press response to open letter from desmond tutu

March 6, 2014

India

Tutu calls for international probe in Sri

Lanka

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and other human rights campaigners have urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to commit to an independent international investigation in the form of a Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations in Sri Lanka. The following is the text of their statement:

We, concerned individuals and organisations from around the world, urge the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to use their March 2014 session to pass a resolution that will include a commitment to an Independent International investigation in the form of a Commission of Inquiry. Only this will help to put the country on the path to justice and reconciliation.

Although the long-running civil war ended in May 2009, a lasting peace is not in sight and we remain gravely concerned for the future of the people of Sri Lanka. A fear and sense of injustice persists, not just among minorities and political activists, but among ordinary people desperately trying to rebuild their lives. A number of unresolved issues remain, including ongoing human rights violations, credible allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the lack of progress towards longer-term political solutions and reconciliation. Left unaddressed, these issues could lead to renewed conflict.

Post-conflict processes do take time, but what matters is getting on the right path. Nearly five years after the war ended, the situation appears to be getting worse, not better.

The biggest issue Sri Lanka faces is a systemic lack of respect for the rights of its citizens, particularly — but not exclusively — its minority citizens. This is rooted in a culture of impunity which is in turn rooted in a failure to hold to account those, on both sides, who committed some of the worst atrocities this century.

Only an independent international investigation of these atrocities will end this culture of impunity and give the people of Sri Lanka a chance to climb out of the cycle of violence towards a lasting peace. For these reasons, there have been numerous calls over the years for such an investigation: from a renowned panel of experts appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, from a host of Sri Lankan and international individuals, Non-Governmental Organisations, and politicians, and from many thousands of petitioners all over the world.

We represent organisations and individuals in many countries. The Sri Lankan government claims that attempts to set up an international inquiry in Sri Lanka come exclusively from the west, and represent a form of imperialism. Not so. Many of us come from countries that have also seen conflict, and attempts at reconciliation after it. Standing in solidarity with the many Sri Lankans who feel their government is making a mistake, we urge the United Nations to establish a Commission of Inquiry.

Signed by: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa; Yasmin Sooka, Executive Director, Foundation for Human Rights, South Africa; Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannar and President of Tamil Civil Society in Sri Lanka; R. Sampanthan, Leader of the Tamil National Alliance; C.V.Wigneswaran, Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council; Danny Sriskandarajah, Secretary General, CIVICUS, the world Alliance for Civilian Participation, South Africa; Irene Fernandez, Right Livelihood Award, Malaysia; Bashana Abeywardane,

Co-ordinator, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka ... and others representing human rights activists and organisations in South Africa, Lebanon, Nepal, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Uganda, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brazil, and Japan.

South Africa

05 Mar 2014 00:00

Tutu to the UN: Sri Lanka needs healing

In a letter to the UN, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, representing human rights

activists, has appealed for a commission of inquiry in Sri Lanka.

We, concerned individuals and organisations from around the world, urge the United Nations

Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to use their March 2014 session to pass a resolution that

will include a commitment to an independent international investigation in the form of a

commission of inquiry in Sri Lanka. Only this will help put the country on the path to justice

and reconciliation.

Although the long-running civil war ended in May 2009, a lasting peace is not in sight and

we remain gravely concerned for the future of the people of Sri Lanka. A fear and sense of

injustice persists, not just among minorities and political activists, but among ordinary people

desperately trying to rebuild their lives. A number of unresolved issues remain, including

ongoing human rights violations, credible allegations of crimes against humanity and war

crimes, and the lack of progress towards longer-term political solutions and reconciliation.

Left unaddressed, these issues could lead to renewed conflict.

Post-conflict processes do take time, but what matters is getting on the right path. Nearly five

years after the war ended, the situation appears to be getting worse, not better.

The biggest issue Sri Lanka faces is a systemic lack of respect for the rights of its citizens,

particularly – but not exclusively – its minority citizens. This is rooted in a culture of

impunity that is in turn rooted in a failure to hold to account those, on both sides, who

committed some of the worst atrocities this century.

Only an independent international investigation of these atrocities will end this culture of

impunity and give the people of Sri Lanka a chance to climb out of the cycle of violence

towards a lasting peace. For these reasons, there have been numerous calls over the years for

such an investigation: from a renowned panel of experts appointed by UN secretary general

Ban Ki-Moon, from UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay, from a host of Sri

Lankan and international individuals, nongovernmental organisations, and politicians, and

from many thousands of petitioners all over the world.

We represent organisations and individuals in many countries. The Sri Lankan government

claims that attempts to set up an international inquiry in Sri Lanka come exclusively from the

West, and represent a form of imperialism. Not so. Many of us come from countries that have

also seen conflict, and attempts at reconciliation after it. We know Sri Lanka is going to need

help from the international community to get back on track. Standing in solidarity with the

many Sri Lankans who feel their government is making a mistake, we urge the United

Nations to establish a commission of inquiry.

Signed:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa

Yasmin Sooka, executive director, Foundation for Human Rights, South Africa

Right Reverend Rayappu Joseph, bishop of Mannar and president of Tamil Civil

Society in Sri Lanka

Honourable Rajavarothayam Sampanthan - leader of the Tamil National Alliance

(TNA) and member of Parliament of Sri Lanka

Honourable CV Wigneswaran - chief minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC)

and former Supreme Court Judge (Sri Lanka)

Danny Sriskandarajah, secretary general, CIVICUS, the world Alliance for Civilian

Participation, South Africa

Dr Irene Fernandez, Right Livelihood Award, Malaysia

Bashana Abeywardane, exiled Sinhalese journalist, co-ordinator Journalists for

Democracy in Sri Lanka

Maggie Ndagire, programme director, on behalf of Women and Children's

Empowerment Network in Africa (WACENA), Uganda

Flavia Piovesan, professor of human rights and constitutional law, Catholic University

of Sao Paulo, Brazil

... and 28 others representing human rights activists and organisations in South Africa,

Lebanon, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Uganda, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brazil, Japan,

Bosnia, Mongolia, Cote d'Ivoire, Nepal and Thailand.

In a letter to the UN, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, representing human rights activists, has

appealed for a commission of inquiry in Sri Lanka. The following is the text of a statement

presented at the UN.





and reconciliation.




























Signed:

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/news/46463.html

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/news/46463.html



Right Reverend Rayappu Joseph, bishop of Mannar and president of Tamil Civil Society in

Sri Lanka

Honourable Rajavarothayam Sampanthan – leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and

member of Parliament of Sri Lanka

Honourable CV Wigneswaran – chief minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) and

former Supreme Court Judge (Sri Lanka)




Bashana Abeywardane, exiled Sinhalese journalist, co-ordinator Journalists for Democracy in

Sri Lanka

Maggie Ndagire, programme director, on behalf of Women and Children’s Empowerment

Network in Africa (WACENA), Uganda

Flavia Piovesan, professor of human rights and constitutional law, Catholic University of Sao

Paulo, Brazil

… and 28 others representing human rights activists and organisations in South Africa,


Bosnia, Mongolia, Cote d’Ivoire, Nepal and Thailand.

Anglican News Service

Desmond Tutu backs calls for international

probe on Sri Lanka

Posted on: March 5, 2014 10:33 AM

Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called the United Nations Human Rights

Council (UNHRC) to use this year's sessions to pass a resolution that will "include a

commitment to an independent international investigation in the form of a commission of

inquiry in Sri Lanka."

In a letter to the UNHRC, he said that only this will help put the country on the path to justice

and reconciliation. The letter has been signed by several human rights activists who have

called for an international probe on Sri Lanka.

However, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Nkoana

Mashabane has backed Sri Lanka to have its own mechanism.

“Mr President the Human Rights Council has been seized with the issue of Sri Lanka for a

while. Let me share with you, Mr. President our approach on the Sri Lanka situation. It is

important that we allow Sri Lankans to find each other, and out of this find solutions that are

durable for their country. We as, as South Africans also had to find each other and

consequently find our own solution to our own problem. This is our wish for the people of Sri

Lanka.”

Following are excerpts of the letter sent by Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond

Tutu:





and reconciliation.

Tutu calls for international probe on Sri

Lanka

Published : 12:51 am March 6, 2014

South African Archbishop Emeritus and Nobel Laureate, Desmond Tutu has called on the UN Human Rights Council to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka. In an open letter to the UNHRC, Tutu who is also member of The Elders, a grouping of global leaders striving to foster peace and human rights in the world, said the Council should use the March session this year to include a commitment to an independent international inquiry in the form of a CoI on Sri Lanka. “Only this will help to put the country on the path to justice and reconciliation,” Tutu’s letter, which is also signed by several human rights activists and religious leaders said. Tutu said the biggest issue facing Sri Lanka was what he called a “systematic lack of respect for the rights of its citizens, particularly – but not exclusively – its minority citizens. “Post-conflict processes do take time, but what matters is getting on the right path. Nearly five years after the war ended, the situation appears to be getting worse, not better,” the letter said.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: Sri Lanka

shows “a systemic lack of respect for the

rights of its citizens”

5 March 2014 AT 17:24 LK TIME

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a range of other human rights activists have written an open

letter the UN Human Rights Council, expressing their support for an independent

investigation into war crimes in the country.

The group say that, “A fear and sense of injustice persists [in Sri Lanka], not just among

minorities and political activists, but among ordinary people desperately trying to rebuild

their lives,” and that, “The biggest issue Sri Lanka faces is a systemic lack of respect for the

rights of its citizens, particularly – but not exclusively – its minority citizens. This is rooted in

a culture of impunity that is in turn rooted in a failure to hold to account those, on both sides,

who committed some of the worst atrocities this century.”

They say that, “Only an independent international investigation of these atrocities will end

this culture of impunity and give the people of Sri Lanka a chance to climb out of the cycle of

violence towards a lasting peace,” but deny that calls for an independent inquiry come only

from the West, as the government of Sri Lanka claim.

http://mg.co.za/article/2014-03-04-letter-from-desmond-tutu-to-the-un-sri-lanka-needs-healing


“Many of us come from countries that have also seen conflict, and attempts at reconciliation

after it. We know Sri Lanka is going to need help from the international community to get

back on track. Standing in solidarity with the many Sri Lankans who feel their government is

making a mistake, we urge the United Nations to establish a commission of inquiry.”

Other signatories to the letter include Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.

Wigneswaran.

Thursday 6 March, 2014 // 11:32:51


Lanka

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and other human rights campaigners have urged

the United Nations Human Rights Council to commit to an independent international

investigation in the form of a Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations in Sri

Lanka. The following is the text of their statement:

We, concerned individuals and organisations from around the world, urge the UN Human

Rights Council (UNHRC) to use their March 2014 session to pass a resolution that will

include a commitment to an Independent International investigation in the form of a

Commission of Inquiry. Only this will help to put the country on the path to justice and

reconciliation.











particularly — but not exclusively — its minority citizens. This is rooted in a culture of

impunity which is in turn rooted in a failure to hold to account those, on both sides, who


http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/tutu-calls-for-international-probe-in-sri-lanka/article5753973.ece



Lanka

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and other human rights campaigners have urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to commit to an independent international investigation in the form of a Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations

Tutu calls for international probe in Sri Lanka

Mar, 6 2014 at 01:33 AM

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and other human rights campaigners have urged the

United Nations Human Rights Council to commit to an independent international investigation in the

form of a Commission of Inquiry into...

Story Highlights

The biggest issue Sri Lanka faces is a systemic lack of respect for the rights of its citizens, particularly

— but not exclusively — its minority citizens.

This is rooted in a culture of impunity which is in turn rooted in a failure to hold to account those, on

both sides, who committed some of the worst atrocities this century.

Signed by: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa; Yasmin Sooka, Executive Director, Foundation for Human Rights, South Africa; Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannar and President of Tamil Civil Society in Sri Lanka; R. Sampanthan, Leader of the Tamil National Alliance; C.V.Wigneswaran, Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council; Danny Sriskandarajah, Secretary General, CIVICUS, the world Alliance for Civilian Participation, South Africa; Irene Fernandez, Right Livelihood Award, Malaysia; Bashana Abeywardane, Co-ordinator, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka ... and others representing human rights activists and organisations in South Africa, Lebanon, Nepal, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Uganda, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brazil, and Japan.




March 6, 2014

Sri Lanka

A crisis of expectations

Months of anticipation for human rights campaigners, the Tamil Diaspora communities and

the country’s main Tamil party ended in an anti-climax when despite international pledges

and dire warnings, the US draft resolution at the Human Rights Council released Monday

failed to call for an international inquiry into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Many of these groups have rejected the resolution outright as being weak and ineffectual, but

the real tragedy is that the Sri Lankan Government fails to see the opening the draft provides

for resuming engagement with those players it now credits as being hostile states. And

despite the criticism, the resolution’s call for the investigation by the Office of the High

Commissioner for Human Rights into violations in Sri Lanka, offers the clearest indication

yet that the clock on engagement is fast running out

Three days after the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council opened in Geneva, some

might say President Mahinda Rajapaksa whose Government is being accused of major crimes

during the war, has already achieved a massive

victory.

After months of dire warnings, threats and much finger wagging, the first draft of the US

sponsored resolution makes no reference to the establishment of an international investigation

into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka.

The exclusion of the ‘international inquiry’ clause in the resolution’s initial text goes to prove

what the Rajapaksa Administration has known all along – that the international community’s

bark is much worse than its bite, irate human rights activists said, after the first text was

officially submitted to the Council at 4 p.m. Geneva time on Monday (3).

The initial draft of the third US backed resolution on Sri Lanka, first revealed exclusively in

Daily FT’s lead story on Tuesday (4) and likely to be adopted by the Council later this month

is significantly stronger in language than the two that have preceded it in 2012 and 2013.

Ongoing attacks on religious minorities, the transparency failure in the probe into the murder

of three unarmed civilians during a protest for clean water in Weliweriya in August 2013

feature significantly in the draft resolution, indications that the spotlight not only remains on

the Sri Lankan human rights situation five years after the end of the war, but that the focus is

not limited to war time abuses. And while the 2013 resolution attempted to hold Sri Lanka to

its promise that elections for the Northern Provincial Council would be held by September

last year, the 2014 version now calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to ‘provide the

Northern Provincial Council with the resources and authority to govern’ in accordance with

the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

The inclusion of the recommendation is significant.

Problems with the NPC

Since his election to office with an overwhelming majority in the September 2013 election,

Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran has a single battle-cry. The former Supreme Court Justice

insists that Colombo is blockading the TNA-led Council in every way, permitting the

Northern Governor – a presidential appointment – and a heavily entrenched provincial

bureaucracy to call all the shots in the formerly embattled region.

Wigneswaran tells visiting dignitaries and diplomats with much angst, that the Council has

been reduced to a body that passes non-binding resolutions on issues fundamental to the

political rights of his people, despite the great expectations with which it was swept into

power. When External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris presented Sri Lanka’s National Statement

at the UNHRC’s High Level Session in Geneva yesterday, he made special reference to

Tuesday’s grand re-opening of the railway line between the former LTTE stronghold of

Kilinochchi and the town of Pallai. The ruling administration often references the phase-by-

phase reconstruction of the rail connection to Jaffna, and legitimately so, as an important step

in re-linking the south of the country to the north after decades of war had severed the

connection.

Pallai was a bustling railway station pre-war, and on Tuesday it became the first the first

station to be re-linked in the Jaffna District, the cultural heartland of Sri Lankan Tamils. In

every way the symbolism of post-conflict reconciliation, reconnection and rebuilding

associated with the opening of the station is inescapable.

The project was undertaken by an Indian company with the full backing of the Indian

Government that is strongly supportive of the Northern Provincial Council. It is deeply

mystifying therefore that the Government failed to invite the Northern Province Chief

Minister to Tuesday’s opening. The guest of honour was UPFA Minister Douglas

Devananda, a man whose party the people of the north vehemently rejected in last year’s

election.

The move makes it clear that the ruling regime is loathe to share the credit for post-war

development with the TNA, that is a major thorn in its side politically. But the blatant snub is

also an apt illustration of how the Rajapaksa administration confuses its post-war priorities,

prizing physical reconstruction over healing and reconciling hearts and minds across the

ethnic divide.

The exclusion of Wigneswaran also belies the Government’s claim, most recently made

before the UNHRC in its response to High Commissioner Pillay’s damning report on Sri

Lanka that the Government was working in cooperation with the Northern Provincial

Council.

Far from abstract therefore, the US resolution is dealing explicitly and minutely with political

issues facing the Tamil community on the ground, in real time.

No kudos for resolution

But that has won Washington and its co-sponsors no kudos from the Tamil community in Sri

Lanka or the vocal Tamil Diaspora communities that are hungry for action overseas. The

British Tamils Forum, a major lobby group in the UK has openly condemned the resolution

as being weak, and their sentiments were echoed by the Tamil National Alliance’s more

nationalist sections last afternoon.

Addressing a press conference, TNA Jaffna District MP Suresh Premachandran charged that

the resolution in no way addressed the heart-cries of the Tamil people. Making a strange

argument, the TNA MP alleged that the US Government was focused on regime change in Sri

Lanka and was seeking to win favour with the Sinhalese majority to achieve this goal,

resulting in a watered down resolution.

Human rights activists worldwide are critiquing the draft resolution as weak in tenor and just

another ‘holding resolution’ that will afford the Sri Lankan Government further time and

allow the global appetite for action in Sri Lanka to wane as the months and years wear on.

From the Government of Sri Lanka’s perspective, each of these groups – rights watchdogs,

the Tamil Diaspora and the TNA are the enemy. Ironically, these are the same groups the

Government credits with conspiring against Sri Lanka and pushing powerful nations of the

world to act against a small island nation that did the unthinkable and defeated a ruthless

terrorist outfit.

It defies logic therefore that the Sri Lankan Government will soon join the chorus of critics of

the latest US resolution – for vastly different reasons. All indications are that Sri Lanka will

reject the resolution outright – despite the fact that it is universally acknowledged that in its

first draft at least, the document has gifted Sri Lanka another year to work on its outstanding

post-war issues.

The resolution stresses cooperation, strongly supports a truth seeking process to address

allegations of abuse and opens a further window for the Government to actively engage with

sponsors and supporters of the resolution on dealing with the concerns outlined in a credible

and internationally acceptable way. Judging from Minister Peiris’ speech, which alleged bias

and intrusion by Pillay and rubbished the report she presented to the Council following her

fact finding mission in Sri Lanka, engagement is off the table.

For too long, Sri Lanka’s foreign policy has focused on belligerence against perceived

enemies. It is a habit that is proving hard to break. Worse still, it may be blinding the regime

to opportunities being laid squarely at its door.

Despite the initial criticism however, the draft resolution released on Monday also makes it

clear that the clock on international engagement and the world community’s appetite for

stonewalling by the Sri Lankan Government is fast running out.

The most significant clause of the draft resolution appears on its fourth and final page. The

eighth recommendation of 10 included in the draft resolution requests the Office of the High

Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) “to investigate alleged violations and abuses of

human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka, with input from relevant special

procedures mandate holders as appropriate”.

OHCHR Inquiry

The Office of the High Commissioner is being called upon to report on progress of this

investigation and other monitoring and assessments to the Human Rights Council orally at

the 27th Session in September 2014. A comprehensive report of the OHCHR findings is to be

presented before the Council and followed by a discussion in March 2015. In her address

before the Council on Tuesday (4), US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security,

Democracy and Human Rights confirmed the resolution was calling for a probe by Pillay’s

Office, into both allegations about war time abuses and more recent violations. “In 2012 and

again last year, this council urged the Government of Sri Lanka to launch an independent

investigation into the deaths of thousands of civilians during that country’s terrible civil war.

To date the Government has refused,” the US official told the Council.

When calls began to mount over the need to establish an international mechanism to look into

alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, the big question before the international community was

what form the inquiry could take.

For UNHRC led investigations, two options were before the co-sponsors of the resolution on

Sri Lanka. The first, more well known and understood option is the Commission of Inquiry

mechanism. Commissions of Inquiry have most recently been conducted in Syria and North

Korea, the findings of which are before this Council session. Commissions of Inquiry take

months to constitute, once approved by the 47 member Human Rights Council and comprise

independent investigators and experts with the power to summon witnesses and gather

evidence. The resourcing and funding of such Commissions must be borne by UN member

states, therefore Council members must deem the exercise emergent and dire in order to

approve the magnitude of costs involved in the process.

The more desirable option in the case of Sri Lanka, both in terms of the fact that it would

more easily achieve consensus within the Council and because it was less intrusive from the

Government’s perspective, was the OHCHR inquiry mechanism.

A probe by Pillay’s Office would be easier to set up, cost-effective and would not imply great

deviance from the 2013 resolution which called for a fact finding mission by the High

Commissioner.

Weak resolution: HR activists

According to human rights activists, the draft resolution is weak in its current format because

it does not explicitly call for an OHCHR inquiry, even though the process is implied and

reinforced by Sewall’s remarks to the Council. The clause leaves room for the Pillay-led

inquiry, but perhaps only in the absence of the Government’s continued refusal to address the

allegations through a domestic process. The good news for the Sri Lankan Government is that

the draft resolution may be diluted in terms of language and action required in the next three

weeks before the vote is taken, in order to allow its adoption by a broad majority of the

Council.

The draft resolution also provides the Sri Lankan Government with significant leverage by its

strong backing for a truth seeking mechanism to deal with allegations that have arisen about

the last days of the war. The reference is code for a South African style Truth and

Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that the Sri Lankan Government is toying with

establishing especially in the run up to the March sessions in Geneva.

Hopes were rising in the past few weeks about a South Africa assisted TRC in Sri Lanka,

especially after the ruling African National Congress appointed Cyril Ramaphosa as its

special envoy to Sri Lanka. A Government delegation led by Leader of the House Nimal

Siripala De Silva has also just returned from a visit to South Africa, presumably to “explore”

TRC type options. The two moves were widely believed to indicate that the South African

Government was willing to work with Sri Lanka on a truth telling process. Relations between

the two countries have been robust after South African President Jacob Zuma attended the

Commonwealth summit in Colombo despite the controversy surrounding the meeting.

South Africa and the TRC

At the UNHRC, where the US resolution will come up for a vote on 28 March, South

Africa’s support is crucial for Sri Lanka. The votes of several other African states, including

Namibia (a new UNHRC member for 2014), Botswana and Burkina Faso will hinge on South

Africa’s decision on the US resolution.

Sri Lanka’s cooperation with South Africa on a TRC process, will almost guarantee that the

ANC will side with Colombo in Geneva this year, against the US move. The appointment of

Ramaphosa, informed sources say is significant because the ANC Deputy President is tipped

to be South Africa’s next President, after Zuma concludes his next term. The ANC is keen to

boost Ramaphosa’s international profile ahead of that development, resulting in his

appointment as envoy to both Sri Lanka and South Sudan.

The sticking point for the Rajapaksa Government however, is that the ANC will insist on a

credible process if it is to assist Sri Lanka with a TRC. In fact, if the process adopted by Sri

Lanka is found to be inadequate or prejudiced in any form, the ANC was likely to both

criticise the process and repudiate it publicly, sources said.

It is unclear if it was these considerations that prompted the strange pronouncement from

Arun Thambimuttu, the SLFP organiser for Batticaloa and member of the Government

delegation to South Africa, that discussion in Pretoria had revealed there were more

differences than commonalities between the post conflict situations in Sri Lanka and South

Africa. Thambimuttu’s declaration was buttressed by Minister Peiris, who was also present at

the presidential interaction with foreign correspondents based in Colombo at Temple Trees

last Friday (28). The Minister said the delegation to South Africa had focused on sharing

experiences, steering clear of committing on whether the Government was decided on a TRC.

The Government is keen to keep the promise of the TRC alive, at least to ensure it does not

lose South Africa’s crucial support at the Council. But it would prefer not to firmly commit

to a truth seeking process, in case it finds it is backed into a corner. The regime learnt what it

considers a brutal lesson several years ago with the LLRC which was established to ward off

international pressure, only to find that the Commission’s report was pounced upon by the

Western lobby that insisted on its recommendations being implemented in successive

UNHRC resolutions.

Strange developments

While progress on backroom discussions between South Africa and Colombo remains

unclear, South African Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Emily Nkoana-

Mashabane excluded a reference to Sri Lanka in the delivered version of her speech to the

UNHRC’s High Level Segment on Tuesday. In the text of her speech, uploaded on the

UNHRC website shortly after it was delivered the Minister said it was important to allow Sri

Lankans to find each other and out of this, find solutions that are durable for their country.

“We as South Africans also had to find each other and consequently find our own solution to

our own problem. This is our wish for the people of Sri Lanka,” the document uploaded on

the website said. However, in her oral presentation, Nkoana-Mashabane omitted the reference

to Sri Lanka altogether.

Oddly, the exclusion coincided with a call by South African Archbishop Emeritus of Cape

Town, and Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu for an international investigation into

alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. Tutu, a member of The Elders, a grouping of global leaders

working to foster peace and human rights which was founded by Nelson Mandela, said only

an international commission of inquiry, established by the March 2014 resolution at the

UNHRC would put Sri Lanka on the path to justice and reconciliation. “The biggest issue Sri

Lanka faces is a systemic lack of respect for the rights of its citizens, particularly – but not

exclusively – its minority citizens. This is rooted in a culture of impunity that is in turn rooted

in a failure to hold to account those, on both sides, who committed some of the worst

atrocities this century,” Tutu said in an open letter to the UNHRC released yesterday.

Tutu’s public call puts the South African Government in a supremely awkward position with

regard to the Sri Lanka issue. Desmond Tutu, a tireless anti-apartheid activist and peace-

campaigner is widely regarded as South Africa’s moral conscience. As South Africa comes to

its own economically 20 years post-conflict, spiritual leaders like Tutu strive to keep the

ANC true to the founding values of the South African constitution drawn up post- Apartheid.

When the ANC bowed to pressure from China and turned down a visa request for the Dalai

Lama in 2011, Tutu railed against the Government, threatening to pray for its downfall for

betraying the values upon which the rainbow nation was formed in 1994. The ANC’s

decision to back a regime that Tutu and others have come to regard as major violators of its

peoples’ freedoms and an oppressor of minorities, may provoke a similar outcry. As the

debate rages about whether the ANC is deviating from Mandela’s vision for South Africa by

allying with purported oppressors internationally, the party’s approach to Sri Lanka will be a

crucial indicator for its critics.

All this notwithstanding, South Africa’s vote at the UNHRC will be a crucial litmus test of

the kind of support US resolutions will be able to muster going forward.

The way Saudi Arabia swings with regard the US resolution will also be an important

indicator as to whether allegations of the Government’s patronage of anti-Islamic groups in

Sri Lanka is resonating with sections of the Arabic world. So far, there are no indications of

the Islamic bloc switching allegiances on the basis of discrimination against the minority

Muslim population in the island. But ironically, even as religious freedom features heavily in

the debate over Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, the Gangodawila Magistrate on Tuesday (4), shut

down a small mosque operating in Kadawatha Road, Dehiwala. Mosque trustees attempting

to file a motion against the injunction yesterday were turned down by the magistrate. Its

belligerent diplomacy and emphatic rejection of mounting evidence about the final phase of

the war has already cost the Government the Western liberal bloc. Will Mahinda Rajapaksa,

champion of the people of Palestine, also sacrifice the key support of the Islamic bloc, so

crucial as Sri Lanka faces off with world powers at the UNHRC, by plying the expedient path

of Sinhala-Buddhist hegemonic politics?

Sri Lanka

Tutu calls for international probe in Sri Lanka









reconciliation.

The Nation Sri Lanka Desmond Tutu backs calls for international probe on SL

Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called the United Nations Human Rights

Council (UNHRC) to use this year's sessions to pass a resolution that will "include a

commitment to an independent international investigation in the form of a commission of

inquiry in Sri Lanka."

In a letter to the UNHRC, he said that only this will help put the country on the path to justice

and reconciliation. The letter has been signed by several human rights activists who have

called for an international probe on Sri Lanka.

However, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Nkoana

Mashabane has backed Sri Lanka to have its own mechanism.

“Mr. President the Human Rights Council has been seized with the issue of Sri Lanka for a

while. Let me share with you, Mr. President our approach on the Sri Lanka situation. It is

important that we allow Sri Lankans to find each other, and out of this find solutions that are

durable for their country. We as, as South Africans also had to find each other and

consequently find our own solution to our own problem. This is our wish for the people of Sri

Lanka.”

Following are excerpts of the letter sent by Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond

Tutu:





and reconciliation.




























Signed:



Retired Reverend Rayappu Joseph, bishop of Mannar and president of Tamil Civil

Society in Sri Lanka

Honourable Rajavarothayam Sampanthan - leader of the Tamil National Alliance

(TNA) and member of Parliament of Sri Lanka

Honourable CV Wigneswaran - chief minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC)

and former Supreme Court Judge (Sri Lanka)




Bashana Abeywardane, exiled Sinhalese journalist, co-ordinator Journalists for

Democracy in Sri Lanka

Maggie Ndagire, programme director, on behalf of Women and Children's

Empowerment Network in Africa (WACENA), Uganda

Flavia Piovesan, professor of human rights and constitutional law, Catholic University

of Sao Paulo, Brazil

... and 28 others representing human rights activists and organisations in South Africa,


Bosnia, Mongolia, Cote d'Ivoire, Nepal and Thailand.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu urges UN to establish Commission of Inquiry in Sri Lanka

05 March 2014

The Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged the United Nations to establish a Commission of

Inquiry in a joint letter to the UN, written together with other international human rights

activists and notable Tamil voices from the North-East.

The letter, published in the South African journal, Mail & Guardian, two days after a draft

resolution tabled at the UN fell short of calling for a CoI, expressed concern, stating, "We, concerned individuals and organisations from around the world, urge the United

Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to use their March 2014 session to pass a

resolution that will include a commitment to an independent international

investigation in the form of a commission of inquiry in Sri Lanka. Only this will

help put the country on the path to justice and reconciliation." The letter, which was by activists worldwide, also included one of the three authors of

the UN Panel of Experts report, Yasmin Sooka, the Tamil civil society activist, the

Bishop of Mannar Rt. Reverend Rayappu Joseph, the Chief Minister of the Northern

Province, CV. Wigneswaran, and the leader of the TNA R. Sampanthan.

Dismissing the Sri Lankan government's claims that "attempts to set up an international

inquiry in Sri Lanka come exclusively from the West, and represent a form of

imperialism," the authors wrote, "The Sri Lankan government claims that attempts to set up an international inquiry in Sri

Lanka come exclusively from the West, and represent a form of imperialism. Not so.

Many of us come from countries that have also seen conflict, and attempts at

reconciliation after it. We know Sri Lanka is going to need help from the international

community to get back on track. Standing in solidarity with the many Sri Lankans

who feel their government is making a mistake, we urge the United Nations to

establish a commission of inquiry"

Stating that "a number of unresolved issues remain, including ongoing human rights

violations, credible allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the lack

of progress towards longer-term political solutions and reconciliation," the authors said,

"only an independent international investigation of these atrocities will end this

culture of impunity and give the people of Sri Lanka a chance to climb out of the cycle of violence towards a lasting peace."


Tutu calls for international probe

05 March 201

Tutu says the biggest issue Sri Lanka faces is a systemic lack of respect for the rights of

its citizens, particularly – but not exclusively – its minority citizens.

In a letter to the United Nations, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, representing human

rights activists, has appealed for a an international commission of inquiry on Sri Lanka.

Tutu says the biggest issue Sri Lanka faces is a systemic lack of respect for the rights of its

citizens, particularly – but not exclusively – its minority citizens.

The letter says:

“We, concerned individuals and organisations from around the world, urge the United

Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to use their March 2014 session to pass a

resolution that will include a commitment to an independent international investigation in the

form of a commission of inquiry in Sri Lanka. Only this will help put the country on the path

to justice and reconciliation.



























Nations to establish a commission of inquiry”.

Signed:



Retired Reverend Rayappu Joseph, bishop of Mannar and president of Tamil Civil Society in

Sri Lanka

Honourable Rajavarothayam Sampanthan – leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and

member of Parliament of Sri Lanka

Honourable CV Wigneswaran – chief minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) and

former Supreme Court Judge (Sri Lanka)




Bashana Abeywardane, exiled Sinhalese journalist, co-ordinator Journalists for Democracy in

Sri Lanka

Maggie Ndagire, programme director, on behalf of Women and Children’s Empowerment

Network in Africa (WACENA), Uganda

Flavia Piovesan, professor of human rights and constitutional law, Catholic University of Sao

Paulo, Brazil

… and 28 others representing human rights activists and organisations in South Africa,


Bosnia, Mongolia, Cote d’Ivoire, Nepal and Thailand.

Calls for Sri Lanka human rights probe grow ever louder

Archbishop Desmond Tutu leads high profile group to lobby UN









reconciliation.











particularly — but not exclusively — its minority citizens. This is rooted in a culture of

impunity which is in turn rooted in a failure to hold to account those, on both sides, who





such an investigation: from a renowned panel of experts appointed by UN Secretary General

Ban Ki-Moon, from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, from a host of

Sri Lankan and international individuals, Non-Governmental Organisations, and politicians,

and from many thousands of petitioners all over the world.



west, and represent a form of imperialism. Not so. Many of us come from countries that have

also seen conflict, and attempts at reconciliation after it. Standing in solidarity with the many

Sri Lankans who feel their government is making a mistake, we urge the United Nations to

establish a Commission of Inquiry.

Signed by: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa; Yasmin Sooka, Executive Director,

Foundation for Human Rights, South Africa; Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannar and

President of Tamil Civil Society in Sri Lanka; R. Sampanthan, Leader of the Tamil National

Alliance;C.V.Wigneswaran, Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council; Danny

Sriskandarajah, Secretary General, CIVICUS, the world Alliance for Civilian Participation,

South Africa; Irene Fernandez, Right Livelihood Award, Malaysia; Bashana

Abeywardane, Co-ordinator, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka ... and others

representing human rights activists and organisations in South Africa, Lebanon, Nepal,

Afghanistan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Uganda, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brazil, and Japan.

press response to open letter from desmond tutu

Documents

people of sri lanka

sri lankans

human rights campaigners

international inquiry

human rights council

international individuals

host of sri lankan

human rights navi pillay