Five years ago, Sri Lanka’s civil war was reaching its bloody crescendo. Over 40,000 people are estimated to have died during the final stages of the war, and more than 480,000 forced to flee their homes.
Since then, credible evidence has emerged of war crimes by both warring parties and several UN officials and reports have called for an international investigation.
UNA-UK has consistently supported this call. The need for an international investigation is clear. The Sri Lankan government has made no serious attempt to investigate these matters. Any steps it has taken, such as its own national commission, have been in response to outside pressure and have side-stepped the allegations. Interference in public institutions is such that no domestic body could carry out an impartial investigation at present.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has been quoted as saying the lack of progress “can no longer be explained as a function of time or technical capacity, but that it is fundamentally a question of political will”.
We therefore urge you to join us in calling for an international investigation. The failure to address war crimes allegations is hindering progress towards reconciliation in Sri Lanka. It is also undermining the credibility of the UN.
In 2009, the UN Security Council did not formally discuss Sri Lanka. The UN Human Rights Council congratulated the government on its conduct during the war. The UN itself was too timid in its approach. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has since apologised for its handling of the situation and commissioned a report reviewing its actions. Its new Rights Up Front initiative is aimed at preventing such failures from occurring in the future.
Today, what happened in Sri Lanka joins the other failures of the international community, notably in Rwanda, Srebrenica and Darfur. It is too late to save those who died, but it is not too late to demand justice. Doing so not only offers Sri Lankans a better chance of building lasting peace. It also sends a strong message to those committing war crimes today.
Please support and share this petition, which urges the UK to work for robust action at the Council.
The petition is linked to a global campaign, urging other states to do the same.
Scars of Sri Lanka - documentary by Al Jazeera English examining the Sri Lankan government's use of torture and abductions to stifle ethnic and political dissent.
Image: Taken from the documentary 'Scars of Sri Lanka'
