Sri Lanka Guardian (22/01) – ‘Commissions for Human Rights violations have failed’
Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews KISHALI PINTO-JAYAWARDENA, Sri Lankan human rights advocate
Sri Lanka’s nearly three decades of civil war may be over, but questions about war crimes and gross human rights violations committed during the final stages of that battle in 2009 continue to haunt the South Asian nation.
Yet a commission of inquiry to examine such allegations is not the answer, says Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, a lawyer and human rights advocate. “Commissions of inquiry have been very counter-productive for victims seeking justice,” she says.
Such commissions have largely served the interests of governments to take cover behind international and domestic criticisms of flagrant human rights violations, adds the 42-year-old who authored a report, ‘Post-War Justice in Sri Lanka: Rule of Law, the Criminal Justice System and Commissions of Inquiry’, released this week by the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).
The Sri Lankan conflict involving the secessionist Tamil Tigers saw over 70,000 people killed. The United Nations estimates that 7,000 civilians died during the final months of the battle, which ended in May last year. More
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