The Tamil Civil Society Forum said that any accountability mechanism for mass atrocities committed in Sri Lanka needs “substantive international involvement” that “should be given pride of place and control”.

Signed by 22 organisations, the statement said “for a hybrid mechanism to be truly hybrid in character it needs substantive international involvement not just by incorporating international judges, investigators and prosecutors but also in terms of it being in part led by the UN and by being internationally legally mandated”.

“The international component should be given pride of place and control over the domestic component in a hybrid mechanism for it to be deemed credible,” the statement added. “It is our understanding that this would be the minimum necessary requirement of a genuine accountability process in Sri Lanka. It is important to make sure that victims are not misled and frustrated again with a half-baked attempt at accountability.”

The International Crisis Group said the release of the OISL report was a “dramatic advance” and urged members of the UN Human Rights Council to “mandate significant international participation in all stages of the domestic accountability processes”.

The group further said members of the Council should mandate formal review of the implementation and effectiveness of all truth, reconciliation and accountability mechanisms over the next two years.

Writing in the Huffington Post, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils chairman James Berry called on the British government to lead the world in seeking proper accountability for Sri Lanka’s atrocities. Highlighting ongoing torture, militarisation and economic disempowerment of the Tamil areas in Sri Lanka, he called for the British government to work to end the disenfranchisement of the Tamil North-East of Sri Lanka.

See also:

Colombo has a stronghold on North-East of Sri Lanka: Interview with APPG-T Chair James Berry (04 Sep 2015)

See extracts from his piece here.

Critical moment in Geneva - but will Tamils See justice?

Sri Lanka's President Sirisena has already set his face against any international involvement insisting on a domestic tribunal. By contrast, many Tamil people want to see an international, independent justice mechanism of the kinds established in post-conflict Rwanda and Yugoslavia.

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said today the government did not want “outside bodies” to do a criminal investigation into the mass atrocities detailed in the UN report, which was released yesterday.

Speaking to press in Colombo, Mangala Samaraweera stressed the “burden” of a criminal investigation was on Sri Lanka and the country will have to initiate legal proceedings where sufficient evidence existed.

The minister said the government is yet to finalise whether international judges or prosecutors will be part of an accountability mechanism, as recommended by the UN’s human rights chief Zeid Hussain.

“The prosecutors, judges, these are the things we have to finalise. We have slight differences in opinions about how it should be done, but I think after the consultations with the people we could find a point of convergence,” he said.

He pointed out that there will be talks with the UN on the establishment of the mechanisms, but stressed the government will not be told what to do.

Former members of the LTTE, who went through the government’s controversial rehabilitation programme, are still harassed and threatened by military intelligence, the TNA’s Selvam Adaikkalanathan said.

The MP, who is also deputy chairman of committees in Sri Lanka’s parliament, said the former members, who now live with their families feel unsafe and are regularly interrogated by the security services.

Mr Adaikkalanathan said he wrote to Sri Lanka’s president, Maithripala Sirisena, urging an immediate halt to the investigations.

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera said the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid al-Hussain is expected to visit the country later this year.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera today said they are expecting UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to visit Sri Lanka before the end of the year.

Mr Samaraweera said in March this year that Mr Zeid would visit in June, but the OHCHR denied the visit at the time.

Sri Lanka’s state-owned Daily News in an editorial said the domestic inquiry will remove all “misgivings and suspicions” against the country’s military and warned that the entire nation will rise if there is a threat “to our war heroes”.

The editorial slammed the PHU’s MP Udaya Gammanpila, who called for an Act of Indemnity to give immunity to Sri Lanka’s soldiers, who are accused of committing mass atrocities.

The paper said Mr Gammanpila, who is an ally of Mahinda Rajapaksa, doesn’t need to worry about the safety of the armed forces as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena had already guaranteed not a single soldier would face a war crimes tribunal.

“Udaya Gammanpila need not have sleepless nights about the safety of our war heroes. President Maithripala Sirisena who was once Acting Defence Minister, during his election campaign gave the nation a guarantee on this score. Gammanpila has no monopoly on the well being and protection of the armed forces.,” the editorial, published on Thursday said.