UNHRC Cannot Rely On Sri Lanka To Prosecute Its Armed Forces – Part IV: Canada & The ‘Core Group’ Must Stand With Victims 

By Usha S Sri-Skanda Rajah –MARCH 15, 2019

Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah

What member states must not do is help Sri Lanka perpetuate a lie. Canada and the ‘Core Group on Sri Lanka’ must stand with victims and lead the call for an international judicial accountability mechanism.   

To be read in conjunction with ‘UNHRC Cannot Rely On Sri Lanka To Prosecute Its Armed Forces’ Part I (here), Part II (here) and Part III (here)

It’s ten years since the Mullivaikkaal genocide. For Tamils this is particularly a poignant and painful moment in time. The 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is in progress and another resolution on, “Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka,” is being drafted by the Core Group on Sri Lanka. 

At the other front, as of writing, speculation is rife that President Sirisena’s five man delegation that includes the new Governor of the Northern Province, is going to the UNHRC to seek a withdrawal from its commitments under the two resolutions Sri Lanka co-sponsored. Sirisena is dead against, “foreign participation” and won’t have that. 

Seems as though there may be more drama coming and there’s no telling how the Core Group and the UNHRC would respond; although there can’t be any doubt this unending saga that relies on a domestic mechanism has got to end. And end it must.        

In spite of the confusion, there are still some days left to finalise the draft and the likelihood that Sri Lanka could be given another extension is still true. With this in mind, Tamil Canadians, writing to Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister, Chrystia Freeland, urging against any extensions, want Canada to, “stand firm on the side of victims massacred in the Mullivaikkaal Genocide and lead the call for international action, for the UNHRC to ask the UN General Assembly to request the Security Council to refer Sri Lanka to the ‘International Criminal Court’ or take the steps necessary for the creation of a ‘Special International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka – to try senior military and political leaders for mass atrocity crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, rape and genocide.”

The genocide in Sri Lanka is a question that needs to be litigated and any right thinking person would agree, allowing Sri Lanka to adjudicate the genocide it committed is not a rational proposition. Realistically speaking allowing Sri Lanka to investigate genocide is to allow the country under scrutiny to prosecute its own crimes and should be surely ruled out.

Tamils missing, disappeared, raped, tortured and killed in Sri Lanka have not only got to be counted and accounted for, but it’s also imperative the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are called to account in an independent international tribunal that will look after the interests of victims and has the trust of the Tamil community. Like I wrote, the Report by Charles Petrie on, “UN failures in Sri Lanka must also be seen as a scathing indictment on the perpetrators – the Rajapaksa government.” I said it when the Report was released and say it now: “the time has come to arraign the accused.”

While anticipating the usual shenanigans from Sri Lanka, Tamils are placing their faith wholly on the rule of law according to international standards and norms, and are looking to the UNHRC and Canada and the Core Group to deliver justice for the victims through an international judicial accountability mechanism and not through a domestic mechanism, hybrid or not. 

Most Tamils and Tamil organisations in the diaspora and in the homeland are solidly against giving Sri Lanka any further extensions. While a massive protest and shut down by Tamils was taking place in the homeland as the UNHRC opened its sessions, numerous Tamil diaspora organisations were writing to the High Commissioner for Human Rights (High Commissioner) and to the 47 member states of the UNHRC; they are in unison, urging against giving Sri Lanka anymore additional time. Furthermore the students of the University of Jaffna are planning a Mass Protest Rally on March 16 in Jaffna and March 19th in Batticaloa, calling for an international investigation and having the blessings of Justice Wigneswaran who has called on the people to give their full support to the initiative. 

The news thus far coming from the 40th session of the UNHRC doesn’t look good. All signs seem to indicate Sri Lanka will be aided in its sinister moves to obstruct justice yet again, by no less than the UNHRC an august body, one that everyone relies on to side with victims – the UNHRC which is supposed to expose and facilitate the prosecution of incalcitrant states that abuse human rights – in this case genocide. It would be unconscionable for Sri Lanka to be given a further reprieve but that is what will happen – Handing out extension after extension in which to fulfill its transitional justice obligations set out in resolutions 30/1 and 34/1, would amount to helping Sri Lanka perpetuate a lie – when everyone knows and should know by now the chances it would conform are nil.    

As the Core Group on Sri Lanka – UK, Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Northern Ireland finalizes the draft of another new resolution, it’s abundantly clear, wheels are being set in motion to sugar coat it beyond all reason and logic, with no consequences for non-compliance – all this only to seek Sri Lanka’s cooperation and co-sponsorship to facilitate its passage without a vote. This is wrong, any which way you look at it, when now more than ever before, there are many more compelling reasons why it is insane to take this path when Canada and the members of the Core Group must know that the, “UNHRC cannot rely on Sri Lanka to prosecute its armed forces.” 

The granting of another extension would be devastating news for Tamils. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), Manicka Vasagar, currently in Geneva asks whether the delegates are, “listening to victims.” In addressing the UNHRC and members of the Core Group, the Minister makes the case why an ICC referral or an international mechanism, together with a country based Special Rappoteur in the Tamil Homeland in the North and East including immediate de-militarisation is critically important. 

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