The UN human rights chief Wednesday urged Sri Lanka’s new government to seize the ‘historic opportunity’ to end its entrenched culture of impunity for war crimes and other abuses.
In a report on the battle-scarred nation, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said president Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government had a chance to restore Sri Lanka’s image.
‘Today, an opportunity presents itself for Sri Lanka to break from the past, with the leadership pledging a fresh direction on long-standing issues,’ Turk said in the 16-page report to the Human Rights Council.
It noted that the new leftist president had publicly recognised the shared pain and grief of individuals from all communities in Sri Lanka affected by decades of conflict.
‘It is important to build on this momentum and to translate it into tangible results for accountability in the form of truth-telling, justice, reparations, and non-recurrence, as necessary to end impunity and provide for healing and closure.’
Turk said the process should start with a clear and formal acknowledgement of the violations, abuses and crimes that occurred, including during the civil war that ended in May 2009.
He urged the international community to support Colombo’s new efforts, but also warned that should Sri Lanka fail to deliver on its promises, they must exercise universal jurisdiction to prosecute war criminals.
UN reports have accused Sri Lankan troops of killing at least 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of the fighting, a charge successive governments have denied.
The crushing of the Tamil Tiger guerrilla leadership 16 years ago brought an end to 37 years of conflict that claimed at least 1,00,000 lives on all sides. Sri Lanka’s successive governments have also refused to allow an independent investigation into allegations of war crimes committed by its own troops or its warring partner, the Tamil Tigers.
Turk visited Sri Lanka last month and held talks with Dissanayake as well as civil society representatives, and also travelled to regions ravaged by war.
‘As I witnessed first-hand during my visit to Sri Lanka, the pain and suffering of victims remains palpable, and their demands for truth and justice must be addressed.’
He also welcomed pledges to repeal the dreaded Prevention of Terrorism Act, establish an independent public prosecutor, and investigate emblematic cases, including the 2009 assassination of anti-establishment editor Lasantha Wickrematunge.
The report also highlighted the deep social impact of the country’s economic crisis in 2022, with poverty rates nearly doubling since 2019 and malnutrition rising sharply among children.
