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Global Tamil Forum decries President Sirisena’s move to make plea to UN to drop war charges
View(s):A global Tamil diasporic body has condemned the recent announcement by President Maithripala Sirisena that he will make a special request to the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to drop war crimes charges against his troops to ‘settle’ the issue of accountability as being “outrageous and must be censured”.
The Global Tamil Forum (GTF), a collective organisation of a number of grass-roots Tamil groups spread across the globe expressed dismay at the government’s move to abandon its repeated commitment to address accountability issues related to war crimes.
“Even the thought of President Sirisena receiving UN consent to abandon Sri Lanka’s international commitments is unthinkable and can lead to irreparable damage to peace and justice in the country, with unforeseen outcomes for the world at large,” a statement from the outfit said.
Noting that it will also lead to the alienation of the Tamil community and its political leaders, effectively extinguishing the prospect of reconciliation, GTF said that international efforts will intensify to apply universal jurisdiction and economically isolate Sri Lanka in future if the government abandons its commitments given to the international community.
The GTF also expressed serious concern over President Sirisena’s calculated plan to link the release of the long-held Tamil political prisoners to a general amnesty for all, including those from the military responsible for serious brutality and war crimes. “GTF condemns such an approach to accountability in the strongest possible terms and turn to the international community to thwart any such misplaced and short-sighted attempt at its infancy.”
The GTF also noted that the Sri Lankan government lacked commitment and conviction to implement the UNHRC resolutions. “Every notable step, such as operationalising the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP), was taken after years of delay but invariably days before the commencement of a UNHRC session, aiming mainly at managing international expectations for the moment.
“Sri Lanka’s continual denial, intransigence, as well as its refusal to honour the agreement with the then UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to address war time accountability issues, triggered a series of international and UN initiatives including Panel of Experts (2011) to address accountability issues related to alleged war time abuses and OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), in 2014, under the guidance of eminent international jurists. The UNHRC resolutions of 2013 and 2014 urging the government to take steps to promote accountability and reconciliation were passed without Sri Lanka’s consent.
“With the new government taking office in 2015 – with a mandate for good governance – Sri Lanka adopted a different approach by co-sponsoring UNHRC resolutions (2015 and 2017) and extending cooperation, albeit slowly.”
The GTF said that the outright rejection of President Sirisena’s ill-conceived initiative will indeed be a victory for decency, justice and humanity of the world and in particular for the citizens of Sri Lanka.