Part of the idea behind this blog is
to feature occasional contributions from colleagues who inspire and
motivate me. Today’s piece was written by Andreas Schüller, head of the
International Crimes and Accountability program at the European Center
for Constitutional and Human Rights. He works among other projects on
war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Sri Lankan
civil war.
Berlin last week: German trade groups host the Sri Lankan-German
Business Forum. The Sri Lankan delegation consists of President
Maithripala Sirisena and three of his ministers. Sirisena and his
colleagues are fervently drumming up business for Sri Lanka, where the
decades-long civil war was brought to a bloody end in 2009. On the
question of accountability and reconciliation, the Sri Lankan foreign
minister reels off the list of promises made to the UN Human Rights
Council: the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission (one
such commission was set up in 2011 but failed to look at the most
serious human rights violations), a special court (from which the
government is keen to exclude international judges and prosecutors) and a
commission on those who disappeared during the conflict.
Cause for skepticism
But anyone who’s been working on
Sri Lanka for
a while, including us here at the European Center for Constitutional
and Human Rights, can’t help but be skeptical in the face of these
promises. Does the Sri Lankan government actually mean it this time?
Will prosecutions be sought for
all those
responsible for war crimes? It doesn’t look like it: the United
National Party, the country’s strongest party and a supporter of the
president, just welcomed into parliament Sarath Fonseka, who served as
Supreme Commander of the army during the civil war.
What about the economy? Sirisena’s Berlin delegation failed even to
mention the Sri Lankan military, currently the biggest economic actor in
the heavily militarized northern and northeastern regions of the
country, the former conflict zones. How can it be ensured that trade
agreements and investment do not end up profiting the military and thus
strengthening its position in the region, denying the resettled Tamil
population any development opportunities? The strong military presence
that has persisted since the conflict ended continues to be a
significant security problem – especially for war widows, who
consistently report instances of sexualized violence. It is crucial that
employment opportunities are available to civil war widows and orphans.
To date they have not profited from projects on tourism, fishing or
trade.
Careful scrutiny needed in Sri Lankan trade deals
Yet these ongoing problems don’t seem to be priorities for the German
Ministry of Economy and the Foreign Office during Sirisena’s Berlin
visit. A German trade visit to Sri Lanka is planned for this May. It’s
unlikely that companies and trade associations will address the fallout
from the conflict in northern Sri Lanka. But the current negotiations
between the EU and Sri Lanka on tax exemptions (GSP+) offer a chance to
call for new standards and evaluate the results of the previous
negotiations in 2010. Without intense scrutiny of the root causes of the
conflict, investment from Germany and other European countries risks
reinforcing ethnic discrimination and hindering reconciliation in Sri
Lanka.
