Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, last Friday described the war situation in Sri Lanka as “absolutely desperate,” and suggested that both the Sri Lankan armed forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam could be found guilty of crimes against humanity for their wartime actions.
“Certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military and by the LTTE may constitute violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” Pillay said. “We need to know more about what is going on, but we know enough to be sure that the situation is absolutely desperate. The world today is ever sensitive about such acts that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The president of Sri Lanka and several other spokesmen have endorsed the accusations against the LTTE; the government further said the group’s violations are even greater than those stated. On the other hand, the LTTE have not denied the allegations. Therefore, for the time being there is no controversy regarding the accuracy of the accusations of the high commissioner against the LTTE.
Yet the Sri Lankan government vehemently denies the accusations against the regime. It says Pillay’s statement that more than 2,800 civilians may have been killed and more than 7,000 injured since Jan. 20, many inside no-fire zones, is inaccurate. The government also says it cannot be ascertained whether those killed were LTTE cadres or civilians.
The problem is the accuracy of the facts, and in determining this, rhetoric and propaganda are of little use. Both science and common sense dictate that an independent and impartial probe is the only way to determine the real facts.
An example of how this is done lies in the Bangladesh government’s handling of the serious incidents in Dhaka on Feb. 26 and 27, when 55 officers of the Bangladesh Rifles and seven civilians, including two officers’ wives, were killed, allegedly by lower-ranking officers. Five other senior officers are still missing.
Those who were killed include the major general of the BDR, two brigadier generals, over a dozen colonels, several lieutenant colonels, captains, majors and two soldiers. The newly elected government, which has 263 out of 300 seats in Parliament, was seriously undermined due to this massacre of senior army officers.
In the days that followed the massacre, the government of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Awami League led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came under heavy criticism from many quarters, including the armed forces. There was also public criticism over the accuracy and level of military intelligence in the country, which was unable to prevent such a deadly occurrence.
However, to the credit of Sheikh Hasina, the Cabinet decided to call upon the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Britain’s Scotland Yard and experts from other international agencies to come and investigate the matter and submit a report for the purpose of taking appropriate action.
All the critics have supported the move by Hasina’s government in making such a probe possible. Inviting international experts has ensured that the probe will be independent, impartial and conducted by competent investigators.
In international forums in recent years the Sri Lankan government has consistently claimed that it did not have adequate human resources to conduct inquiries into serious crimes and human rights abuses. It has even asked for assistance in this area. However, this assertion is questionable.
Human rights organizations have pointed out that the country, in fact, does have adequate capacity to conduct investigations, while admitting the need to improve the competence of investigators. The real problem is the politicization of the system, which deliberately prevents investigations that may be disadvantageous to the regime in power.
Even if the government’s claim to lack of competence is taken at face value, it supports the logic of following the Bangladeshi example and inviting international experts to conduct investigations.
However, the government holds the assumption, built up over a long period of time, that all international probes will be partial to the LTTE. This is despite the fact that all countries from which competent expertise could be obtained have declared the LTTE to be a banned terrorist organization. Therefore, the suspicion of partiality toward the LTTE cannot be the real reason the government objects to inquiries by competent international criminal investigators.
The issues raised by the U.N. high commissioner for human rights will eventually have to be dealt with within the framework of international law in the process of post-conflict justice. Global experience shows that such procedures sometimes take place as much as 30 to 40 years after a conflict. Interested parties may prevent investigations in the short run, but if the facts are documented they are likely to eventually take place.
The stability of a country requires that all crimes be investigated, foremost among them such heinous acts as crimes against humanity and war crimes. Both local and international law enforcement bodies should probe the allegations made by the highest U.N. human rights official regarding Sri Lanka.
Propaganda supporting or denying such allegations will resolve nothing. Of course propaganda can either expedite or delay real inquiries, depending on the political climate. Propaganda is an exercise that takes place within a no-fact zone. Neither loud propaganda nor clever lies and bullying can substitute for facts produced through genuine investigation.
The people of Sri Lanka and outside will be denied the truth of what has taken place in recent weeks until an independent and impartial inquiry is conducted by competent experts. The sooner Sri Lanka follows the example of Bangladesh in this regard the better for its own citizens and all those in the international community who are concerned with the humanitarian crisis in the country.
Source: Are Sri Lankans guilty of war crimes?
Filed under: abductions, civil society, civil war, crime, extrajudicial killings, human rights, justice, media, police, politics, rule of law, Sri Lanka
