Will UN rights chief's Sri Lankan visit deliver outcomes?

Clergy also need to devise creative forms to advocate in a way that is holistic and helps country reconcile with itself

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, met with Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to discuss ways of strengthening the rule of law and protection of human rights in the island nation. (Photo by ucanews.com)

Sri Lankan Tamil women cry at the graves of relatives who died during fighting in Mullivaikkal, scene of the worst atrocities during the last phase of the armed conflict in 2009. (Photo by Quintus Colombage)

 

Ruki Fernando, Colombo, Sri Lanka-February 17, 2016

On Feb. 6, the day before a top U.N. official arrived at a camp for internally displaced people in Sri Lanka's north it was visited by intelligence officers.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein had planned to visit the camp in Jaffna province and the officers wanted to know who was organizing his visit and what they were going to talk with him about.

The camp is a sensitive issue because those living there have had their land occupied by the military for the past 25 years.

It was all a part of Al Hussein's visit to Sri Lanka to monitor the progress of a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution that the Sri Lankan government co-sponsored in October.

Part of the resolution included a commitment by the government to return land to those who lost theirs during the country's decades-long civil war.

Other commitments that Sri Lanka signed up to involve the repeal or reform of terrorism laws and reduction of the military's presence in the north.

Through the resolution, Sri Lanka's government also committed to establishing four transitional justice mechanisms covering reparations, missing persons, truth seeking and accountability through judicial mechanisms.

The intimidation of activists in the camp before Al Hussein's visit is typical in Sri Lanka's highly militarized north. This sadly remains a reality, despite the fact that the civil war ended nearly seven years ago.                                  Read More