Trump’s grace grants reprieve for Lanka
remains convinced that international participation in the accountability mechanisms would be a necessary guarantee for the independence and impartiality of the process in the eyes of victims, as Sri Lanka’s judicial institutions currently lack the credibility needed to gain their trust.”
Sirisena’s bold reaction to Zeid’s demand seemed he was reneging on the promises made in the October resolution which the country had co-sponsored together with the United States and Lanka was in danger of slipping back into the bad books of the UN again, even as it had done when the former President had reneged on his.
Shortly after 10pm, Lankan time this Wednesday, the debate on Sri Lanka began at the 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Earlier in the day, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid al-Hussein, had told the 34th regular session of the Human Rights Council that they continue to underscore the concept of hybrid court to Sri Lanka to utilise an accountability mechanism. In that theatre of human rights, the scene was set for battle between the Lankan President’s adamant refusal to entertain any foreign judges and UN Zeid’s insistence upon their presence on the bench of a hybrid court. And since then, for the last six months and more, the vexed issue has been a bone of contention.
The British Government had also issued a statement and had praised the Lankan Government, “for taking the necessary steps to improve the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, in particular the restoration of important democratic checks and balances, improvements in respect for freedoms of expression and movement, the return of some military-held land, the passing of legislation to establish an Office for Missing Persons, the ratification of the Convention on Enforced Disappearances and the initiation of a process of constitutional reform. We commend these measures.”
But the British statement, after the bonhomie pat on the back, also warned the Lankan Government that much remained to be done and had urged the Government of Sri Lanka to provide the determined leadership required to deliver fully on the commitments it made when co-sponsoring resolution 30/01 and to develop a compre-