Northern Civil Society Condemns President Sirisena’s BBC Statement

28/01/2016 

President Sirirsena’s  negative foreign participation in the accountability process has been condemned by  a statement drafted by Northern civil society and endorsed by number of organisations and individuals. Only few Sinhalese activists have  endorsed the statement, notably among them are Ruki Fernando and Herman Kumara and Brito Fernando.

SLB publishes the full statement below:

28th January, 2016

We the undersigned activists and organizations condemn President Maithripala Sirisena’s recent statements (BBC Sinhala Service, 21 Jan. 2016, Frontline, 14 Jan, 2016) wherein he appears to be indicating a withdrawal from the obligations the Government had committed to in the consensus resolution passed at the 30th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in October 2015. It is worth recalling that the Government as a co-sponsor of this resolution, was in a position to negotiate the exact terms of the resolution. Owing to the Government’s positions taken at these negotiations, the resolution in itself was a compromise, much to the disappointment of many victims and activists. The Government now appears to be backtracking from even these compromised commitments. The President in these interviews categorically stated that foreign judges and experts would not be part of the process. In his interview to BBC Sinhala Service he also went on to express his full confidence in the existing judicial system and in Sri Lanka’s investigative authorities. In that interview he added that if there was any international support necessary for Sri Lanka that it was only for economic development. On 26 January 2016, a few days after the Presidents interview to the BBC, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in an interview to Channel 4 appeared to be engaging in damage control when he stated that that the Government will abide by commitments given in Geneva. These contradictions between the President and the Prime Minister are however not new and have been a constant feature of the Government’s public communications about their commitments under the resolution ever since the resolution was passed.

It is widely acknowledged that the victim communities in Sri Lanka consider a purely domestic process to be untrustworthy. The crimes that were committed and that continue to be committed are of a systemic nature and the security apparatus that is responsible for most of these crimes and the attendant judicial, legal infrastructure continue to remain the same. Lack of legal and judicial response in the face of continuing violations including torture, arbitrary detention, unlawful arrest and sexual violence does not inspire confidence in the local judiciary. Further, a backlog of thousands of cases remain unaddressed, with very few arrests and convictions in response. Hence international participation in transitional justice processes including criminal prosecutions become an important element to win the trust and confidence of the victim communities. It is important to understand that the issue with regard to the need for international participation is one relating to willingness and not just of capacity. The agreement in October 2015 to include foreign judges and prosecutors showed signs on the part of the new Government of a willingness to act on accountability issues. The withdrawal from such obligations today leads us to questioning the seriousness of the Government’s willingness.

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