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ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka may have to convince the international community more on its human rights efforts before another resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting in September as the island nation has been asked to do more to address past alleged rights abuses.

Before the Sri Lankan delegation left to Geneva to participate in the 49th UNHRC session, the government attempted to activate some of its domestic processes including the Office of Missing Person (OMP) and the Office of National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR).

The government also tabled an amendment to the country’s anti-terrorism law, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA,) in parliament and released a number of people arrested under the PTA including lawyer Hejaz Hizbullah and poet Ahnaf Jazeem, long demanded by international rights groups.

However, it also faced new allegations that were forwarded at the latest UNHRC session including the government’s alleged failure to find the masterminds of the 2019 Easter Sunday attack and the alleged muzzling of opposition legislators and minorities critical of the government.

Apart from these, individual complaints by Sri Lankans also have been sent in a confidential manner to the UNHRC about how their fundamental rights are being breached under successive governments, sources who were aware of such complaints told EconomyNext.

Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church leader Cardinal Malcom Ranjith’s meeting with the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has sought to change the perception of Catholic nations, especially in the Latin American belt, a source who has the knowledge on the meetings said.

According the resolution passed at the UN body last year, Bachelet has received a mandate to collect evidence of crimes allegedly committed during Sri Lanka’s long civil war, which ended with an upsurge of alleged civilian deaths attributed to both the Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Many rights activists and some Western nations still see Sri Lanka’s measures including proposed amendments to the anti-terror law, reactivating the work of the OMP and ONUR as attempts to hoodwink the international community.

However, none of these measures managed to convince the UN and international community.

No credible road map

Bachelet on Friday’s session in Geneva said there have been some recent signs of increased engagement by the government with her office and certain steps to initiate reforms.

“I encourage the Government to take further steps to address the fundamental problems with the PTA, as well as undertake the deeper legal, institutional and security sector reforms that are critically needed, to put an end to impunity and prevent any recurrence of past violations,” Bachelet said.

“Regrettably, the past year has also seen further obstruction and setbacks to accountability. Victims and their families continue to be denied truth and justice. And the Government’s response to criticism has constricted democratic and civic space, including for essential human rights advocacy.

“Two years after the expression of commitments to pursue an “inclusive, domestically designed and executed reconciliation and accountability process” before this Council, the Government has still not produced a credible road map on transitional justice towards accountability and reconciliation.”

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peremuna (SLPP)-led coalition, which earlier opposed all views on addressing past rights abuses from the West, the UN, and global rights groups, has been on reverse gear since the country started to face an economic and debt crisis.

The European Union has threatened to withdraw Sri Lanka’s access to the GSP plus trade concession worth over 500 million US dollars if Sri Lanka does not fulfil its commitments including repealing the PTA as it agreed to in 2016.

Some western nation including Canada and the United States have already imposed targeted sanctions on military personnel who are accused of war crimes.

“The current Government has not only demonstrated its unwillingness to pursue accountability – it has incorporated military officials implicated in alleged war crimes into the highest levels of Government, reinforcing a narrative of impunity,” the UN rights chief said.

Though Sri Lanka started to address most of the rights concerns, it hardly had the time to reconcile with minorities which have accused the SLPP-led coalition of not taking strong action against racism and targeted violence against minorities since it came to power.

Visible ethno-religious nationalism

“The expression of ethno-religious nationalism in State institutions has become more visible, increasing the marginalisation and fear of minority communities, and undermining reconciliation,” Bachelet said.

“Since the end of 2020, we have noted a significant increase in land disputes, mainly related to Buddhist heritage conservation or forestry protection, that are exacerbating grievances of minority communities and creating new tensions.”

The UN rights boss also questioned the independence of country’s key commissions and institutions after the passage of the 20th amendment to strengthen the powers enjoyed by the president.

“I am also deeply concerned by continued reports of surveillance, harassment and intimidation of civil society organisations, human rights defenders and journalists by police and intelligence services,” Bachelet said.

“Repeated incidents of deaths in custody and in alleged armed encounters with police are alarming. We also continue to receive allegations of ill-treatment and torture by police and military. This highlights the importance of fundamental security-sector reforms.”

She also said the victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and religious leaders also continue to call for justice, reparation and a full account of the circumstances of those attacks, in particular the role of the security establishment.

Cardinal’s request

Bachelet’s comments on Easter Sunday victims came after Sri Lanka’s Malcom Cardinal Ranjith personally visited Geneva and placed his statement officially to the UNHCR on the plight of the victims in the attack along with a request to ensure justice.

The Cardinal said the Easter Sunday attack – which killed 269 including 47 foreign nationals from 14 countries – first appeared to be the work of Islamic extremists but subsequent investigations indicated that “this massacre was part of a grand political plot.”

He said the SLPP-led government has failed to mete out justice to the victims despite repeated requests and there are attempts to harass and intimidate those who clamour for justice instead of uncovering the truth behind the attack and prosecuting those responsible.

Many rights activists say the Cardinal’s request could become a game changer in the future in forcing Sri Lanka’s government to address alleged past human rights violations, given the likelihood of Catholic-dominated nations will now also call on the government to address UNHRC demands.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Core Group said its concerns over surveillance and intimidation of civil society persists and detentions, threats and intimidation of journalists and human rights defenders continue while the proposed changes to the PTA are very limited and its longstanding concerns still remain.

“The new ‘One Country One Law’ taskforce risks undermining Sri Lanka’s pluralist society. We urge Sri Lanka to ensure that this taskforce’s work is inclusive and non-discriminatory,” the UK’s Global Ambassador for Human Rights Rita French in her statement on behalf of the core group said.

Alarm bell rings

Human rights activists and officials who visited Geneva said the sessions on Sri Lanka for the first time saw Christians and Sinhalese speaking against human rights violations by an incumbent government for the first time.

Opposition legislator Harin Fernando and Cardinal Ranjith were given 1.5-minute slot each under the NGO time slot where 10 NGOs were given the opportunity to speak.

“It is an alarm bell for Sri Lanka,” said a rights activist based in Geneva told EconomyNext.

“Now pressure is mounting on Sri Lanka as most countries spoke on Monday asked it to address concerns.”

Sri Lanka for its part said there were serious anomalies and weaknesses in Bachelet’s report presented to the Council.

However, some diplomats based in Sri Lanka say Sri Lanka’s credibility among the international community has eroded due to its past record and another resolution is likely in September depending on the government’s responses to UNHRC’s call to address human rights abuses.

Sri Lanka responds

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister G L Peiris criticized the UNHRC’s move to find evidence against the government’s past human rights abuses.

“The fundamental deficiency is its intolerably intrusive character, impinging as it does on core functions and responsibilities of organs of the Sri Lankan State, overwhelmingly mandated by the people of our country at three successive elections” he told the UNHRC,” he told in his statement addressing the Council.

“Despite our rejection of the resolution, we will continue our voluntary international undertakings on human rights and engage with the United Nations, including with this Council,” he said.

“We are dismayed by the High Commissioner’s unwarranted onslaught on seminal institutions of our country which function under the aegis of Sri Lanka’s Constitution and legal system, emanating from a rich and varied cultural heritage, and are subject to stringent review processes which form an integral part of our tried and tested laws.”

On Tuesday, Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said the country “received overwhelming support from countries of the Global South who expressed support for the Government’s significant efforts towards reconciliation and reiterated the importance of objective and constructive cooperation as the fundamental basis for multilateral engagement”.

“Of the 45 countries that spoke at the Interactive Dialogue, 31 spoke in support of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka received cross-regional support from a broad spectrum of states of South, South East and Central Asia and the African Group,” the Foreign Ministry said in its statement.

US State Department Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland is due to visit Sri Lanka on 22 March to hold a range of high-level discussions, including with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Morning learnt that Nuland, along with another US State Department official, will be in Sri Lanka for a three-day visit from 22 March. She is due to meet the President, Prime Minister (PM) Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris.

Furthermore, she is also due to hold discussions with Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Leader Sajith Premadasa and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader R. Sampanthan.

On 7 March, at the interactive dialogue of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session, the US called upon the Government of Sri Lanka to engage with Tamil and Muslim political parties and civil society organisations in order to advance an inclusive and lasting political solution. The US further noted that in order to foster reconciliation, the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and the Office for Reparations should operate independently and transparently.

Prof. Peiris attended the UNHRC session this month in Geneva, Switzerland, where he referred to serious anomalies and weaknesses in the update presented by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Michelle Bachelet. In her written update this month, Bachelet called upon the UNHRC and its Member States to co-operate with the Office of the UNHCHR in its discharge of accountability-related work under Resolution 46/1, and to provide it with adequate human and financial resources in order to enable it to effectively deliver the full mandate given under the said Resolution.

Former Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Head Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) (Retd.) Ravi Seneviratne, in a fundamental rights (FR) petition filed at the Supreme Court (SC), has levelled damning allegations against several parties including Public Security Minister Rear Admiral (Retd.) Dr. Sarath Weerasekera and intelligence agencies such as the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) and the State Intelligence Service (SIS), in connection with the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 21 April 2019.

In the petition, he has stated that an anonymous petition had been addressed to Public Security Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Jagath Alwis, alleging that certain CID officers are responsible for the said terror attacks. SDIG Seneviratne further alleged that Weerasekera, in a recent parliamentary speech, has mentioned all the allegations mentioned in the said anonymous petition. Therefore, he claimed that he believes that there is a connection between the said anonymous petition and Weerasekera’s speech.

The petitioner also stated that the DMI and the SIS are suspected to have conspired to plant a motorcycle jacket in a school bag, in order to mislead CID investigations into the murder of two police officers in the Vavunativu area in 2018, and to thereby prevent the CID from discovering the real assailants involved in the murders. Due to the confusions caused by the SIS and the DMI, the CID officers had discovered only after the terror attacks that the said murders were committed by the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) group, he claimed.

He also stated that on 2 February 2019, he, together with then CID Director Shani Abeysekara, had met then President Maithripala Sirisena and explained that the attacks on Buddhist statues in Mawanella and the stock of explosives discovered in the Wanathawilluwa area were connected to the NTJ and that therefore, the same should be taken into serious consideration. He had requested Sirisena to bring this matter to the attention of the National Security Council (NSC). However, Seneviratne said that although Sirisena had mentioned that he would give an opportunity to the petitioner to present a briefing on the matter to the NSC, the said undertaking was not put into effect.

The petition further mentioned: “After the recovery of a stock of explosives in Wanathawilluwa, the CID officers conducted further investigations. The CID officers were then able to identify a person called Badurdeen Mohamed Mohideen alias Army Mohideen. Later on, Police Sergeant Nandalal and Sub Inspector of Police (SI) Dias, both attached to the CID, had used him as an informant to trace the NTJ and its activities. After the Easter Sunday terror attacks, efforts were made to impugn the bona fides of these CID officers for using Army Mohideen as an informant. However, Army Mohideen has not to date been named as a suspect in the investigations into any of the incidents that took place on or subsequent to 21 April 2019.”

SDIG Seneviratne further stated that following the terror attacks, the CID officers became aware through the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about an internet protocol (IP) address belonging to an individual who had been in frequent communication with NTJ Leader Zahran Hashim. “The CID began interrogating the said individual who refused to give any information about his connection to Zahran or to the NTJ. Thereafter, the Defence Ministry, through then DMI Director Brig. Chula Kodithuwakku, prevented the CID from detaining the said individual, asserting that his activities were a part of a secret military Intelligence operation,” he added.

He also said that the CID was able to find out about a person called “Podi Zahran” alias Matale Zahran who lived in Matale, who had connections with the NTJ. According to him, Matale Zahran was arrested by police officers attached to the Matale Police and that later on the same day, he was again arrested by the CID. While he was being interrogated by the CID, SDIG Seneviratne said that it came to light that Matale Zahran had communicated with a person called “Sonic Sonic”, after which the CID was able to locate the subscriber identification/identity module (SIM) card of the said “Sonic Sonic” through an IP address. “According to the investigations, it was revealed that the SIM which was used by ‘Sonic Sonic’ had been obtained under the name of a woman Police Sergeant attached to the Colombo City Traffic Division. The CID interrogated the said woman Police Sergeant and she revealed that she had given the said SIM card to one SI Bandara who was attached to the SIS, with whom she claimed she was having an affair with. When the CID proceeded to interrogate SI Bandara, the SIS DIG Sampath Liyanage informed to not proceed with the said interrogation as the involvement of SI Bandara with Matale Zahran is a part of a covert operation which is directly connected to national security. However, the CID managed to get a statement, but SI Bandara refused to divulge any information with regard to his connection with ‘Matale Zahran’,” the petition read.

Further claiming that he became aware that then SIS Director Nilantha Jayawardena had sent a report to the CID for the first time, providing the full details of the NTJ command structure and evidence of their involvement in the killing of the two police officers in Vavunativu a few hours after the terror attacks on 21 April 2019, he said that the CID had been searching for Zahran Hashim for the past four months with no support from the intelligence services. He said that if this specific information related to the NTJ command structure and the murder of the two police officers were made available to the CID or provided to the NSC prior to the attacks, the attacks would have been prevented.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka expands its regional office network by the inauguration of a regional office in Nuwara Eliya (Queen Elizabeth Building, Nuwara Eliya) today.

Among the ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, the Indian origin Tamils are a very significant populace. This particular community migrated to Sri Lanka during the colonial period to engage in the plantation sector. This Indian-origin Tamil community faces very regressive consequences in societal and economical aspects. The major fortitude of establishing a new regional branch in the Nuwara Eliya District is to enhance the protection of the rights of this vulnerable community and to educate these people to claim inquiries during the infringement of their rights.

The inauguration is scheduled for the 08th of March, 2022, and will be steered on the International Women’s Day commemoration in Nuwara Eliya.

The inaugural ceremony of the Regional office will be graced by the High Commissioner for South Africa in Sri Lanka, S. E. Schalk, and the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, retired Supreme Court Justice, Mrs. Rohini Marasinghe.

The Commissioners of the Human Rights Commission, Venerable Kalupahana Piyarathana Thero, Dr. Vijitha Nanayakkara, Dr. M.H. Nimal Karunasiri, and Ms. Anusuya Shanmuganathan and the officers of the Commission are expected to partake in the inauguration. The commemoration will be held themed ‘Gender Equality today for a Sustainable Tomorrow’ on the 08th of March, 2022 from 09.30 am onwards at the Divisional Secretariat Office, Nuwara Eliya.

The US yesterday (7) spoke about Sri Lanka during the interactive dialogue about the country at the 49th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), where they called upon the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to engage with Tamil and Muslim parties for a “lasting political solution”.

“We call on the Government to engage with Tamil and Muslim political parties and civil society organisations to advance an inclusive, lasting political solution,” the representative for the US said in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday.

The UK noted setbacks in “several emblematic human rights cases” and said that the “recent appointment of an individual named in a key emblematic case as a Provincial Governor is particularly worrying”. Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda, who was named in the “Navy 11” case with regard to the disappearance of 11 youths allegedly at the hands of the Sri Lanka Navy, was recently appointed as the North Western Province Governor. Furthermore, the UK also raised concerns of land grabbing in the Northern and Eastern (N-E) Provinces. “The UK also notes concerns of surveillance and the harassment of the civil society and the militarisation of civilian government functions,” added the UK representative.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International said that it remains deeply concerned by the “shrinking civic space and therefore, urged the Government to halt reprisals against critics and perceived critics, including those advocating for justice for the April 2019 bombings”. “Families of the disappeared continue to face obstacles and pushback from state agents while they demand their right to truth and justice, including through the State’s pursuit of court orders attempting to restrict their freedom to protest. The State’s alarming discrimination and targeting of the Muslim community continues unabated,” said Amnesty International. The organisation also called for an immediate moratorium on the PTA, echoing the call of the UN High Commissioner (HC) for HR, Michelle Bachelet in her update about Sri Lanka this year.

Representing the International Harm Reduction Association, Ambika Satkunanathan raised concerns about the militarisation of drug control and treatment in the country and its negative reprisals on the treatment, the individual, and public health. “A worrying pattern of deaths in custody of persons arrested for drug-related offences in alleged shootouts with law enforcement or while assisting law enforcement officials have been documented. The lack of investigations into these custodial deaths entrench impunity and the use of violence by state agencies,” said Satkunanathan.

In March 2021, the UNHRC passed Resolution 46/1, which recognises the importance of preserving evidence relating to violations of human rights in Sri Lanka in order to advance accountability, and as such, a call has been made to implement an “evidence preserving” mechanism in the country. It was adopted on 23 March 2021 at the UNHRC with 22 votes in favour of it and 11 votes in opposition while 14 Member States abstained from voting.

In her written update this month, Bachelet has called upon the UNHRC and its Member States to co-operate with the Office of the UNHCHR in its discharge of accountability related work under Resolution 46/1 and to provide it with the adequate human and financial resources in order to enable it to effectively deliver the full mandate given under the Resolution.

Countries such as China criticised Resolution 46/1 yesterday. “The Resolution is not in line with the principles of impartiality, non-politicisation, objectivity, and non-selectivity and nor has it been endorsed by the State in question. We call on the relevant parties to respect Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and political independence and pass human rights development of their own choice in light of their national conditions,” said China.

In a statement made yesterday, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said that Sri Lanka received “overwhelming support from countries of the Global South who expressed support for the Government’s significant efforts towards reconciliation and reiterated the importance of objective and constructive co-operation as the fundamental basis for multilateral engagement”. “Addressing the UNHRC on 4 March at the commencement of the interactive dialogue, Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, while reiterating Sri Lanka’s commitment to continuing its voluntary international undertakings on human rights and engaging with the UN, including the UNHRC, referred to serious anomalies and weaknesses in the update presented by Bachelet,” the statement noted.