Sri Lanka at the UNHRC: What Now?
by Taylor Dibbert
The long-awaited UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) report that deals largely with wartime abuses in Sri Lanka has
finally been made public. It's a big moment for the island nation and
OHCHR has come out with a strong report. This is a detailed, lengthy
document that covers a range of disturbing topics, including
extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, disappearances, torture, and
attacks on civilians. Importantly, the report also includes violations
which have occurred since the end of the war (in 2010 and 2011).
So, where does Sri Lanka go from here?
In the coming days, an informal meeting will be held on Sri Lanka at
the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). At that time the possible content of
another HRC resolution on Sri Lanka will be discussed. (Originally
scheduled to take place on September 17, the event has been pushed back
to September 21.)
The delay of this meeting may seem insignificant, but it's actually
quite useful. Since the OHCHR report was only made public on September
16, that didn't give people much time to read the report and consider
the recommendations it lays out.
Significantly, the report includes a recommendation that a hybrid
court be created. More specifically, the OHCHR Investigation on Sri
Lanka (OISL) asserts:
*...for an accountability mechanism to succeed in Sri Lanka, it will
require more than a domestic mechanism. Sri Lanka should draw on the
lessons learnt and good practices of other countries that have succeeded
with hybrid special courts, integrating international judges,
prosecutors, lawyers and investigators, that will be essential to give
confidence to all Sri Lankans, in particular the victims, in the
independence and impartiality of the process, particularly given the
politicisation and highly polarised environment in Sri Lanka.*
The recommendation is a logical one given Sri Lanka's history with
past domestic accountability mechanisms and the current state of the
country's institutions. Nevertheless, there's no indication that Sri
Lanka's new government would agree to the establishment of a hybrid
accountability mechanism.
So what's next for Sri Lanka at the HRC?
The US has already made it clear that it will sponsor another HRC
resolution.Washington supports Colombo's domestic accountability
process. The US expects to collaborate with the Sri Lankan Government on
this resolution.
Nonetheless, coming up with a consensus resolution on Sri Lanka that
satisfies everyone, especially the Tamil community, is going to be
virtually impossible. It will be interesting to see which
recommendations from the OHCHR report make it into the forthcoming HRC
resolution - especially as it relates to institutional reforms and
justice.
For those pushing for truth and accountability in Sri Lanka, it seems
that the best outcome - for now anyway - would be that US diplomats and
others convince Colombo of the need for a strong, clear resolution on
Sri Lanka at the HRC.
A key point here could be, within the framework of Sri Lanka's
domestic mechanism, laying out the details for how members of the
international community can be involved in every step of the process.
Reaching agreement on the details of the imminent resolution (and the
level of international involvement in Colombo's domestic processes) may
be challenging. The HRC's 30th session will end in two weeks, so a lot
could happen between now and then. We'll have to wait and see how things
play out.
The Diplomat
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