Category: News

Leading US senators, including the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez have introduced a Senate resolution calling for a comprehensive international approach to address Sri Lanka’s current political and economic crisis, including challenges related to poor governance and economic policy under the Rajapaksa family’s rule.

Senator Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was joined by Senators Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy and Cory Booker in introducing the Senate resolution
“I am proud to be joined by my colleagues in introducing our resolution that necessarily calls attention to the devastating political and economic turmoil plaguing the people of Sri Lanka,” Chairman Menendez said. “As the country grapples with its worst domestic crisis since the end of its civil war, the international community must continue to provide robust support and ensure that accountability for war crimes and respect for human rights in Sri Lanka remain top priorities. I applaud efforts by the Biden administration, our Quad partners, and the IMF in providing critical humanitarian and economic assistance, and affirm my commitment to continue to work with my colleagues to advance stability and prosperity in Sri Lanka and the broader region.”

“After decades of conflict, political mismanagement, and unaddressed inequalities, the Sri Lankan people have made it clear they aspire for something better,” Senator Durbin said. “Introduction of today’s resolution shows that the U.S. Senate stands with peaceful democratic efforts to address these long neglected challenges.”

“The Rajapaksa family enriched themselves at the expense of the Sri Lankan people, ruthlessly silencing their opponents, inciting ethnic tensions, and leaving the country an economic shambles,” Senator Leahy said. “After years of civil war and government mismanagement and abuse, Sri Lanka needs a government that is committed to ethnic tolerance, equitable economic development, human rights, and justice. That should also be the focus of U.S. policy.”

“The Sri Lankan people have sent a firm message that they want their government to address the dire economic and humanitarian crises that are afflicting their country,” Senator Booker said. “I stand with the Sri Lankan people and support their peaceful efforts to address their needs. Furthermore, the international community must continue to push for justice, transparency, and accountability for human rights violations committed during the civil war to help the people of Sri Lanka move forward.”

While commending the Biden administration and other Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) members’ support for Sri Lanka, the resolution calls on the UN Human Rights Council to extend its war crimes accountability resolution; urges Sri Lankan security forces to respect Sri Lankans’ rights to protest peacefully; and presses President Ranil Wickremesinghe to work with opposition parties and ethnic minority groups in efforts to address the crisis.

The Core Group on Sri Lanka is planning to present a draft resolution to the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) seeking the promotion of reconciliation, accountability and human rights on the island nation.

The Core Group consists of the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Canada, Malawi, North Macedonia and Montenegro.

In its draft proposal, the Core Group has called upon the government of Sri Lanka to fulfil its commitments on the devolution of political authority, which is integral to reconciliation and the full enjoyment of human rights by all members of its population.

It also encouraged the Sri Lankan government to respect local governance, including through the holding of elections for provincial councils, and to ensure that all provincial councils, including the northern and eastern provincial councils, are able to operate effectively, in accordance with the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

The Core Group went on to underscore the importance of addressing the underlying governance factors and root causes which have contributed to this crisis including deepening militarization, lack of accountability in governance and impunity for serious human rights violations and abuses.

However, the Core Group expressed concerns at the human rights impacts of the economic crisis, including as result of increased food insecurity, severe shortages in fuel, shortages in essential medicines and reductions in household incomes, while stressing the need to promote and protect the rights of the most marginalized and disadvantaged individuals, including daily wage earners, children, older persons, and persons with disabilities.

It also raised concerns over other human rights developments since April 2022 including violence against and arrests of peaceful protestors, as well as violence against government supporters, resulting in deaths, injuries, destruction and damage to houses of members of Parliament and stresses the importance of independent investigations into all attacks and for those found responsible to be held to account.

The Core Group further noted that it remains concerned at continued militarization of civilian government functions; the erosion of the independence of the judiciary and key institutions responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights; lack of progress in addressing longstanding grievances and demands of Tamil and Muslim populations; surveillance, intimidation and harassment of journalists, human rights defenders, families of the disappeared and persons involved in memorialization initiatives, and sexual and gender-based violence.

The United Nations Human Rights Council should adopt a strong resolution on Sri Lanka that strengthens current UN mandates on accountability for crimes under international law and monitors the country’s deteriorating human rights situation, four international human rights organizations said in a letter to council member states published today. The resolution should also call upon Sri Lanka to address ongoing abuses, including by ending use of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Sri Lanka has been suffering a severe economic, political, and human rights crisis. The former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resigned in July 2022 following massive protests, and his successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has used abusive security measures to suppress freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. In a wide-ranging report released on September 6, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said, “Sri Lankans came together … in a mass protest movement to demand greater transparency, accountability for corruption and economic mismanagement and increased participation in democratic life.” She called upon the government to respect the rights of protesters, end impunity for past violations, and address the root causes of the current crisis.

“For many years the victims of past abuses in Sri Lanka have demanded justice, while successive governments have broken promises, blocked accountability, and promoted those implicated in war crimes to high office,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The UN Human Rights Council should adopt a resolution on Sri Lanka that presses the government to uphold accountability and the rule of law.”

At the 51st session of the Human Rights Council, which began on September 12, member states will review and update a March 2021 resolution that established a UN accountability project to collect and prepare evidence of international crimes committed in Sri Lanka for use in future prosecutions, and mandated the UN to monitor and report on the current situation in the country. It is essential to renew and strengthen those mandates, including with additional resources, Amnesty International, FORUM ASIA, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists said in their letter.

In her report, the UN High Commissioner described how “deepening militarization and lack of transparency and accountability in governance … have embedded impunity for serious human rights violations and created an environment for corruption and the abuse of power.” In the absence of accountability within Sri Lanka, she said that UN member states should prosecute Sri Lankans accused of committing international crimes in foreign courts under the principle of universal jurisdiction, and support efforts to trace and freeze stolen assets held abroad. The high commissioner also called for an international role in investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which killed over 250 people, noting that there remain unanswered questions over the role of the Sri Lankan security forces.

“The high commissioner has presented clear findings that require urgent international action to end impunity and provide for justice to Sri Lankans,” said Massimo Frigo, UN representative and senior legal adviser at the International Commission of Jurists. “A decade of Human Rights Council engagement on Sri Lanka has been a source of hope for victims and resulted in sporadic and unfulfilled pledges to reform, the council needs to give the issue sustained attention.”

Since becoming president on July 21, President Wickremesinghe has sent the military to violently disperse protesters and arrest scores of people accused of participating in protests. He has ordered the use of the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act to detain three student leaders without charge. The previous foreign minister, G.L. Pieris, told the Human Rights Council in June that the government would observe a moratorium on the use of that law, while the current foreign minister, Ali Sabry, then justice minister, gave the same assurances to Sri Lanka’s parliament in March.

On September 8, President Wickremesinghe appointed three people implicated in human rights abuses as government ministers. Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, known as Pillayan, is a former member of a separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) unit who later joined a pro-government armed group, both of which committed abductions and recruiting of child soldiers. In 2001, the attorney general dropped charges against him in connection with the 2005 murder of a parliamentarian. Another newly appointed minister, Lohan Ratwatte, resigned as prisons minister in September 2021 after threatening prisoners at gunpoint. A third, Sanath Nishantha, is currently under police investigation in connection with a violent attack on anti-government protesters on May 9.

“These ministerial appointments show that the Wickremesinghe administration cannot be expected to credibly pursue accountability for human rights violations or uphold the rule of law,” said Ahmed Adam, UN advocacy programme manager at FORUM-ASIA. “The alarming situation in the country today calls for robust and clear-eyed resolution from the Human Rights Council to protect the rights of people in Sri Lanka.”

In their letter to member states, the groups said that the new Human Rights Council resolution should address threats to human rights in Sri Lanka and violations connected to the country’s present crisis. The resolution should call on the government to:

Respect the rights of people to freely and peacefully protest and express their views without fear of reprisal or arrest;
End the harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest of people believed to have participated in or supported recent protests;
Repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, issue an immediate moratorium on its use in the interim period, review the detention of those held under the law, immediately release all those not facing internationally recognizable charges, and ensure that everyone detained under the law, including those in pretrial detention, are tried promptly and fairly in a regular court; and
Restore the independence of the judiciary and Human Rights Commission.
“Time and again we have seen successive Sri Lankan governments make commitments to the Human Rights Council that are then broken or disavowed,” said Yamini Mishra, South Asia director at Amnesty International. “Member states should press Sri Lanka on its commitments and call for action now to end the abuses that are taking place, while renewing and enhancing the UN’s mandates to monitor the situation and pursue accountability for past abuses.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Sandya Ekneligoda, the wife of missing journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, and human rights activist has accused the Government of adopting impunity as its unofficial policy relating to human rights in Sri Lanka.

“In a country where impunity is the unofficial adopted policy consisting of a slow and lagging legal system, in the midst of poverty, constant pursuit, and intimidation, the only thing the victims can do now is to cry out and lament while engaged in a constant struggle on the country’s streets,” she said, speaking of the struggles faced by families of missing persons.

Ekneligoda made these comments while addressing the 23rd Session of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances in Geneva this week.

During her address, she called on the Committee to intervene in providing Sri Lankan victims of enforced disappearances with a legal mechanism that would not only gain the trust of the victims but would also finally deliver the truth and justice.

Detailing the many obstacles and incidents of harassment she faced at the hands of the Government and its various institutions including the Police and the military since her husband’s abduction on 24 January 2010, Ekneligoda said under these dire circumstances, the main challenge now is if justice will be delivered as the fate of the legal case relating to her husband’s disappearances is now in limbo.

“Can it be expected that the current President while as Prime Minister in 2017 who irresponsibly claimed ‘all disappeared persons should be assumed dead or are abroad’ will deliver justice?” she asked.

Ekneligoda revealed that following Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election as President, a commission was appointed to look into cases of political revenge. “This commission turned the investigators and witnesses of the case into the accused.

“It violated orders of the High Court and obtained statements from witnesses only to in the end recommend the military suspects of the case be released and acquitted of all charges,” she noted. She also told the session that witnesses number 3 and 4 of the case were intimidated to change their accounts.

Ekneligoda also highlighted the obstacles faced by mothers and other family members of missing persons to find answers while engaging in a continuous struggle. She also pointed out that though nearly four decades have elapsed since 1990 and many commissions have been appointed to date no form of justice has been delivered to victims of enforced disappearances and their families.

She expressed her disappointment at the Office of Missing Persons and said the office was unable to even gain the trust of the families affected.

Source: Daily FT

India has called for full implementation of the 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s Constitution, the controversial 1987 amendment that has never been completely implemented for 35 years due to vehement opposition from many of the country’s Sinhala-dominated political parties.

But what is the 13th Amendment that India’s representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council highlighted, something that was drafted long before most Sri Lankans and Indians of today were even born? Here’s a look.

13A:

Up to 1987, Sri Lanka was ruled from Colombo by a central government, which resulted in areas far from the capital being virtually ignored in development programs and day to day governance. The 13A, as it became known, required devolution of powers to nine Provincial Councils – Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, Central, Northcentral, Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Wayamba (Northwestern). It mandated the holding of Provincial Council elections. Perhaps most controversially, it required a referendum in the Northern and Eastern Provinces to place the question of merging these two provinces in the hands of the population in these regions. With the North and East having a majority Tamil population, the merger was expected to be approved. But the referendum was never held.

The 13th Amendment was passed after the singing of the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord, as a direct result of Indian intervention in Sri Lanka’s civil war,. Signed in July 1987 between then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene, the accord was aimed at resolving the country’s ethnic conflict between the armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which demanded a separate state in the Northeast.

The 13th Amendment led to the passing of the Provincial Councils Act, the creation of nine Provincial Councils and the Sri Lankan government committing to a power-sharing arrangement to enable self-govern for all nine provinces in the country, including the seven Sinhala majority provinces. If implemented fully, the provincial councils would have the right to self-govern over key areas such as education, health, agriculture, housing, land and police. The amendment was vehemently opposed by both the Sinhala nationalist parties and the LTTE.

13A also required Tamil to be made a National Language of Sri Lanka in addition to Sinhala in an attempt to roll back the controversial ‘Sinhala Only Act’ of 1959.

Why it was never fully implemented:

The amendment has never been fully implemented because of opposition by political parties that rely on Sinhala vote bases, who view 13A as an imposition by India in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. Only a few subjects such as education and health have been partially devolved. However, the ethnic Tamil political parties have repeatedly called for its full implementation.

India has since 1987 been urging Sri Lanka to implement 13A the amendment. Ironically, the LTTE also opposed 13A and the Indian government in 1987 sent a large military contingent, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), to enforce the Indo-Lanka Accord and pave the way for the implementation of 13A. This led to a bitter war in the North and East between the LTTE and IPKF, with the Indian military being withdrawn in 1990 after suffering over 1,100 soldiers killed, often referred to as ‘India’s Vietnam’.

The Indo-Lanka Accord and 13A also sparked the rise of the bloody 1989/90 insurrection by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which led to an even more violent government crackdown that left over 50,000 people dead.

An issue that never died:

In November 2019, when then Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa visited India for the first time after taking office, the sticky issue of !3A was sidestepped, as both sides attempted to reset ties.

Subsequently, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla also urged the Sri Lankan government to adhere to the commitments made on the reconciliation process by way of meaningful devolution under the 13th Amendment during their visits to Sri Lanka. India has also raised the issue at many multilateral fora.

Last February, while New Delhi abstained from voting on a UNHRC resolution in Geneva that called for punitive actions against Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes committed during its decades-long civil war, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Indra Mani Pandey stressed that Tamil rights must be respected by Colombo in the form of the implementation of 13A.

Report filed with inputs from Zulfick Farzan, Senitha Senanayake, Ruhaza Irfan