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The Northern Provincial Council passed a resolution calling for the formation of an international tribunal to try those alleged to have carried out mass atrocities on the island.
In a resolution that was unanimously passed earlier today, the NPC noted Sri Lanka’s “long and blighted history of human rights violations” which they had characterised as amounting to genocide.
“In this context, we the members of the Northern Provincial Council believe that the trial of the alleged perpetrators should not take place through any mechanism instituted by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) as a State also incurs responsibility for the acts of its agents,” the resolution said.
Further stating that no domestic law prescribes these international crimes and whether Sri Lanka’s constitution would allow foreign judges to be appointed to exercise jurisdiction, the NPC said,
“Under these circumstances, the trial of the perpetrators of international crimes by a domestic mechanism, would be a travesty of justice as it would amount to the potentially guilty Government trying its own agents, thereby violating the prohibition in the maxim nemo iudex in sua causa.”
The resolution concluded by stating,
“For these reasons, the Council calls upon the International community to set up an international tribunal to try those alleged to have committed international crimes against the Tamil People in Sri Lanka. We urge the new leaders of the Sri Lankan government to be courageous enough to work with the International community to set up a credible international mechanism which will deliver justice and put this nation on a path of meaningful reconciliation.”