Govt’s resolve to bring justice to victims of rights violations remains firm - Mangala

The Sri Lankan Government today informed the UN Human Rights Council that its resolve to bring justice to the victims of human rights violations remains firm and that the resolve to see the transitional justice process through, has not diminished.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera addressed the High-Level Segment of the 34th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today (28).

He stated that many in Sri Lanka criticised and continue to criticise the government for co-sponsoring Resolution 30/1 titled ‘Promoting Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka’, which was adopted unanimously by this Council, on the 1st of October 2015. 

“Some even see this as an act of treachery and betrayal of the nation.” 

“As we move forward in this journey, the forces of extremism and regression on both sides of the divide are creating road blocks for narrow, short-term political gain,” he said.

“While stubbornly refusing to acknowledge any of the far-reaching gains we have made in the last 2 years, they argue that we have either done too much or too little.” 

The minister said that since he last addressed the council in June 2016, approximately 5,515.98 acres of state land and 2,090.03 acres of private land were released in 2016; and 1,383.51 acres of state land and 30.54 acres of private land were released last month, in January 2017.

He said that another important undertaking that was successfully concluded during this period, is public consultations carried out by the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms, the first of this nature carried out in the country. 

He said that over 7000 written submissions were received from persons from all walks of life, many of them victims of human rights violations who came forward to give their views.

Samaraweera said that the Report of the Task Force is presently being studied in the context of designing the relevant Mechanisms for Truth-seeking, Reparations, Justice, and other reconciliation processes. 

“We expect the draft legislation on the Truth-Seeking Commission to be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers within the next two months.” 

“Our resolve to bring justice to the victims of human rights violations remains firm,” he added. 

While taking the allegations of continuing incidence of torture seriously, it is reiterated that the Government maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards torture as also demonstrated by the President’s participation against torture last year, he said. 

“Although the National Human Rights Commission has recently indicated to us that there is a downward spiral of incidents, even one incident of torture is one too many.”

“As we approach the 70th year of our nation’s Independence, we seek, for the first time in our country’s modern history, to engage in this process wholeheartedly as an exercise that would unite our people who have been divided for far too long.” 

“The Parliamentary process and referendum are for us, imperative.” We want to ensure that this Constitution, the 3rd Republican Constitution, unlike those before, that did not involve consensual and consultative processes, would reflect the true aspirations of our people, he said. 

“An exercise where, after years of conflict, the executive, legislature and sovereign – that is the people of our country – will unite to define and chart our nation’s future, guaranteeing equal rights, justice, and dignity for all citizens, honouring the multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual character of our nation, upholding the right of citizens to participate more fully in decisions that impact their lives, and guaranteeing non-recurrence of conflict.” 

He further said: “The journey we have undertaken, arising from our commitments to our people and the mandates received at elections, is challenging. This may be a journey strewn with both success as well as some setbacks. 

“In the face of roadblocks and other obstacles in the day to day world of realpolitik, there may have to be detours from time to time, but the destination and our resolve to walk the distance will remain unchanged. 

“Our resolve to see the transitional justice process through, has not diminished. 

“With the help of all our citizens in all walks of life, our friends and partners in the international community, and Sri Lankans overseas; with patience, understanding, and constant and consistent effort and perseverance; we strongly believe that we can make the reconciliation process a success, and establish a progressive and united society, working in harmony to take our nation towards new heights of socio-economic development. 

“We believe that we can make Sri Lanka a shining example of a country that is prosperous, united in its diversity, upholding human rights, justice, and the rule of law.”