CaFFE demands release of presidential commission reports

Reports published on October 4 said three government mandated reports regarding missing persons and human rights violations, the Udalagama Commission report, the Paranagama Report on the second mandate and the report by Desmond De Silva's advisory panel to the Missing Persons Commission are expected to be tabled in Parliament during the course of this week.

In a statement, the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) and the Centre for Human Rights and Research (CHR) have been campaigning for the release of these reports welcomes this move and states that this is a step in the right direction.

It has also been reported that the Paranagama Committee appointed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to probe complaints regarding missing persons in the Northern and Eastern Provinces from June 1990 to May 2009 named some Army officers as the alleged perpetrators.

Commenting on the Paranagama Commission in his speech at the UNHRC, Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said there were "widespread concerns raised about its credibility and effectiveness.

We believe this Commission should be disbanded and its pending cases transferred to a credible and independent institution established in consultation with families of the disappeared."

However, Maxwell Paranagama has vouched for the credibility of the investigations carried out by his Commission and dismissed calls to disband it to make way for a more credible investigative mechanism. "When we invite about 250 people for oral submissions, nearly 1,000 people come, sometimes defying local leaders. This is proof enough of our credibility," Paranagama has said.

CaFFE and CHR have been covering various attempts by government and non-governmental agencies to obtain information from those affected by the conflict. We have seen thousands of people complaining to the ICRC, the LLRC, the Civil Society Actors, the Paranagama Commission and the Udalagama Commission.

Both CaFFE and CHR said these documents must be made public, so we can have a true judgement on their credibility. Both organizations have made an open request to President Maithripala Sirisena to publicize the Udalagama and Paranagama Commission reports and interim reports of these committees as the best way to open a dialogue on alleged human rights violations. Moreover, these documents can be made base documents which can be used to investigate the alleged human rights allegations as evidence given by victims and associates of victims of assassinations, abduction and torture, it added.

"It is our belief that these reports are more than adequate to have an initial debate on alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka, the needs of the people and whether a new institution needs to be formed to consult the families of the disappeared. It would be the right step towards a credible local investigation," it stated.