UN inquiry team on Sri Lanka named
June 12, 2014 11:55 pm
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, has
appointed Sandra Beidas, a high ranking official with the Office of the
High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR), to coordinate investigations
into widespread allegations of human rights violations in the final
stages of Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war.
Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the OHCHR, told Al Jazeera via email that Beidas would coordinate the Investigation Team.
Sri Lanka has said that it would not co-operate with the
investigation that is expected to be in operation for a 10-month period,
beginning in mid-June 2014 and end in mid-April 2015.
This unit would be staffed by 12 members, including two forensic
experts, a legal analyst, a gender specialist and investigators.
Beidas previously worked with the UN mission in South Sudan before
being expelled from the country in November 2012 after being accused of
writing false reports about the conduct of the South Sudanese military.
However, Pillay denied the accusations levelled against her staff
member and accused the South Sudanese government of being “in breach of
its legal obligations under the UN Charter and under the 2011 Status of
Forces Agreement between the Government of South Sudan and the UN
concerning UNMISS [United Nations Mission In South Sudan]”.
Colville said that there was also a secondary team comprising of
external experts who would accompany the investigation team and provide
independent verification of the investigation’s integrity. No members
have been officially appointed to this team.
UN resolution
In March this year the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
passed a resolution that called for an investigation of the civil war in
Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Ravinatha
Aryasinha, told Al Jazeera that Sri Lanka would not recognise the UN
investigation.
“The investigation will infringe upon the sovereignty of Sri Lanka
and goes against the principals of the United Nations,” he said.
Aryasinha refused to comment on the appointment of Beidas, but
added that overall “the UNHRC had shown itself to be prejudice when
dealing with Sri Lanka”.
Kehiliya Rambukwella, Sri Lankan cabinet spokesperson, said that
while the government would not be assisting with the investigation the
decision as to whether or not the UN team would be permitted to enter
the country would be decided by parliament. “The decision made by
parliament will reflect the will of the people,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, also said on Tuesday that
Parliament would make the decision as to whether or not the
investigation team would be allowed into the country. Currently,
Rajapaksa’s government controls the Sri Lankan parliament with a
comfortable two third majority.
Sri Lanka’s civil war came to a conclusion on the back of a
military offensive in May 2009, since then the United Nations and
numerous human rights groups have accused the Sri Lankan military of
being responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 civilians in the final
stages of the conflict.
The UN report has also accused the rebel Tamil Tigers of committing war crimes.
The government has rejected these allegations while insisting it is
fully committed to ensuring reconciliation in achieved in the country. -
Al Jazeera
