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    Human Rights in Sri Lanka: Impunity against Accountability and Justice

    12 Sep, 2011Nirmanusan BalasundaramColombo, Human Rights, Human Security, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Politics and Governance, War Crimes

    Image credit AP, via BBC News

    “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.” – Lord Buddha

    Authors note: When I was a teenager, I heard from a Sinhala brother that he constantly felt guilty for being unable to protect nearly 70 000-80 000 Sinhala youth who were killed in 1971 and 1989 by their own government in the name of ‘countering insurgency’.

    Now, approaching my tenth year of engagement in journalism and human rights activism, I am experiencing a similar feeling. When thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred under the banner of ‘defeating terrorism’, I – along with like-minded others –could not cease or control the causalities. Since then, it has been my sole intent to do something constructive and seek justice for those who were victimized by the state system in Sri Lanka.

    (An edited version of an article by Nirmanusan Balasundaram as first published in the UNESCO Chair & Institute of Comparative Human Rights publication entitled, International Leadership Programme: A Global Intergenerational Training Forum. This is an edited version. )

    Introduction

    The war in Sri Lanka came to an end in the Spring of 2009 with serious violations of International Humanitarian Law and gross violations of International Human Rights Law. Since then, the pressure from the international community is mounting on accountability issues and victimized Tamil community is seeking justice. However, the long standing impunity still defending the perpetrators and prevailing as a key obstacle to seek justice and genuine reconciliation in the island nation. Now more than twenty-eight months since that war came to an end, there has still been no significant progress on a political solution. Instead, the GoSL rests on the laurels and the spoils that come with that military victory. Military triumph it seems is the only political solution they are willing to accept.

    Background of the Conflict

    An identity-based state patronage system, misrule, discrimination, oppression, exclusion and mismanagement of scarce natural resources, underdevelopment, inequality and grave human rights violations against the Tamil national minority comprise the root causes of the ethno-political conflict of Sri Lanka. The lack of moral obligation and responsibility of the successive governments of Sri Lanka steered the conflict towards a bloody war.

    Unaccounted Causalities

    The bloody war came to an end in May 2009. Just prior to the major offensive operations, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) banned independent and international media from entering the war zone, and forced the UN and other international humanitarian organizations to leave the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas. Then they set about systematically killing the messengers – the journalists, human rights activists and humanitarian workers, in order to hide the truth. Yet they could not stop the truth from coming out.

    In his submission to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, the Bishop of the Mannar Catholic Diocese, Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, pointed out that, according to the Government Secretariats, the population in the Vanni region (Northern part of Sri Lanka) in early October 2008 was 429,059.

    The total number of people, however, who emerged from the Vanni into government-controlled areas since then, according to UN OCHA 2009 statistics, is estimated to be 282,380, This means that over 146,679 people in the Vanni are not accounted for in post-war Sri Lanka.” [1]

    The former UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka, Gordon Weiss stated: “About 300,000 civilians, plus the Tamil Tiger forces, were trapped in an area of territory about the size of Central Park in New York…They were within range of all the armaments that were being used, small and large, to smash the Tamil Tiger lines… Between 10,000 and 40,000 civilians died during the final desperate battles.”[2]

    The GoSL, for their part, categorically denied the charges and claimed that they engaged in the world’s largest rescue operation to release the people from terror’s grip – a “zero-sum causality” operation. Two years after the brutal war ended, still the culture of impunity within the Sri Lankan armed forces prevails.

    “In the absence of more vigorous investigations, prosecution and convictions, it is hard to see how this will come to an end, said United Nations former High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, during her 2007 visit to Sri Lanka. “There is a disturbing lack of investigation that undermines the confidence in the institutions set up to protect human rights,” she continued, adding that Sri Lanka’s culture of “impunity” was a serious concern. [3]

    Yet the GoSL continue their justification even after concrete evidence came to light, including the televised video clip of execution of naked and blindfolded men, aired by British Channel 4 news.

    “What is reflected in the extended video are crimes of the highest order — definitive war crimes,” said Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. “I believe that the prima facie case of serious international crimes has been made by the video that I’ve examined,” he told the UN Human Rights Council in May 2011.[4]

    Failure and Mounting Pressure

    The international community failed to prevent the brutal war and could not stop or control the causalities at the peak of the war in Sri Lanka. This is nothing less than an abysmal moral failure of the international community like genocide in Bosnia.

    Louise Arbour, President & CEO of the International Crisis Group said, “It [the UN Human Rights Council] made no reference to the gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that had been perpetrated by the [Sri Lankan] government forces, rather it welcomed the government’s continued commitment to the promotion and protection of all human rights. Yet the last few months of the war saw several thousand civilians subjected to indiscriminate armed attacks by government forces in specially created ‘No Fire Zones’ in which they had sought protection and medical treatment.” She further stated that during the peak of the war in 2009 “international protection was not forthcoming for the civilians of Sri Lanka, and accountability and justice were dispensed quite selectively.”[5]

    There were few discussions at the UN Security Council on the occasion of intensified war, including applying Responsibility to Protect (R2P) mechanisms to protect civilians. In both practice and reality, nothing was implemented to save those later slaughtered.

    Nevertheless, the international community cannot continue to be silent or ignore the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Sri Lanka due to geo-politics trends and national interest. Following recent developments of mounting pressures from human rights defenders, international human rights institutions and international media, the UN Secretary General appointed a panel of experts (PoE) to advise him on accountability issues in Sri Lanka.

    This panel found “credible allegations which, if proven, indicate that a wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law were committed both by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Government shelled on a large scale in three consecutive No Fire Zones, where it had encouraged the civilian population to concentrate, even after indicating that it would cease the use of heavy weapons. It shelled the United Nations hub, food distribution lines and near the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) ships that were coming to pick up the wounded and their relatives from the beaches. The Government systematically shelled hospitals on the frontlines. Despite grave danger in the conflict zone, the LTTE refused civilians permission to leave, using them as hostages. [6]

    The Human Rights Commissioner refers to the PoE report as follows: It is incumbent on the Government to investigate these allegations and I also urge it to implement the measures recommended by the Panel. I fully support the recommendation to establish an international mechanism to monitor national investigations and undertake its own as necessary. It would be important for the Human Rights Council to reflect on the new information contained in this important report, in light of its previous consideration of Sri Lanka and efforts to combat impunity worldwide.”[7]

    The Way Forward

    The newly emerging international pressures on the GoSL, concerning accountability is creating a hope that justice cannot be deprived forever; in addition, paradigm shift in international attention on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka in comparison to 2009 is an indication that injustice cannot be sustained within the island nation. Also, considering the unfolding events in international relations, such as the recent Spring revolution in the Arab world and the arrest and extradition of alleged Serbian war criminal, Ratko Mladic, to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague where he will stand trial for genocide, is inspiring hope that undemocratic regimes and perpetrators cannot be sustained eternally. In Argentina, it took nearly three decades to bring perpetrators to justice, but finally it happened

    Action for Positive Change

    Sri Lanka is a good example that political agendas are obstacles towards the pursuit of justice. Therefore, human rights and justice should be separated from political agendas. Even, it’s challenging, with patient needs to work hard, because reform is a process of change. International human rights bodies constructive actions can abolish the existence and emergence of injustice, bad governance and disrespect of rule of law in countries like Sri Lanka. The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) should be a key institution to protect and promote human rights and ensure the delivery of justice for victims. But it always isn’t the case. When the war came to an end, the UNHRC held a Special Session in May of 2009 on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and passed resolution—shockingly–in favour of GoSL. Worse, they welcomed the way the GoSL conducted the war. This resolution was adopted as twenty-nine UNHRC member countries voted in favour, six countries abstained, and thirteen countries voted against. It was passed despite the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts Report on accountability in Sri Lanka found credible allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. To ensure the integrity of the integrity of the UNHRC, its commitment for human rights values and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights, and other relevant human rights instruments, the resolution should be withdrawn.

    Conclusion

    The culture of high-level impunity and absence of accountability will not bring justice for the people who have been deprived by Sri Lanka’s system in the past. But justice is precondition and a major step towards lasting peace in this island nation. Therefore, an era of impunity must be brought to an end without further delay. Perpetrators should be brought to justice, while the root causes of the problem and particularly grave human rights violations are also addressed. Globally known, Never Again must become a meaningful action in Sri Lanka, too rather than a repeated, attractive slogan.

    [1] http://www.thesundayleader.lk/?p=31994

    [2] http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2009/s2814960.htm

    [3] http://www.chrdsrilanka.org/PAGES/Human%20Rights%20News3.html

    [4] http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110530/ts_afp/srilankaunrestunrights_20110530163411

    [5] http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/speeches/2011/the-rise-and-fall-of-international-human-rights.aspx

    [6] http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/POE_Report_Full.pdf

    [7] http://www.apc.org/en/system/files/PillayStatementHRC.pdf

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    17 Comments

    1. Spectator

      September 12, 2011 • 6:52 am

      “What is important to understand is that when the Tamil Tigers blew up planes, set off bombs in

      Colombo, assassinated so many important leaders, and massacred border villagers, human rights

      organisations did not issue statements. The UN also did not do much. Many Western governments

      turned a blind eye to Tamil Tigers functioning very openly – actively raising funds and doing their

      propaganda and procuring arms, ammunition and explosives. So, in terms of fairness, most Sri

      Lankans will obviously view the few Western politicians and human rights organisations such as

      Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as not being fair. ”

      The terrorists are the worst human rights violators, and most Sri Lankans have suffered as a result of

      this. The UN and human rights organisations should have issued messages of congratulations for

      having ended a terrorist group that was responsible for 30 years of human rights violations. There

      has not been a single act of terrorism in Sri Lanka after the government dismantled the LTTE.

      Reply

      • Aadavan

        September 12, 2011 • 8:08 am

        A typical Sinhala chauvinistic comment. No wonders…

        Reply

      • Off the Cuff

        September 12, 2011 • 10:28 am

        Dear Aadavan,

        Aadavane! why does the Truth give you indigestion? (Aadavane is an appeal to God in Tamil)

        Can’t you respond with a FACTUAL counter, instead of falling back on the Typical Separatist Tamil Chauvinistic response?

      • Ravana

        September 12, 2011 • 10:51 am

        Accusing a reasoned argument by a commentator, “a typical sinhala chauvinist comment” is a typical Tamil racist comment. You may have assumed that the commentator is “sinhala”, which would be your first mistake.

        It is true that the Sri Lankan state has been brutal. There is no doubt about that. There is also no doubt about denials of that brutality and attempts at white washing it. There is also no denying what the above commentator has said. You commit the same crime as GoSL supporters in attacking him. BTW, I have no doubt that the sinhala brother also felt great regret at not being able to prevent the progrom of July 1983.

        When the Tamils can have the sense to work with Sinhalas who have equally suffered then you may find peace. As long as you demonise them you will only further enhance the chauvinist-racist position within the country. Tamils have to be smarter and realise the “Sinhala” is a dying culture in any case. The only thing that holds its flame burning is “Tamil racism”. Furthermore, you are buying into the “Jayatilleke Doctrine” which will envelope that island in the next decade. Perhaps, you are just adding fuel to that fire with the hope of achieving what could not be achieved through war.

        I hope that Sri Lankans are smart enough to see through Jayatillekes and Aadavans. Somehow, I doubt it.

    • Neville Perera

      September 12, 2011 • 12:39 pm

      You’re talking about the reaction.

      What about the trigger: the structural violence of successive governments:

      http://www.llrc.lk/images/stories/docs/August2010/LLRC-JD-Transcript.pdf

      Jayantha Dhanapala’s submission to Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission(LLRC), 25 August 2010: ‘’Each and every Government which held office from 1948 till the present bear culpability for the failure to achieve good governance, national unity and a framework of peace, stability and economic development in which all ethnic, religious and other groups could live in security and equality.”

      Any living creature reacts to the changes to the environment.

      Some creatures run away. Some creatures withdraw into shells. Some creatures hiss, some bark, yet others pounce on the attackers. Human beings do all these. Tamils have been doing all these in the last 63+years. There is no hope for a change on the horizon:

      http://groundviews.org/2011/08/25/jaffna-brutal-assault-of-civilians-in-navanthurai/

      JAFFNA: BRUTAL ASSAULT OF CIVILIANS IN NAVANTHURAI, 25 August 2011:

      Reply

    • Shiva

      September 12, 2011 • 5:53 pm

      People are still wasting their time and energy and writing about LTTE that is history.

      LTTE was not a product of the ordinary Tamils but armed and supported by the progressive leaders including Mrs. Indra Gandhi and MGR as these leaders believed that the LTTE was a force to protect Tamils from State terrorism.

      Now without the LTTE, the international community and Western nations are really come to senses, come to know who is the real criminal, and fully aware of Sinhala Apartheid Buddhist rgime’s intentions, barbarianism, state terrorism, deny of human rights, equality, basic rights, ethnic cleansing of Tamils. Tamil Daispora is fully supportive to the International community’s efforts on R2P, Accountability, Rule of Law and delivery of Justice.

      Certain members of the International Community have already conlcuded that only a separate state of Eelam is the soltuion to the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka.

      Reply

    2. Santhush Fernando

      September 12, 2011 • 9:27 am

      In entirety the article reminds the saying “A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future”. The facts in this article are not half truths…..but diabolical lies. Lets consider some of the statistics given in the article; approximate 400,000 civilians living in wanni prior to defeating the LTTE and only 300,000 being rescued by the security forces. The writer either deliberately or reasons best known to him has forgotten or omitted the fact that a large number of people living in Wanni left the area during the period 2006-2008. Most of them ended up living along side other communities in the rest of the country or state run welfare centers. Aren’t they too were within this 400,000?

      Then the writer elaborates on so called atrocities committed by the government forces. Before dealing with this we need to take a look at the LTTE’s record. LTTE is the single largest organization responsible for the pogrom of a large number of Tamils; the community which LTTE kept swearing that they would protect at any cost; late Mr. Amirthalingam, late Mr. Kadiragamar, late Mr. Thruchelvam are just a few of a large number of innocent individuals who were murdered in cold blood in the name of freedom. Then many others from their (LTTE’s) own organisation murdered for having divergent views, which again is not mentioned in the article. A feeble attempt is seen in the one liner “LTTE held civilians against their will during the military operations 2006-2009″ to give perhaps some sort of impartiality to this article which is the only reference made to LTTE’s long list of atrocities.

      The unraveling of information with regard to LTTE activities is creating severe embarrassment to their backers and sympathizers. One has to view this article in that light. Why cannot the writer at least mention few of the horrendous human rights violations committed by the LTTE. Conscription of child soldiers and using them as suicide bombers…….. or does he believe that those are not human rights violations????????

      Reply

      • Neville Perera

        September 12, 2011 • 12:59 pm

        ”people living in Wanni left the area during the period 2006-2008”

        LTTE didn’t allow the people to leave from the Vanni in that period.

        Those who sneaked out from early 2008 had been held in camps(Mannar and Vavuniya) by the army.

        Many from other areas of North and East have been moving out to the rest of the country to escape aerial bombing and intense shelling and economic embargo and lack of economic investment not only in 2006/7/8 but even in 90s/80s/70s/60s/50s.

        Reply

      • k.C

        September 12, 2011 • 6:02 pm

        Can you have alook at the UNHCR reports on the refugees and the displaced Sri Lankans. Except for the economic migrants that pose as refugies, most other are settled back properly. Also, many people still stay within the Refugie camps are not going back home as they would have no way of life in those places.. and some might never go back…

        Sri Lanka, has one of the best records in resettlement of people… So stating that Army is keeping people in camps is completely bogus story…

        And BTW, real terrorists are in the detention camps, thats for the greater good of the country… if US could keep innocents in detention camps, Sri Lanka could keep the real terrorist in camps. aunlike in US, Sri Lanka is working on Reabilitating them.. have you heard any one coming out of Gantanamo bay “reahbilitation’ camp

    3. cynic

      September 12, 2011 • 10:21 am

      cynicism is not the need of the hour.

      People who can constructively criticize, provide viable, practical alternatives have a place in this country.

      negative and nonconstructive outbursts like the above ‘blurb’ is akin to hate speech and inciting hatred.

      ask yourself, what positive can anyone gain from reading this? will it feed the hungry? cloth the naked? develop the economy? provide jobs? create peace and harmony? make one feel safe? solve any problem that any real Sri Lankan have?

      Reply

    • RRR3

      September 12, 2011 • 1:25 pm

      No:

      http://groundviews.org/2011/09/08/reconciliation-a-political-settlement-and-the-%E2%80%9Cgrease-devil%E2%80%9D/

      Reconciliation, a Political Settlement and the “Grease Devil”, 8 September 2011:

      ”….. The day before the local government elections in the North in July, driving from Pudhukudiyiruppu to Killinochchi, a group of us witnessed a scene which is difficult to forget. All around us was desolation, on either side of the road we saw burnt down houses and an equal number of vehicles burnt and abandoned two years ago, shrubs and trees sprouting through the rubble, destroyed wells and an occasional lavatory standing erect amidst all this devastation. While contemplating the devastation caused by war, we were taken by surprise to see lorry loads of IDPs being brought and dumped by the roadside with all their belongings packed in a few “pora bags”.

      Reply

  4. Off the Cuff

    September 12, 2011 • 10:58 am

    Dear Nirmanusan Balasundaram

    I understand that you are a Journalist of nearly a decade of experience as you have declared it in your note.

    Quote “Authors note: When I was a teenager, I heard from a Sinhala brother that he constantly felt guilty for being unable to protect nearly 70 000-80 000 Sinhala youth who were killed in 1971 and 1989 by their own government in the name of ‘countering insurgency’.

    Now, approaching my tenth year of engagement in journalism and human rights activism, I am experiencing a similar feeling. When thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred under the banner of ‘defeating terrorism’, I – along with like-minded others –could not cease or control the causalities. Since then, it has been my sole intent to do something constructive and seek justice for those who were victimized by the state system in Sri Lanka.” Unquote

    You said that your Sinhala Brother lamented about not being able to do anything between 1971-89 to protect the 70,000 that died in an insurgency. Are you not having similar guilty feelings for not doing anything for the Tamil brothers and sisters that died under a Tamil despotic de facto government that Ruled with an Iron fist and a Jack boot, the Tamils of the North and East for three Decades?

    You lament “I – along with like-minded others –could not cease or control the causalities” but is that true?

    Surely you could have campaigned against the Despotic Rulers who were Lording over your fellow Tamils in the North and East (as you are doing now against the Legal Govt) to stop the funding used to keep the Tamils in subjugation and misery of war and the decimation of a young generation when they should have been in school instead?

    Reply

  5. Nithyananthan

    September 12, 2011 • 12:06 pm

    Dear Mr. OTC,

    “Aadavane! why does the Truth give you indigestion? (Aadavane is an appeal to God in Tamil)”

    You are wrong, my dear!

    ‘Aadavan’ in Tamil actually means the ‘Sun’ – not God.

    It resembles and sounds another word that appeals and is applied to God.

    Actual word that refers to God is Aan’davanae – there should be an ‘N’ in between a & d – ‘Aa’N’davanae. Thanks, Nithy!

    Reply

  6. Senthan

    September 12, 2011 • 12:39 pm

    Thank you for such a well researched and well written article Nirma.

    Reply

  7. V.Selva

    September 12, 2011 • 6:20 pm

    These allegations have presented by PRO-LTTE FOREIGN TAMIL DIASPORA. It is not impossible for them to do that by using their financial ability. But they are not sending money to improve the living condition of their people in SL. Instead of that they are trying to form TERRORISM in the country again to spoil the country.

    If you analyze the previous situation in Sri Lanaka you’ll be able to understand who had committed war crimes by introducing SUICIDAL BOMBINGS, BUS BOMBINGS to SL. It was non other than LTTE TERRORISTS who had TERRORIZED Tamil community.

    Reply

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