Steady implementation of LLRC recommendations
Statement by Mahinda Samarasinghe, MP,
Minister of Plantation Industries and Special Envoy of the President on
Human Rights, leader of the Sri Lankan delegation to the 19th Session of
the United Nations Human Rights Council High Level Segment on February
27 in Geneva
Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe
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I am honoured and privileged to be able to once again share with this
august body, Sri Lanka's experience in promoting and protecting the
human rights of its people, in accordance with universally accepted
standards. In the two years and nine months since the end of the armed
conflict against terrorism and the onset of peace, Sri Lanka has made
significant progress towards recovery and achieving reconciliation, by
incrementally overcoming many challenges posed to the nation and its
people by almost 30 years of conflict. The rollback and eventual
abolition of emergency regulations in August 2011, in tandem with the
gradual improvement in the country's law and order situation in the
post-conflict phase, has led to further consolidation of peace. It has
also demonstrated to the world Sri Lanka's genuine aspiration in its
approach to achieving a peace that is stable and sustainable.
Economic development
Terrorism that ravaged our nation for nearly three decades adversely
affected not only our people, their livelihoods, property and
infrastructure; it also damaged the social fabric of our nation. The
reconciliation process set in motion by the Sri Lankan government has
therefore necessarily taken into account a range of factors including
economic development, rehabilitation and resettlement and livelihood
development in addition to addressing the need to provide a sense of
finality among those who suffered trauma and the loss of loved ones.
In my statement to the Council last September, I urged that the
Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, must be given the time and
space to complete its mandate. We continued to brief the international
community in Geneva of the interim recommendations made by the LLRC and
the measures taken by the Inter-Agency Advisory Committee on their
implementation. As you know, the Commission has now delivered on its
mandate and submitted its report, including a series of recommendations,
to the President of Sri Lanka. The Report was submitted to Parliament by
my ministerial colleague and Leader of the House Nimal Siripala de
Silva, who is here with me in Geneva today, on December 16, 2011,
together with the government's position on the recommendations contained
in the Report. Concurrently, the Report was made public.
In our view, the Report contains a detailed and perceptive analysis
of past errors, including those that led to the failure of the peace
process, and several recommendations for the future. The Report is
comprehensive and contains detailed annexes, compiled following
interviews with over 1,000 persons who gave evidence before the
Commission, and over 5,000 submissions received. The proceedings were
largely open and persons testified freely and openly before the
Commission in public hearings unless exceptional circumstances required
in camera proceedings. This was quite different to the
Secretary-General's Advisory Panel which held closed door hearings with
unnamed witnesses who were guaranteed 20 years anonymity to secure their
statements. This meant that the testimony could not be verified or
tested for its probative value.
Socio-economic development
The LLRC report, on the other hand, places before us material of the
basis on which the Commissioners arrived at their conclusions, which are
substantive and verifiable. The Commission has dealt with and made
recommendations on a whole gamut of issues including aspects of
accountability - something which several of our partners and
interlocutors have failed to acknowledge; the resettlement of IDPs; the
rehabilitation and re-integration of ex-combatants, the detention of
suspects; bringing an end to the possession of unauthorized weapons; the
deployment of security forces; land issues; issues with regard to
restitution; implementation of the language policy; socio-economic and
livelihood development; administrative issues; and on the need to arrive
at a national consensus with regard to fulfilling the legitimate
aspirations of all communities living in Sri Lanka.
I am happy to observe that advances have been made with regard to
many of the recommendations in the Report. The government will continue
to address these issues in a systematic and thorough manner. Some of the
areas in which gains have been made include the resettlement of IDPs;
demining; rehabilitation of ex-combatants; implementation of the
language policy; the recruitment of Tamil speaking police officers; the
removal of the military from facilitation of civil administration in the
north making available land previously used for security purposes for
resettlement/return; and carrying out a comprehensive census in the
Northern and the Eastern Provinces. There are also other recommendations
in the Report which need to be comprehensively addressed.
High Security Zones
In particular, the Commission's recommendations about the formulation
of a land use plan for each district in the Northern and Eastern
Provinces and, as a longer term initiative, the establishment of a
National Land Commission for the country as a whole, require further
study and careful planning. A pragmatic initial step towards resolving
issues related to state land ownership has already been adopted by the
government though in a more modest form. The initiative aimed at the
construction of over 78,000 houses in the North, including those built
under the North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP)
constructed with donor assistance. A Land Task Force was established at
provincial and district levels to deal with land issues and to seek
expeditious solutions, and is further evidence of our efforts. I may
also add that the government is firmly resolved to ensure that all those
who have been dispossessed of their lands, are afforded the opportunity
to return to the lands they once owned.
In relation to livelihood support, a self-employment loan scheme has
been put in place in the North and East and to date thousands of
beneficiaries have been apportioned USD 318 million. Moreover,
beneficiaries were provided with Enterprise Development Services (EDS)
including the establishment of organizations for the self-employed.
With regard to the lands under the former High Security Zones of
Palaly and Trincomalee-Sampur, the Commission has acknowledged that the
area covered has significantly diminished in terms of both land area and
restriction of movement. With regard to the re-demarcation and reduction
of the former High Security Zones to aid resettlement, the process was
initiated prior to the Commission's Report, which therefore recognized
that the area had diminished significantly. By the end of the conflict
in 2009, the High Security Zones (HSZ) covered 4,098.36 Ha and, at
present, has been reduced to 2,582.45. The government will closely
monitor and expedite making lands, previously used for security
purposes, for resettlement/return.
International Humanitarian Law
You may have noted that the Commission offers detailed observations
and recommendations on International Humanitarian Law issues relating to
the final phases of the conflict. The Report endorses the position that
the protection of civilian life was a key factor in the formulation of
policy for carrying out military operations, and that the deliberate
targeting of civilians formed no part of it. This was and remains the
position of the government. I wish to inform this Council that an
enumeration to ascertain the number of persons in the Northern Province
and to scientifically identify the number of persons who lost their
lives in the conflict, is now complete and a detailed analysis will be
made known in the near future. Due to the unlawful presence of the LTTE,
no proper census could be carried out since 1981.
Among the people not accounted for and classified as deceased, we
count people killed as a result of the conflict, including those who
carried arms for the LTTE, civilians killed by the LTTE as they tried to
flee from the hostage situation, persons caught in the crossfire and
people who migrated out of the Northern Province, either to the South
and who left by sea to India or other countries seeking asylum. We need
the assistance of receiving countries to ascertain how many persons they
have admitted. As a further step, the government has decided to put in
place a structure to further analyse and verify the data gathered in
order to arrive at definite conclusions as to civilian mortalities and
casualties. One thing is certain: the story of ‘tens of thousands’ of
civilian deaths that supposedly occurred during the final phase of the
humanitarian operation, is very clearly proved to be a gross
exaggeration and a deliberate misrepresentation of fact.
No-fire zones
The material placed before the Commission points to several specific
episodes which, in its view, warrant further investigation. The
government is committed to a mechanism for gathering and assessing
factual evidence relating to the episodes indicated, buttressed by a
strong investigative arm. The findings thus arrived at will form the
basis of a decision on whether criminal proceedings can be instituted.
The material yielded by this investigation will be placed before the
Attorney-General for a decision in respect of instituting criminal
proceedings, where warranted. The Attorney General is currently seized
of and is studying the recommendations in the report with regard to
allegations of violations of International Humanitarian Law. Military
Courts of Inquiry in keeping with international practice have commenced
investigations into specific incidents identified by the LLRC.
The mandate of the Court of Inquiry is to investigate, inter alia,
civilian casualties and the Channel 4 video footages; including whether
any deliberate and intentional attacks were made by the Army on
civilians, with a view to causing them harm or damage, or on any
hospitals or no-fire zones. If so, the persons responsible for any such
activity and to make recommendations with regard to the measures that
should be taken with regard to such persons.
Madam President, in respect of the controversial Channel 4 footage,
the Court of Inquiry has been specifically mandated to ascertain whether
any member of the Armed Forces was involved in the events depicted,
authentic or otherwise and to recommend the measures to be taken. A
similar Court of Inquiry has been convened by the Sri Lanka Navy to
inquire into relevant allegations.
As you can observe, Madam President, Sri Lanka has taken clear and
definite steps towards implementation of the recommendations of the
domestic process, barely two months after the report was made public. We
have evolved a mechanism to look into accountability issues raised in
the LLRC report, both in the form of civil and military structures. This
is coupled with a time bound plan in the form of the National Human
Rights Action Plan catering to a number of other recommendations to move
Sri Lanka towards comprehensive reconciliation.
As we have done in the past, we will keep the Council informed of
progress when we participate in the sessions in June, September and in
the course of the UPR in October. We have already extended an invitation
to the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Sri Lanka. I might
add that there is already a senior advisor of the High Commissioner's
office working in Sri Lanka from as far back as 2005.
Madam President, in the light of this commitment by Sri Lanka, there
is no justification or urgency whatsoever in floating a resolution
calling for the implementation of the LLRC's recommendations and
engagement with the High Commissioner, when this has already been
effectively undertaken by the government. What we now need from the
international community is objectivity in assessing Sri Lanka's efforts.
More than anything we need ensure that the process is allowed to advance
unimpeded. We do not need unwarranted incursions that will compromise
successful implementation. Such interference by way of redundant
resolutions before this Council, would only undermine the sentiments of
this Council as expressed in the decisive adoption of the Special
Session resolution on Sri Lanka in 2009.
Civil administration
The number of persons in detention for suspected involvement in
terrorist activity has been reduced to 225 out of a total of over 4,000.
As many detainees as possible have been released or forwarded for
rehabilitation and eventual release. The initiative to draw down the
numbers commenced with the interim recommendations of the LLRC. We are
still investigating several cases and these persons will be tried before
ordinary courts of law in the shortest possible space of time. The
Police have adopted stringent guidelines with regard to the treatment of
persons taken into custody.
This will have a salutary effect on the allegations of torture and
mistreatment. These are also direct follow up activities relating to the
recommendations of the Commission.
You will be pleased to observe the establishment of normalcy and the
re-democratization of the Northern and the Eastern provinces, including
the holding of Provincial Elections in the East, Local Government
elections, as well as, restoration of civil administration including the
network of 33 divisional secretaries and 912 village level officials in
the North.
In keeping with the recommendations of the LLRC, the military has
been withdrawn from aspects of civilian life, and are now confined to
security-related matters. As a result, development-related work which,
during the conflict situation and immediately thereafter, came under the
purview of the Presidential Task Force for Resettlement, Development and
Security of the Northern Province, is now carried out under the
supervision of the relevant line Ministries, in coordination and
consultation with the provincial and local government representation.
Development activities in the five districts of the North, are channeled
through the relevant line ministries and institutions at the central
government level; the provincial administration and the District
Secretaries at the district level and Divisional Secretaries at
divisional level. The District Secretary or Government Agent functions
as the Coordinating and Executing Officer of the district.
To be continued |