A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, June 30, 2016
RECONCILIATION DOES NOT HAPPEN OVERNIGHT & ROAD AHEAD IS CHALLENGING – SAMARAWEERA
( Minister Samaraweera speaking at a Side event on 28 June 2016 at HRC 32 ©sunanda deshapriya)
In his statement at the 32nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council
today (29 June 2016), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka Mangala
Samaraweera insisted that ‘reconciliation does not happen at once,
overnight. It requires effort, hard work, commitment, and careful,
continuous, concrete action. It is not an end that can be reached where
no further work is required. It is not a box that can be ticked as
achieved. It is a journey that requires constant striving.’ He further said that‘the
road ahead is certainly challenging, but it is powered by our
determination and resolve to achieve reconciliation. There are some who
doubt our sincerity to do so, and also a few who want us to fail. For
those of our friends who are genuinely concerned, and want Sri Lanka to
succeed, every delayed second seems to appear as an eternity, and they
fear that the Government has lost its way and the political will to
succeed.’
Mr. President,
High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Excellencies.
Distinguished delegates.
High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Excellencies.
Distinguished delegates.
At the 30th Session of this Council last October, Sri Lanka, by
co-sponsoring the Resolution 30/1, ‘Promoting Reconciliation and
Accountability in Sri Lanka’, broke away from the years of
disengagement, self-isolation, and confrontation that preceded the
election of President Maithripala Sirisena in January 2015.
Sri Lanka, hailed at Independence in 1948 as a potential “Switzerland of
the east”, was now ready to come to terms with the many tragedies we
have had to face as a nation in the past, and move forward as a brave
new country in order to harness the peace and prosperity that our people
truly deserve.
President Sirisena, in his Address to the Nation on the 68th
Independence Day anniversary on 4th February this year, reiterated his
commitment to fulfil the provisions of Resolution 30/1, in working out
the contours of a new Sri Lanka.
He said that Sri Lanka is committed to implement the Resolution to
protect the dignity of our State, our People and our Security Forces and
that we will implement the proposals with patience, discipline and
restraint. It will be freedom, democracy and reconciliation that will be
reinforced by implementing the provisions of the resolution.
When Sri Lanka’s unity Government marks its first year in office in
August this year, there will be many achievements to look back on, with a
certain sense of satisfaction.
While consolidating many of the democratic changes achieved within the
first 100 days, we have begun taking action on all fronts related to
strengthening good governance and the rule of law; promoting and
protecting human rights; fostering reconciliation; and achieving
economic development; while engaging and working closely with the
international community in a constructive manner that benefits the
people of our country:
-In order to ensure that the setting up of the reconciliation mechanisms
is done effectively, a Secretariat for Coordinating the Reconciliation
Mechanisms has been set up under the Office of the Prime Minister;
The Government recognises that, in order for the transitional justice
process to be effective in achieving the desired objectives, the
necessary mechanisms should be properly sequenced, integrated and
coordinated. Some have started raising alarm bells that sequencing of
mechanisms is a delay tactic or means to omit the component of justice.
This is incorrect. The Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation
Mechanisms is already consulting experts and is working on obtaining the
required training and capacity-building for the relevant mechanisms –
investigating techniques, forensic expertise, prosecutorial strategies –
so that when the designs are in place, following the Consultation
Process, the required expertise for the mechanisms will also be in
place;
-A Task Force consisting entirely of civil society representatives has
been appointed to seek the views of the public that will inform the
designing of the truth-seeking, justice, accountability and reparations
mechanisms;
-The task of working on the wider issues of reconciliation aimed at
achieving non-recurrence is being coordinated by the Office of National
Unity and Reconciliation which comes under the purview of the President,
and is led by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga;
-The draft Bill approved by Cabinet to establish a Permanent and
Independent Office on Missing Persons, which is an essential component
of the truth-seeking process and the first mechanism in the transitional
justice programme, has already been gazetted and included in the order
paper of Parliament. This, to us, is a milestone in Sri Lanka’s
reconciliation process;
-A Bill to amend the Registration of Deaths (Temporary Provisions) Act
No 19 of 2010 to enable the issuance of Certificates of Absence in
respect of Missing Persons was approved by Cabinet and gazetted earlier
this month. This too will be tabled in Parliament to be taken up in
July;
-The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance was ratified and the draft legislation to give
effect to the provisions of the Convention will be presented to the
Cabinet in July, for gazetting and presentation to Parliament;
-A ‘National Policy on Durable Solutions for Conflict Affected
Displacement’ has been evolved through wide consultations, and with
technical support from the UN. The Policy is presently before Cabinet
for approval, and has been released to the public as well;
-A Committee is now putting the final touches to the first draft of the
new counter-terrorism legislation that will replace the much criticised
and much abused Prevention of Terrorism Act, in keeping with Sri Lanka’s
commitment and obligations to human rights and countering terrorism.
Technical assistance for this purpose has been sought from the UN
Counter-terrorism Committee Executive Directorate;
-Despite the Government maintaining a zero tolerance policy on torture,
its incidence has not ceased, although reduced. We are seized of the
seriousness of the issue and have also sought the assistance of the
National Human Rights and Police Commissions in Sri Lanka to create
greater public awareness and initiate the necessary public discourse
required, in addition to training programmes for the Police and other
measures aimed at combating and eliminating torture including addressing
the need for prosecution and conviction;
-A Cabinet approved Inter-Ministerial Committee has been tasked with
drafting the National Human Rights Action Plan for 2017-2021;
-Last week the military released another 701 acres of land to the
District Secretary of Jaffna, out of which, 201.3 acres were handed over
to their original owners on 25th June. The Government has clearly
instructed the military that all the land obtained from civilians must
be released latest by 2018, and that the owners of whatever land that
may be required for national installations or development purposes would
be fully compensated.
-The three principle pillars on which the architecture of the new Sri
Lanka is built, are democracy, development and reconciliation. The
Government is also working towards a new Constitution for Sri Lanka.
This Constitution, while entrenching the democratic gains we have
achieved during the last year, will also be a celebration of Sri Lanka’s
diversity as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual country
that will guarantee equal rights, justice and dignity for all, and
address some of the issues that have plagued us since Independence and
has stood in the way of our unity as a nation. The Public
Representations Committee tasked with seeking the views of the public
for the new Constitution has just completed its work, and their Report
has been handed over to the Government;
-Sri Lanka is also now open to the world and engages with the
international community with courage and confidence. The Working Group
on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance, the Special Rapporteur on the
Independence of Judges and Lawyers and the Special Rapporteur against
Torture visited and shared with us their observations, which are being
acted upon. The Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice,
Reparations and Guarantees of Non-recurrence visited us thrice in one
year, in a technical-advisory capacity. We were also pleased to receive
you, High Commissioner, in February; and we are hopeful that
Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon will visit us this year as well.
We invite all who are interested in Sri Lanka’s progress to
visit us, including all those who criticise us, fairly or unfairly. We
are ready and willing to accept praise as well as criticism in the
correct spirit, and use both for reflection and improvement.
One of our weaknesses has been our failure to communicate our strategies
and plans, effectively. We are already planning on starting a
communication drive to address this essential requirement.
Mr. President,
Reconciliation does not happen at once, overnight. It requires
effort, hard work, commitment, and careful, continuous, concrete action.
It is not an end that can be reached where no further work is required.
It is not a box that can be ticked as achieved. It is a journey that
requires constant striving. A commitment towards which our nation should
be bound across generations, and a central tenet of governance, because
the price to pay if we falter, is not one our nation can endure once
again after over thirty years of bloodshed that has spared no one.
I would say that we are following what the ancient Romans would have
called, a policy of festina lente – making haste slowly. This may make
it seem for some that the progress we are making is too fast, and too
slow for others.
What we have achieved so far since January 2015 may seem like ‘baby
steps’ for some, but for us they are ‘giant leaps’. Some alleged that we
are being optimistic, upbeat and hopeful. I must say that we are. How
else do we work towards achieving our objectives? What is important is
that our optimism is not based on delusion. It is based on the actual
results of what we have managed to achieve so far, and the knowledge
that our Government is working on a comprehensive strategy that will
enable us to pursue different processes in a coordinated, integrated and
appropriately sequenced manner.
While dealing with the low-hanging fruit immediately, we have
strategies and plans to deal with the more serious and controversial
issue of setting up a judicial mechanism with international assistance.
Sri Lanka is no stranger to international assistance and participation
with many investigative and forensic experts having worked with us in
the past. Of course, there are varying views on the nature, level and
role of international participation. Divergent views are indicative of a
healthy democracy and consultative process. Despite such divergent
views, however, I can assure you that the mechanism that is finally set
up will be one which has the confidence of the stakeholders, especially
the victims, with fair trial and due process guarantees.
The road ahead is certainly challenging, but it is powered by our
determination and resolve to achieve reconciliation. There are some who
doubt our sincerity to do so, and also a few who want us to fail. For
those of our friends who are genuinely concerned, and want Sri Lanka to
succeed, every delayed second seems to appear as an eternity, and they
fear that the Government has lost its way and the political will to
succeed. Then there are others who are misinformed and misled and
therefore, disbelieve or are unaware of the achievements so far. And of
course there are those who pray that we won’t succeed. These are the
forces of extremism on both sides of the divide, who, in league with the
ghosts of the past, wait to rejoice to see Sri Lanka fail to succeed in
its journey of reconciliation. For the extremists of course I have
nothing to say, but to all the others, I wish to say that the Government
is united and firm in its commitment to achieve reconciliation,
development and ensure non-recurrence. Let us have the benefit of your
doubts in order to take forward this extremely challenging yet essential
process for our nation.
As I mentioned before, Sri Lanka is open to the world, and I invite all
our friends to come and see what we have done, and assist us in this
historic journey.
When I come back here in March next year, the contours of the new Sri Lanka we aspire to build, I believe, will be far clearer.
We appreciate greatly, Mr. President, the role of those who are helping
Sri Lanka in this challenging journey in numerous ways – through advice,
through technical assistance, through resources and investment. We are
also deeply appreciative of the support of the High Commissioner and his
Office. We note that the High Commissioner’s Report acknowledges our
achievements. We appreciate the observations made which help us reflect,
and take action to address areas of concern, and we look forward to
continue to work in close cooperation with the international community
in our journey towards economic and social progress, reconciliation, and
achieving durable peace for our people. I urge all of you to support
our journey with patience and perseverance.
Thank you.