{"id":2702,"date":"2016-04-12T16:34:02","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T11:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tgte-us.org\/?p=2702"},"modified":"2018-10-31T16:35:54","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T11:05:54","slug":"legal-experts-%e2%80%8etgte%e2%80%acs-conference-say-sri-lankas-ability-deliver-transitional-justice-grim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/?p=2702","title":{"rendered":"Legal Experts at \u200eTGTE\u202c\u2019s Conference say Sri Lanka\u2019s Ability To Deliver Transitional Justice Grim"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legal Experts at \u200eTGTE\u202c\u2019s Conference say Sri Lanka\u2019s Ability To Deliver Transitional Justice Grim<\/h1>\r\n
TORONTO, CANADA, April 12, 2016 \/EINPresswire.com<\/a>\/ —\r\n\r\nInvited to speak at the annual human rights conference on transitional justice convened by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) on Sunday April 3rd, 2016 at the Delta Toronto East Hotel, Canada, an esteemed panel of lawyers expressed serious concerns at the \u201cenvironment that currently exists in the North and East\u201d and the lack of progress made thus far in implementing the resolution passed at UNHRC\u2019s 30th session \u2013 given the High Commissioner for Human Rights is scheduled \u201cto present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its 32nd session\u201d on June 2016, and \u201ca comprehensive report followed by discussion on its implementation at its thirty-fourth session\u201d on March 2017.\r\n\r\nThe striking parallels that could be drawn from the discourse that transpired was the need for fundamental, meaningful, substantial, significant and far reaching changes on a range of issues pertaining to the delivery of transitional justice in Sri Lanka.\r\n\r\nAmong the concerns identified in this in-depth, high calibre panel discussion, which made transitional justice impossible now in Sri Lanka are:\r\n\r\n1) The Sri Lankan military\u2019s fierce grip on the Tamil people of the North and East in the island of Sri Lanka including its civilian and \u201cinstitutionalised extortion\u201d activities \u2013 akin to a \u201csophisticated\u201d form of control over them.\r\n2) The Sinhala Buddhist nationalist nature of the state.\r\n3) The ways in which the Sri Lankan government has obfuscated the issue of accountability both internationally and domestically when speaking to the Sinhala population\r\n4) The large discrepancy between what the Sri Lankan government is telling the international community it\u2019s doing on accountability and rule of law initiatives and what is actually taking place on the ground\r\n5) Government\u2019s lack of transparency and sincerity to enact reforms \u2013 to enable trust and build confidence\r\n6) The still ongoing human rights violations and surveillance operations in the North East\r\n7) The absence of necessary measures for genuine reconciliation vis-a-vis the Sri Lankan government\u2019s failure to return private lands, abolish the Prevention of Terrorism Act, review the Victims and Witness Protection Act and honour its promise to release political prisoners still languishing without charge\r\n8) The fact that torture and sexual violence against Tamils still continue\r\n9) The absence of answers for the families of the disappeared\r\n10) The occupation of public land and the army\u2019s involvement in civilian activities, such as running shops, farms, hotels and even pre-schools\r\n11) The military\u2019s continued distribution of goods to school children and other civilians widely regarded as its attempt to normalise its presence in the North East\r\n12) The continued harassment and intimidation of civil society and human rights activists, of families of the disappeared and former members of the LTTE as well as other Tamils\r\n13) The fact that testifying before any judicial mechanism would be difficult when the security forces are living next door\r\n14) The Sri Lankan government\u2019s lack of honesty as evidenced by its statements post resolution, inconsistent with its obligations it was committed to carry out -for international involvement in any \u2018credible judicial process\u2019\r\n15) The fact that the Sri Lankan government has so far not demonstrated the political will to ensure an independent, impartial, victim centred accountability mechanism\r\n16) That many people in Sri Lanka have been victimised horribly \u2013 and if impunity for those crimes continue they\u2019re going to be victimised further\r\n\r\nParticipants at the panel discussion were, Ms. Barbara Jackman \u2013 a Canadian lawyer specialising in immigration and refugee law and US lawyers \u2013 Ms. Tasha Manoranjan, an associate in the Litigation practice in the Washington D.C. Office, Prof. Ali Beydoun, Director, UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic at the Washington College of Law and Ms. Heather Ryan, currently member of the Sri Lanka Monitoring and Accountability Panel (MAP) and also special consultant for the Open Society Justice Initiative monitoring the Extra-ordinary Chambers of the Courts in Cambodia (ECCC).\r\n\r\nPanellists Barbara Jackman and Tasha Manoranjan, in making their observations, given the ground situation in the North and East, took a grim view on Sri Lanka\u2019s ability to deliver transitional justice\u2019 with Manoranjan calling for significant changes to the \u201cSinhala Buddhist nationalist nature of the state,\u201d believing that: \u201cSustainable peace and reconciliation will require the government to act meaningfully, expeditiously and in good faith when addressing the Tamil people\u2019s legitimate misgivings and trust, while also educating the Sinhala polity on the need for credible accountability in an inclusive pluralistic society.\u201d\r\n\r\nWhile Manoranjan was calling for concrete action towards demilitarisation and a halt to ongoing human rights violations, Jackman doubted it would happen. Representing Tamils seeking protection in Canada, she doubted \u2018transitional justice\u2019 which requires in her words, \u201creparations, accountability and building bridges for the future,\u201d was at all possible right now in Sri Lanka.\r\n\r\nJackman making the call to the international community as well as to Canada to review its policies, thinking the terrorism \u201clabel must change\u201d and suggested the TGTE, not merely rely on seeking accountability but \u201cstart taking other measures, like the \u2018Boycott Divestment and Sanction\u2019 (BDS) campaign against Israel by the Palestinians that\u2019s working. \u201d\r\n\r\nRecommending that, \u201cSri Lanka implement a comprehensive transitional justice programme in line with international best practices which include criminal prosecutions, reparations, institutional reforms and a truth commission,\u201d Manoranjan maintained that such, \u201cefforts must proceed with robust, meaningful consultations with the Tamil community.\u201d\r\n\r\nManoranjan was emphatic about the need for, \u201cthe government to respect the right of all of its people to self-determination,\u201d which she said, \u201cmust form the basis for any political solution,\u201d making the point that, \u201cbefore any political solution can take root the government must immediately take steps to demilitarise and stop all ongoing human rights violations.\u201d\r\n\r\nHeather Ryan, member of the MAP initiative made up of independent international experts laid out MAP\u2019s primary goal, the purpose behind independent monitoring, its criteria for any accountability mechanism, its concerns of what it has seen so far happen and some initial recommendations.\r\n\r\nRyan explained the MAP\u2019s goal in this way:\r\n\r\n\u201cTo take a look and help evaluate the development and implementation of transitional justice broadly and more specifically accountability mechanisms in Sri Lanka, and to bring to bear the experience we developed\u2026to ensure any mechanism, any tribunal established in Sri Lanka is truly perceived to be independent and fair by the people, all of the people, otherwise it will be viewed as another tool of victimisation that cannot be allowed to happen to a country that\u2019s already suffered so badly ..And so our goal is to shine a bright light as we can on the developments in this area.\u201d\r\n\r\nRyan is expecting extensive, substantial and far reaching changes in the, legal and judicial systems and laws, including incorporation of the concept of \u201ccommand responsibility\u201d into its law, in order to \u201cmeet international standards\u201d. She believes it is necessary to put in place educational and capacity building initiatives prior to any public consultations taking place. (In this regard MAP is in the process of considering if the government appointed \u2018taskforce\u2019 of exclusively civil society members is \u201ctruly representative of the variety of different views around the country.\u201d) This is in addition to her calling for witness protection and the participation of foreign judges, prosecutors, investigators and defence counsels, in an independent and impartial victim centered accountability mechanism,\u201d as part of the full implementation of the UNHRC resolution.\r\n\r\nRyan set out MAP\u2019s initial recommendations \u201cat this stage\u201d as follows:\r\n\r\nThat we recommend the Sri Lankan government should adopt a victim centered approach in which victims have equal and effective access to justice regardless of what side of the conflict they were on. That they have adequate and effective reparations for the harm suffered as a part of the justice tribunal or some other transitional justice mechanism \u2013 to ensure that they have access to relevant information concerning violations and reparations.\r\n\r\nThat we recommend the Sri Lankan government establish a special war crimes chamber comprised of the following general attributes: A trial and appellate chamber with a majority of international judges sitting alongside national counterparts \u2013 this is necessary given the judiciary in Sri Lanka, to ensure independence and impartiality. That a selection of all judges includes a consideration for a reasonable balance of gender and ethnicity and for the selection of international judges experienced in dealing with international crimes should be a requirement. That there should be specialised training for all the permanent judges on the aspects of international criminal law , that the prosecutor\u2019s office responsible for gathering evidence in who to prosecute also be composed of both domestic and international players with authority to make decisions. Again this is designed to make sure impartiality and independence at the prosecutorial level; the same would apply to the staff investigating the crime, so that evidence is gathered independently of any political influence or\r\n\r\nThat we recommend a rigorous witness protection system is put in place, that will truly make victims of crime comfortable that they can come forward and not suffer repercussions. That victims have the right of meaningful participation in the proceedings \u2013 another aspect important to international standards and international criminal law is that suspects and accused have the right to counsel including international counsels who are experienced in international criminal law.\r\n\r\nThat we recommend the application of substantive international customary law \u2013 which includes war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide as well as those recognised forms of criminal liability that will include command responsibility. Again what we are recommending is once the international law of basic crimes are established, the courts then could then apply Sri Lankan procedural law, so that to make sure the procedures that are used in the tribunal are as understandable to the people in Sri Lanka, that they have some impact on improving the general legal rule of law system in Sri Lankan courts.\r\n\r\nThe other members apart from Heather Ryan that constitute the MAP are, Marie Guiraud (France), Peter Haynes QC (UK), Richard J Rogers (UK), Justice Ajit Prakash Shah (India) with Geoffrey Robertson QC acting as consultant to the Panel, providing additional independent advice.\r\n\r\nThe proceedings also included a presentation of available alternative accountability mechanisms by Prof. Ali Beydoun who, first, speaking of how governments and UN member countries use sovereignty to create a \u201cshield\u201d for themselves, \u201cnot helping the purpose the UN was originally created to do, that is to protect individuals as a global community,\u201d explored other ways of, \u201cholding the people responsible for atrocities committed, in domestic courts outside Sri Lanka, using principles of universal jurisdiction.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe moderator of the panel discussion, attorney Kubes Navaratnam set the stage by tracing events in Sri Lanka from, \u201cafter the 2009 massacre, after the LTTE were defeated.\u201d\r\n\r\nA fellowship dinner was held the previous evening at the Scarborough Convention Center consisting of sponsors, supporters and members of the TGTE and invited guests, NGOs and politicians.<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Legal Experts at \u200eTGTE\u202c\u2019s Conference say Sri Lanka\u2019s Ability To [\u0bae\u0bc7\u0bb2\u0bc1\u0bae\u0bcd]<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-2702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2703,"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2702\/revisions\/2703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2702"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgte-us.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fyst_prominent_words&post=2702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}