"The climate of impunity that may have been created, lack of support that may be given, really need to be discussed."

US Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Blake, speaking at a news conference to mark the end of his three day visit to Sri Lanka, urged the Sri Lankan government to ensure accountability, stop paramilitary activity in the North-East and pursue devolution through talks with the TNA.

“We are not in the business of making threats to our friends.

There is a need for a credible process of accountability for those who have violated international humanitarian law and there will be pressure for some mechanism to ensure that this takes place.

However we hope that (such pressure) is not necessary.”

"The solution to achieving a just and lasting peace in Sri Lanka is not just about accountability," he added, however.

Highlighting the recent mock protest orchestrated by Douglas Devananda's EPDP, Blake condemned the use of paramilitaries in the North to maintain law and order, insisting the government must make progress on disarming such groups.

“I am concerned about human rights.

I discussed with relevant officials the importance of disarming paramilitary groups, on which progress is being made.

It is important to deploy Tamil policeman in the north so the military no longer needs to perform these functions.”

 “Paramilitary groups are not allowed to carry weapons in public.

While I was in Jaffna I myself, experienced the power of the EPDP who was able to prevent me from meeting with some university students.”

Blake urged the government to curtail on going use of the Public Securities Ordinance and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, highlighting the minimal impact felt by the repealing of emergency regulations given the ongoing military rule.

Devananda, lashing back on hearing Blake's comments, has warned a letter will be sent to the US diplomat prior to departure. It remains unknown if such a letter was sent.

Encouraging the government and the TNA to 'resume their important dialogue on devolution and other matters, Blake stated he was 'very pleased to hear' both sides had resumed discussions.

Officials from the European Union and the United States have welcomed the informal discussions at the Human Rights Council in Geneva and called for a speedy process to bring accountability for crimes committed during the warin Sri Lanka.

United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillai used her speech at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council Session (HRC) to criticise Sri Lanka for its human rights record.

Whilst talking about the ‘insufficient regard for human rights’ by the anti-terror measures adopted by several member countries, she pointed out Sri Lanka as a prime example of a state which undermines human rights to combat terrorism.

High Commissioner Navi Pillai added

“This has all too often led to an erosion of rights and fostered a culture of diffidence and discrimination, which in turn, perpetuates cycles of violence and retribution. Sri Lanka is one such case.”

Her comments came after reports indicated the Secretary General’s intention to formally submit the UN Panel Report on human rights violations in Sri Lanka to the Human Rights Council.

Once the report has been formally received a member state can refer Sri Lanka to be officially discussed during the session.

According to diplomats it is likely for action to be taken next year if Sri Lanka cannot demonstrate satisfactory progress on the issues.

US ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahue said

"We continue to urge the government of Sri Lanka to quickly demonstrate that it is able and willing to meet these obligations as it seeks reconciliation. We hope the Sri Lankans will do this themselves but if they do not, there will be growing pressure from the international community to examine other options,"

The request by the UN and the US to act quickly was rebuffed almost immediately.

The government’s special envoy to the UN accused Navi Pillai of partiality, saying that Sri Lanka’s own commission into the allegations, the LLRC must be given a chance.

"It is critical to wait for that body to finish its deliberations and come up with its conclusions in due time," Mahinda Samarasinghe, Rajapaksa's special envoy on human rights, told the U.N. Human Rights Council.

However, various human rights campaigners, including Amnesty International in a damning report last week, have said that Sri Lanka’s own inquiry lacks credibility and impartiality.

See related articles:

At the UN Rights Council...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sent the UN panel of experts’ report on wartime mass killings in Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, the Associated Press reports.

The report (see here) concluded that tens of thousands of people were killed in the last five months of Sri Lanka's civil war, primarily by government troops.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the Sri Lankan government was informed that the report was sent to the rights council and to UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, but that it declined to respond.

Instead Sri Lanka "has produced its own reports on the situation in the north of Sri Lanka, which [is] being forwarded along with the (UN) panel of experts report," Nesirky said.

Ban's referral came the day the Human Rights Council opened its three-week session in Geneva.

Also, responding to the panel's recommendation that the UN review its own actions during the final months of the war, Nesirky said Ban has asked former UN Population Fund chief Thoraya Obaid to conduct the review "which should begin soon."

See NDTV’s report from Vanni (broadcast Sep 10, 2011) which includes:

-  survivors' accounts of mass killings of Tamil civilians during the final months of the conflict,

-  victims accounts of torture, rape and persecution by Sri Lanka’s military after the war’s end,

- and the Sri Lankan government's denials and excuses.

“When a UN Panel of Experts report concludes up to 40,000 civilians died amid war crimes, the Human Rights Council should feel compelled to act.

The council should order a full international investigation – anything less would be a shameful abdication of responsibility.”

“The Sri Lankan government has stone-walled allegations of abuse for more than two years, making ridiculous claims about global conspiracies and faked evidence.

The Human Rights Council should tell the government that time is running out. If the Sri Lankan government won’t provide justice for victims, the international community will.”

The United States and other governments must move without further delay toward an independent international investigation into mass atrocities during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict, and desist from lending credibility to Sri Lanka’s sham domestic investigation, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) said in a statement Monday.

Pointing out that leading international human rights organisations have comprehensively discredited Sri Lanka’s government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC), TAG said comments by US officials on expectations of the LLRC’s report merely contributed to Colombo’s “duplicitous effort to deflect international scrutiny [of mass atrocities].”

See the full statement here.

In a report on the LLRC published last week Amnesty International said it was inherently “flawed at every level: in mandate, composition and practice.”
 
Amnesty’s report echoes similar criticisms by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Crisis Group (ICG). In 2010, all three organisations cited in detail the LLRC’s flaws when they refused Sri Lanka’s invitation to appear before it.
 
However, ahead of US Assistant Secretary Robert Blake’s visit to Sri Lanka this week, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said of the LLRC’s report: "Our first goal is to ensure that it is a good, strong, credible report that can take Sri Lanka forward."

Echoing TAG’s criticisms, Human Rights Watch said in August:

“The [Sri Lankan] government is not just unwilling to uncover the truth, it appears afraid of the truth.

“It’s hard to understand why governments would believe the [Sri Lanka] has any intention of prosecuting the war crimes from the last months of the conflict.”

"In particular, during this time, the troops of Major General Jagath Dias had carried out shelling of civilians, hospitals, churches. We have some suspicion of torture and extra judicial executions".

In May the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights released a 23-page report detailing the Major General’s responsibility for war crimes.

They concluded by recommending to the German and Swiss government’s that Dias’s diplomatic visa be revoked and that criminal investigations be “seriously considered”.

See also our earlier post: Sri Lankan Army war criminal apprehended in Florida

In a statement released Tuesday, the TNA, slammed the Sri Lankan government’s failure to make any meaningful progress on accountability or genuine efforts at reconciliation.

The statement was issued shortly after reports confirmed the transmittal of the report by the UN Panel of Experts to the UN High Commissioner, by Ban Ki Moon.

Slamming the LLRC as 'flawed', with a 'limited mandate' and having only resulted in 'very modest interim recommendations', the statement was severely critical of the government's recurrent failure to deliver. 

“The failure of the government to implement even the modest interim recommendations of its own domestic mechanism highlights the importance of a genuine, credible and independent mechanism to advance accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.”

Cataloguing a series of false promises and the Sri Lankan delegation's recent remonstrations to the contrary at the UNHRC, the TNA urged the government to “be more forthright and honest in its representation of the situation in Sri Lanka to the international community”, accusing it of engaging in a “constant flow of misinformation".

Further extracts have been reproduced below:

“The TNA is surprised to learn of the contents of the September 12 address to the UN Human Rights Council by Hon. Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, Head of the Sri Lanka Delegation.

We take particular exception on his claim that the government’s approach to reconciliation has been predicated on building trust and amity between communities. The experience of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka does not support this claim.”

“Despite Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe’s claim of progress on reconciliation, the Tamil people of the North and East continue to be subjected to violence even after the end of the war.”

“We also caution against any uncritical acceptance of the termination of the state of emergency as evidence of normalcy being restored in post-war Sri Lanka.”

“We shared the hope of the Tamil people that the end of the state of emergency would lead at the very least to the release of thousands of Tamil detainees and surrendees held under Emergency Regulations No.1 of 2005. We are thus outraged by the government’s decision to retain a number of emergency era powers though the promulgation of regulations under the PTA [Prevention of Terrorism Act].”

The TNA's statement comes at a time when Sri Lanka is facing severe criticism from all quarters.

See At the UN Human Rights Council

Amnesty International called for immediate action to address ‘the crisis of impunity that plagues Sri Lanka’ at the opening day of the 18th United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) session today in Geneva.

“Any sustainable peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka will depend on a genuine, independent effort being made to learn the truth about serious violations during the civil war and deliver justice to the victims and their families,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director.

“National efforts to date have fallen far short of the mark, and the ongoing culture of impunity in Sri Lanka is shielding those responsible for past and ongoing abuses from being brought to justice.”

Amnesty’s statement came after the head of the Sri Lankan delegation Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe  told the council that the Sri Lankan Government's response to alleged human rights violations was “second to none”.

However Zarifi said in his response:

“It’s time for the Human Rights Council to actively promote truth, justice and reparations for the country’s thousands of victims of grave human rights violations that took place both during and after the civil war,”

Amnesty also noted that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon indicated that the UN Panel of Expert Report, released in April, will be officially handed to the Commissioner of the Human Rights Council Navi Pillay and other member states today.

Sri Lanka came under mounting pressure from the United Nations and Western powers on Monday to ensure that perpetrators of atrocities committed in its long conflict that ended in 2009 are held to account.

See reports by Reuters,  AP and BBC.

See related posts:

(Monday Sep 12)

Ban sends expert panel’s report to UN Human Rights Council, launches probe into UN’s conduct

Amnesty urges UN rights council to act on Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka squirms at UNHRC

Pressure grows for action on Sri Lanka

(Tuesday Sep 13)

Full international investigation, nothing less - HRW

See earlier posts:

EU to stress accountability at UNHRC ( 4 Sep 2011)

US warns again on international action (26 Aug 2011)

Faced with the rising tide of voices calling for an independent international investigation, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka's plantation minister and representative at the UNHRC meeting in Geneva, launched a desperate counter attack.

The Sri Lanka delegation has evidently been caught off guard by news that Ban Ki Moon plans to hand over the report by the UN Panel of Experts into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka to Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, imminently. 

Samarasinghe fought back, reportedly criticising the UN for being 'biased' and for failing to inform Sri Lanka previously regarding the handing over of the report, and for the very fact Sri Lanka was informally discussed.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, Samarasinghe remarked,

"The Government of Sri Lanka was concerned at a growing trend in the Human Rights Council to depart from well established principles of procedures in the conduct of the affairs of the Council and noted the failure on the part of the High Commissioner to inform the concerned State, Sri Lanka, regarding a report about Sri Lanka that was transmitted between the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General."

He is also said to have remarked, that the High Commissioner's 'failure' to inform the state in question, raises "serious concerns" and leads to a "loss in confidence" in the High Commissioner's office.

The ruffled Samarasinghe, attempting to seek cover behind the infamous LLRC, added, "It is critical to wait for that body to finish its deliberations and come up with its conclusions in due time."

However, over two years on, with no evidence meaningful progress, Sri Lanka's demands for patience are falling on increasingly unsympathetic ears.

U.S. ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe urged Sri Lanka "to quickly demonstrate that it is able and willing to meet these obligations as it seeks reconciliation."

She warned, "if they do not, there will be growing pressure from the international community to examine other options."

Reuters have quoted an un-named Western diplomat as saying,

"The Sri Lankans think their frontal assault is going to work ... But they have got to have some whiff of credibility or the international community will be forced to address it."

Citing the removal of emergency regulations, the Sri Lankan government has ordered the dismantling of the Ministry of Resettlement and announced the intended aquisition of private lands within High-Security Zones.

Rauff-Hakeem, the Justice Minister who made the announcement, explained that if in some areas, the HSZs were needed, the Government would acquire the land legally. He is reported to have said a security assessment would be made before deciding which areas were needed to be retained as HSZs, situated mainly in Vadamarachchi, Valikamam and Thenmarachchi.

The dismantling of the Resettlement Ministry, whilst no doubt insignificant in terms of resettlement productivity, serves to undermine the on-going IDP situation over two years after the government declared peace.

Moreover, it diminuishes the plight of remaining IDPS, whose right to return to their original lands appears increasingly precarious and their right of appeal, hopeless. 

In Sampur, where the proposed coal plant will result in over 900 families losing their homes, the Governor Rear Admiral Wijewickrema has threatened that any IDPs who refuse land offered to them by the government will no longer be deemed 'displaced'.

See our earlier post 'IDPs branded 'squatters on state land'.

These moves are the latest in a draft of measures that expidite the aquisition of private lands in the North-East, with no room for appeal.

Early this month the government issued a directive that Diaspora Tamils must reapply for new land deeds in the North-East.

See here.

See also 'Sri Lanka replaces lifted powers for military'.

The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) of Sri Lanka has called for the closure of all 470 children’s homes in the country due to ‘rampant’ abuse of the inhabitants.

Around 20,000 orphans and children from abusive family backgrounds are housed in homes around the country.

Anoma Dissanayake, head of the NCPA told BBC Sinhala: “Shocking incidents are happening in children's homes all over the country. Rarely, there are some very good children's homes but this is the situation in most of the homes. Our aim is to fully establish [a] foster care system replacing children's homes within the next few months,"

Her call comes after the NCPA raided several homes suspected of child abuse in previous weeks. The guardian of one home was arrested and charged with sexually abusing four girls in his custody.

The revelations come after the recent arrests of several Buddhist monks on suspicion of sexually abusing young boys in their care.