Joint Statement by Tamil Civil Society Organizations and Political parties against UNHRC resolution
JOINT STATEMENT OF TAMIL POLITICAL PARTIES, CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS & TRADE UNIONS ON THE DRAFT RESOLUTION ON SRI LANKA
We release this statement in response to the draft resolution titled ‘Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka’ tabled under Item 2 and scheduled for debate and adoption on the 30th of September 2015.
We reiterate the firm conviction of the victims of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, a majority of whom are Tamils, that accountability and justice can only be truly delivered through an international criminal justice process.
We however in deference to the Report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Inquiry on Sri Lanka (the OISL report) were willing to consider the possibility of achieving justice and accountability through a credible hybrid mechanism in the event of the mechanism being led and managed by its international component under the aegis of the UN.
We regret that Operative Paragraphs 4 and 6 of the draft resolution do not adequately provide for the setting up of such a credible hybrid mechanism. The paragraphs when read together only seek to provide the appearance of credibility to a domestic process through the appointment of ‘commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers, and authorized prosecutors and investigators’. The Sri Lankan Government appointing foreign judges to its own judicial mechanism will not address the structural factors that inhibit the domestic structures in Sri Lanka, reasons for which are detailed in the OISL report. A mechanism, which is by and large managed and controlled by the Sri Lankan state, will not in our opinion be deemed credible by the victims in Sri Lanka.
We also deeply regret that references to demilitarization of the North-East and an increased role for the OHCHR which were included in the initial draft of the resolution have been removed from the current draft tabled before the UNHRC. The current draft resolution in Operative Paragraph 3 provides for a ‘national’ victims consultation process thereby in effect excluding numerous Tamil victims who live outside of Sri Lanka in fear of persecution. The testimonies of these victims from the diaspora were key to the OISL inquiry. We note with deep regret that in the interest of arriving at a consensus resolution with Sri Lanka that many key components of the initial draft have been omitted.
We urge you to reconsider the current draft of the resolution and to redraft it so that it truly serves the purpose of providing the basis for delivering accountability and justice in Sri Lanka.
Signatories:
Political Parties
Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF)
Democratic People’s Liberation Front (PLOTE)
Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO)
Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF)
Civil Society Organisations & Trade Unions
Tamil Action Committee for an International Accountability Mechanism (TACIAM)
Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF)
Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD)
Home for Human Rights (HHR)
The Social Architects (TSA)
Ceylon Teachers Union
Vavuniya Citizens Committee
Mannar Citizens Committee
Council of Non Governmental Organisations, Jaffna
Tamil Lawyers Forum
North East Coordinating Committee of the Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared
Jaffna University Teachers Association
Jaffna University Employees Union
Foundation of Changers – Batticaloa
East Civil society Activist Alliance – Batticaloa
Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna
Batticaloa Social Workers Network
Paduvaankarai People’s Alliance
Mannar Economic and Social Development Organization
Hindu Development Society Karaithivu – Amparai
Tamilar Valvurimai Maiyam
Valikamam North Development Board, Jaffna.
Batticaloa District Civil Society
Tamil Civil Society – Trincomalee (TCST)
Chamber of Commerce and Insustries – Jaffna
Ceylon Tamil Teachers Association
Jaffna District Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Unions Federation
Jaffna Economists Association
Rural Labourers Society – Jaffna District
Northern Province Fisher People’s Unity
Jaffna District Fisheries Solidarity Movement
Valikamam South West Fisheries Co-operative Societies Federation
Trincomalee Tamils Development Federation
Trincomalee Women Headed Families Association
Batticaloa Sri Mamangeswarar Thrift Co-operative Society
Batticaloa District Pensioners Association
Batticaloa Municipal Tax Payers Association
Batticaloa Maamangam Development Society
Batticaloa SriMamangeswarar Hindu association
Batticaloa SriMamangeswarar Women’s Association