AG responds to Pillay

Attorney General Mohan Peiris responding to the statement made by High Commissioner of Human Rights Navanetham Pillay at the 14th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on May 31 said that Sri Lankan Government was of the view that the High Commissioner regretfully seeks to prejudge the outcome of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission even before the mechanism has begun its work.

He said Sovereign States having emerged from protracted armed conflicts resort to domestic mechanisms, as encouraged by the UN Secretary General himself, due to the complexed nature of the issues at hand and their domestic relevance and better understanding.

It is in this context that the Government has consistently upheld and established a domestic mechanism for transitional justice, rather than one with an international complexion, which would impinge on the very sovereignty that was under threat for nearly three decades.

Further, it is inappropriate to be wholly guided by precedent, that too not having paid heed to connected issues to keep advocating for a so called “independent international accountability mechanism.”

“The Government has delivered on related undertakings in the past.

In this instance too we will deliver on our commitment as the domestic mechanism’s Warrant clearly provides for the identification of direct or indirect responsibility, which would hold perpetrators, if any, accountable for past violations, and will not be deterred by any pressure or force in achieving a lasting peace for our people.”

We say to those who are our protagonists let this process commence as envisaged, observe its progress constructively and provide the necessary space without unwarranted and misplaced rhetoric.

The AG noted that it was disconcerting for the Government to be needlessly confronted, at this time of a paradigm shift in the hearts and minds of our people, by the observations in the High Commissioner’s statement, after having taken concrete steps in keeping with domestic compulsions, to address post conflict reconciliation issues.