very very disappointing UN Geneva session on #srilanka in terms of accountability for war crimes &crimes against humanity - esp. systems crimes against inter alia #tamils .@UNHumanRights@UN_HRC
Experts sent private messages saying many of the speeches were like a bad joke.
@UNHumanRights@UN_HRC Worth .@UNHumanRights recalling what @raad_zeid said in 2016 as OHCHR chief re the inability of the #srilanka judicial system to deal with international crimes & how the State’s security sector &justice system have been distorted &corrupted by decades of impunity.
@UNHumanRights@UN_HRC@raad_zeid UN OHCHR recommended 'the establishment of an ad hoc hybrid special court, integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers &investigators, mandated to try notably war crimes & crimes against humanity' - now there's SILENCE on the hybrid court.
The various tj mechanisms are complementary - u can’t cherry pick them.
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US senators issue stmt to say the international community must continue to push for justice, transparency, and accountability for human rights violations committed during the civil war to help the people of #SriLanka move forward. 🙏 leahy.senate.gov/press/as-un-ge…
The full senate resolution calls for full funding for the #SriLankan accountability project
It’s also pretty forthright about @GotabayaR government in #lka
They complain about vague legal definitions - esp. regarding INTENT to cause communal disharmony & say language needs amending. Also say PTA might allow 4 unlawful detention, confessions thru #torture + concerned about who can arrest and if law can be retrospectively applied.
Also that official recognised places of detention need to be used with proper registers & families informed.
As we come up to UN #victimsoftorture day (26 June) let's recall the #srilanka security forces' 'White Vans' (synonymous with abduction & #torture - & sometimes disappearance) date back to the JVP era. They don't really stop & start, depending on the government in power - alas.
In 1989 an .@amnesty report said "in a typical case, plainclothes armed men arrived at the victims' home at night, travelling in Pajero keeps or Hiace vans...usually they gave no explanation for taking away the victim..."
@amnesty President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in 2019: "May be our intelligence agencies used Hi Ace vans which are white. I did not introduce it. It happened under all the previous Governments".
New UK immigration report says #srilanka continues to operate an extensive intelligence gathering operation in the UK, monitoring protests, surveilling and unencrypted social media. #lka
Also for all those who said branding wasn't a thing & alleged the poor old victims actually paid someone to burn them - the UK Home Office now says "injuries which are self-inflicted by proxy are likely to be extremely rare".
And according to Robert Knox the burning with hot irons goes back to 1641:
Landmark UK immigration case slams lead agency in Reparation process in #srilanka@IOMSriLanka 4 lack of impartiality. IOM reportedly said allegations of discrimination against #tamils were just 'put forward to serve their own ends' Even Home Office called this "quite stark"!
@IOMSriLanka This is what the excellent ICJ 2010 Beyond Constraints report on 'rehabilitation' had to say regarding the risks of .@IOMSriLanka being involved in profiling inmates - noting thousands were arbitrarily detained in these military run camps.
@IOMSriLanka A/HRC/39/45/Add.2
Rehabilitation - The UN working group on arbitrary detention in 2018 called for apology and compensation. It never happened.