A panel of top international legal luminaries told Sri Lanka's government on Tuesday to clean up its human rights record, saying an escalating war against Tamil Tigers had brought with it grave abuses.
The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), headed by the former Indian chief justice J N Bhagwati and comprising 10 experts from Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, France, Netherlands and the United States blamed the Government of Sri Lanka for "absence of will" in the present Inquiry to "investigate cases with vigour, where the conduct of its own forces has been called into question."
"The IIGEP has... found an absence of will on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka in the present inquiry to investigate cases with vigour, where the conduct of its own forces has been called into question," the panel said.
"Summary executions, massacres, disappearances, wanton destruction of property, and forcible transfers of populations can never be justified. No efforts should be spared to uncover responsibility, including recognition of command responsibility, for such actions."
Following international pressure, in September, 2006, President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced that his government would "invite an international independent commission to probe abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings."
However, within days of his announcement, he deviated from the claim and said, that he would invite a group of international experts to act as observers of the activities of the Presidential Commission [consisting of Sri Lanka nationals] which will investigate alleged abductions, disappearances and extra judicial killings.
The IIGEP was setup in February 2007, to observe the work of the Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights (“the Commission”), which was established in November 2006. The Serious Violations referred to in the Warrant establishing the Commission were 16 cases dating from 1 August 2005 until 16 October 2006.
However, in early March, the IIGEP announced its decision to quit, saying there was no cooperation from the authorities and the effort was virtually a sham to deflect international criticism.
Announcing the decision to quit IIGEP said: “The IIGEP is of the opinion that there has not been the minimum level of trust necessary for the success of the work of the commission and the IIGEP.”
The latest IIGEP report gave the following reasons for its decision to terminate the mission "with profound regret that more could not have been achieved."
- A conflict of interest in the proceedings before the Commission
- Lack of effective victim and witness protection
- Lack of transparency and timeliness in the proceedings
- Lack of full co-operation by State bodies
- Lack of financial independence of the Commission
"Sections of popular opinion suggest that human rights and respect for the rule of law should take second place to measures necessary to repel these hostilities," the panel said.
"The IIGEP rejects this opinion."
Sri Lanka's Attorney General C. R. de Silva, however, hit back at the panel as "flawed" and a source of "unnecessary inconvenience to the government."
The panel's report said military operations and respect for civil liberties were not incompatible.
"It should be emphasised that respect for human rights and the conduct of military operations in strict accordance with international humanitarian law are powerful weapons in the struggle against dissident forces and terrorism," the IIGEP report said.
The group also asked the Sri Lankan government to ensure that senior military officers were held responsible for the actions of lower ranks, set up a witness protection mechanism and end a culture of impunity for perpetrators.
In its report, the IIGEP made following particular recommendations:
- That the President should ensure that all State bodies comply with international norms and standards and his directive to provide full disclosure of information and cooperation to the Commission.
- The Government should respect and implement the internationally agreed doctrine of command responsibility as part of the law of Sri Lanka, whereby superiors of those who have committed criminal acts may also be held responsible.
- The Government of Sri Lanka should establish, as a priority, a workable, effective and permanent system of victim and witness protection. The Commission should endeavour to train the staff of its victim and witness protection unit in order to provide the optimum level of security and assistance to potential witnesses. The IIGEP also calls for the establishment of a facility whereby essential witnesses, who have left Sri Lanka, and who can continue to give first hand evidence as to some of the events under examination by the Commission, can give their oral evidence to the Commission by video-links under conditions of complete safety. In this respect, international support to the Commission has proven critical.
- The Commission of Inquiry should include in the course of its inquiries an examination of the reasons for systemic failures and past impunity in relation to the cases under review, and consider the making of recommendations for the eventual appointment of independent special prosecutors in cases in which the security forces have been involved in serious human rights violations.
- The Government of Sri Lanka should provide the immediate and necessary financial resources to the Commission of Inquiry,and place adequate funds at its disposal, to enable it to fulfil its mandate.
- The Government of Sri Lanka should not entrench the role of the Attorney General as counsel assisting the Commission of Inquiry through legislation.
Among the cases being probed by the Commission of Inquiries and monitored by IIGEP was the August 2006 massacre of 17 local aid staff working with a French charity in the island's northeast. The evidence in this case has pointed to the involvement of security forces and a state cover-up.
Colombo pulled out of a tattered 2002 truce with the LTTE in January this year in the belief that it could crush the LTTE and regain areas under its control.
The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), headed by the former Indian chief justice J N Bhagwati and comprising 10 experts from Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, France, Netherlands and the United States blamed the Government of Sri Lanka for "absence of will" in the present Inquiry to "investigate cases with vigour, where the conduct of its own forces has been called into question."
"The IIGEP has... found an absence of will on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka in the present inquiry to investigate cases with vigour, where the conduct of its own forces has been called into question," the panel said.
"Summary executions, massacres, disappearances, wanton destruction of property, and forcible transfers of populations can never be justified. No efforts should be spared to uncover responsibility, including recognition of command responsibility, for such actions."
Following international pressure, in September, 2006, President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced that his government would "invite an international independent commission to probe abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings."
However, within days of his announcement, he deviated from the claim and said, that he would invite a group of international experts to act as observers of the activities of the Presidential Commission [consisting of Sri Lanka nationals] which will investigate alleged abductions, disappearances and extra judicial killings.
The IIGEP was setup in February 2007, to observe the work of the Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights (“the Commission”), which was established in November 2006. The Serious Violations referred to in the Warrant establishing the Commission were 16 cases dating from 1 August 2005 until 16 October 2006.
However, in early March, the IIGEP announced its decision to quit, saying there was no cooperation from the authorities and the effort was virtually a sham to deflect international criticism.
Announcing the decision to quit IIGEP said: “The IIGEP is of the opinion that there has not been the minimum level of trust necessary for the success of the work of the commission and the IIGEP.”
The latest IIGEP report gave the following reasons for its decision to terminate the mission "with profound regret that more could not have been achieved."
- A conflict of interest in the proceedings before the Commission
- Lack of effective victim and witness protection
- Lack of transparency and timeliness in the proceedings
- Lack of full co-operation by State bodies
- Lack of financial independence of the Commission
"Sections of popular opinion suggest that human rights and respect for the rule of law should take second place to measures necessary to repel these hostilities," the panel said.
"The IIGEP rejects this opinion."
Sri Lanka's Attorney General C. R. de Silva, however, hit back at the panel as "flawed" and a source of "unnecessary inconvenience to the government."
The panel's report said military operations and respect for civil liberties were not incompatible.
"It should be emphasised that respect for human rights and the conduct of military operations in strict accordance with international humanitarian law are powerful weapons in the struggle against dissident forces and terrorism," the IIGEP report said.
The group also asked the Sri Lankan government to ensure that senior military officers were held responsible for the actions of lower ranks, set up a witness protection mechanism and end a culture of impunity for perpetrators.
In its report, the IIGEP made following particular recommendations:
- That the President should ensure that all State bodies comply with international norms and standards and his directive to provide full disclosure of information and cooperation to the Commission.
- The Government should respect and implement the internationally agreed doctrine of command responsibility as part of the law of Sri Lanka, whereby superiors of those who have committed criminal acts may also be held responsible.
- The Government of Sri Lanka should establish, as a priority, a workable, effective and permanent system of victim and witness protection. The Commission should endeavour to train the staff of its victim and witness protection unit in order to provide the optimum level of security and assistance to potential witnesses. The IIGEP also calls for the establishment of a facility whereby essential witnesses, who have left Sri Lanka, and who can continue to give first hand evidence as to some of the events under examination by the Commission, can give their oral evidence to the Commission by video-links under conditions of complete safety. In this respect, international support to the Commission has proven critical.
- The Commission of Inquiry should include in the course of its inquiries an examination of the reasons for systemic failures and past impunity in relation to the cases under review, and consider the making of recommendations for the eventual appointment of independent special prosecutors in cases in which the security forces have been involved in serious human rights violations.
- The Government of Sri Lanka should provide the immediate and necessary financial resources to the Commission of Inquiry,and place adequate funds at its disposal, to enable it to fulfil its mandate.
- The Government of Sri Lanka should not entrench the role of the Attorney General as counsel assisting the Commission of Inquiry through legislation.
Among the cases being probed by the Commission of Inquiries and monitored by IIGEP was the August 2006 massacre of 17 local aid staff working with a French charity in the island's northeast. The evidence in this case has pointed to the involvement of security forces and a state cover-up.
Colombo pulled out of a tattered 2002 truce with the LTTE in January this year in the belief that it could crush the LTTE and regain areas under its control.
