UN Rights Chief Finds People In N-E Still Live In Fear

Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein

By Easwaran Rutnam

Sunday, February 14, 2016

High on the agenda during the visit by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein last week was to push for international participation in the domestic accountability process.

And following four days of talks in Colombo, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Kandy, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein found that war affected families want an international role.

He also said that the element of fear once seen in Sri Lanka has considerably diminished, at least in Colombo and the South. But he found that in the North and the East, it has mutated but still exists.

Responding to a question posed by The Sunday Leader at a press conference held at the end of his visit to Sri Lanka last week, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein emphasized on the need for a credible process to find out if war crimes took place during the conflict.

He noted that the report on Sri Lanka, made public by his office last year, was based on an investigation conducted over alleged human rights abuses during the war and not a criminal investigation.

But he noted that the patterns of the abuses recorded during the human rights investigation suggested that there was a need for criminal investigations at a level of a court to determine if war crimes were committed.

“In effect only a court can say if crimes against humanity or war crimes were committed,” he said.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein however said that in the end his office will make recommendations to Sri Lanka but it is for Sri Lanka to decide on the best way forward. He also made clear that his office is not influenced by any country and at times there is a misunderstanding about the work his office does.

On the progress made by Sri Lanka in the accountability process Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said that virtually everyone agrees there has been progress, although opinions differ markedly about the extent of that progress.
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