The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) called on the Sri Lankan government to respond to the “clear demand for justice” laid out in the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF) and fully implement its recommendations.

“The CTF report highlights a widespread lack of trust among Sri Lankans across the country, regardless of region, ethnicity, religion or language, in the ability of the criminal justice system in its current form to address serious human rights abuses stemming from the conflict,” said Nikhil Narayan, the ICJ’s South Asia senior legal adviser.

“If the Sri Lankan government wants to restore public confidence in the system, it must seriously consider victims’ voices and implement the CTF recommendations on truth, justice and reparation consistent with the commitments it voluntary undertook at the Human Rights Council.”

Part of the CTF’s recommendations was the inclusion of international judges in an accountability mechanism for human rights abuses, a move that Sri Lankan committed to at the UN Human Rights Council by co-sponsoring a resolution there in 2015.

“Unfortunately, since then, it has been disappointing in its lack of urgency in implementing much of those stated promises and in its apparent disregard for the CTF recommendations,” said Mr Narayan.

Sri Lanka’s prime minister and president were both not present at the CTF report handover event earlier this year, and government officials have since come out and rejected its proposals.

“As the situation of Sri Lanka comes before the UN Human Rights Council again this March, the Sri Lankan government is in a position to demonstrate both to the UN Member States but more importantly to its own people at home its seriousness in pursuing truth, justice, reparation and non-recurrence for conflict victims who have been waiting for justice for decades. It must seize this opportunity before it is one more of many missed opportunities,” Mr Narayan added.

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