The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has released her report on assistance for the Sri Lankan governemt on promoting reconciliation and accountability, as mandated by the resolution in Geneva last March.
The report details concern in several areas, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, militarisation and land grabs.
Areas of possible technical assistance are also identified, including the right to truth, criminal justice and accountability, legal and institutional reforms, and the right to a remedy and reparations.
The High Commissioner also "offered advice on the establishment of a follow-up truth-seeking mechanism that would examine the different accounts of past events and the history of the conflict, including its root causes" in order to "provide an inclusive narrative of why it happened, contribute to the creation of a historical record and bring clarity to the question of casualty figures".
Navi Pillay encouraged the Human Rights Council to continue to increase its engagement on Sri Lanka and called for an international investigation into alleged human rights violations.
“The High Commissioner noted the views expressed by many stakeholders in Sri Lanka, including prominent community leaders, that the attention paid by the Human Rights Council to issues of accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka had helped to create space for debate, and catalyzed positive steps forward, however limited at this stage.
"The High Commissioner encourages the Council to continue its engagement and build on this momentum. In this regard, she reaffirms her long-standing call for an independent and credible international investigation into alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, which could also monitor any domestic accountability process.” the report said.
See full report here.
