the brother of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga, former commissioner of Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) Ambika Satkunanathan and former diplomat Sarath Kongahage.

However, Kongahage later accused the British television network of distorting his comments from the interview. Calling a media briefing on September 12, the former ambassador said Channel 4 had used his remarks out of context.

Meanwhile, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also hit out at the documentary, deeming it “an anti-Rajapaksa tirade aimed at blackening the Rajapaksa legacy from 2005 onwards and is a tissue of lies just like the previous films broadcast by the same channel.”

The Defence Ministry and Major General Sallay went on to categorically deny the claims that the latter was complicit in orchestrating the bombings.

A statement from the ministry stressed that the terrorists involved in the suicide attacks had never been on the government’s payroll, and vowed to unequivocally hold Channel 4 accountable for any unforeseen actions or repercussions stemming from their “unfounded, malevolent and poorly substantiated” claims in the video.

However, opposition members including Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith have called for an independent, transparent and broad international investigation into the alleged plot behind the Easter Sunday carnage.

India, at the 54th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, reminded Sri Lanka to implement the 13A and conduct the Provincial Council elections to ensure a life of respect and dignity for the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Indian Ambassador Indra Mani Pandey, Permanent Representative during the Interactive Dialogue on the OHCHR Report on ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights’ in Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council on 13 September reiterated that India has always been guided by two fundamental principles in its support for the aspirations of Tamils, for equality, justice, dignity and peace and unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka and they hope that the Government of Sri Lanka will fulfill the aspirations of Tamils for equality, justice and peace and its commitment to implement the 13th Amendment and conduct Provincial Council Elections to ensure a life of respect and dignity for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

“We have taken note of reaffirmation by the Government of Sri Lanka on implementation of its commitments. However, progress on the same is inadequate and we urge the Government of Sri Lanka to work meaningfully towards early implementation of its commitments to ensure that the fundamental freedoms and human rights of all its citizens are fully protected,” Pandey said.

She further stressed that India is a close neighbour and friend of Sri Lanka, India has consistently supported Sri Lanka’s efforts towards relief, rehabilitation, re-settlement and the reconstruction process since 2009. India has also provided multi-pronged support, totalling more than USD four billion, to Sri Lanka and its people in the last one year to tide over its economic challenges.

The Chinese geophysical scientific research vessel Shi yan 6 (Experiment 6) is set to head for an expeditionary voyage in the eastern area of the Indian Ocean, departing from Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, on Sunday.

Organized by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (SCSIO) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the vessel is scheduled to operate at sea for 80 days with 28 scientific research projects from 13 research teams onboard, covering a range of more than 12,000 nautical miles (roughly 22,200 kilometers).

The voyage, based on multidisciplinary observations, aims to obtain a large amount of basic data for revealing the mechanisms by which dynamic processes affect biogeochemical cycles, ecosystems and sedimentary processes in that region, clarifying the geographical pattern of biodiversity in the study area, uncovering the response and indicative role of biological communities to physical processes, as well as understanding paleoclimate changes, Wang Weiqing, chief scientist of the expedition, told China Media Group.

An observation system will be deployed in the key observation area to study the current system in the local topographic evolution and its relationship with seabed sediments and geology, said Wang.

The voyage is also expected to strengthen scientific research cooperation and exchanges with countries along the Maritime Silk Road and further realize the integration of science and education to serve the Belt and Road Initiative, said Lin Qiang, project leader and deputy director of SCSIO.

With a total investment of over 500 million yuan (about $77 million), Shiyan 6 is hailed as one of the main forces of China’s 3,000-tonne vessels for deep-ocean scientific research.

The ship, measuring at 90.6 meters long and 17 meters wide, harbors an open operation deck area of more than 600 square meters and can carry a 60-member crew for 60 days at sea.

Source: CGTN