‘Lanka must face demons of past’

Sri Lanka must “confront and defeat the demons of its past”, the UN human rights chief said Tuesday at the end of a visit to assess the island’s progress in investigating war crimes.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said Sri Lanka had come a long way since this time last year, when former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was ousted after a decade in power.

But he said opinions differed about the extent of the progress, with the police in some areas still resorting to “violence and excessive force” and new cases of torture continuing to emerge.

Mr Zeid urged the country’s armed forces to face up to the “stain on their reputation” by addressing war crimes allegedly committed during the 37-year ethnic conflict that ended in 2009.

“Sri Lanka must confront and defeat the demons of its past. It must create institutions that work, and ensure accountability,” said Mr Zeid.

“It must seize the great opportunity it currently has to provide all its people with truth, justice, security and prosperity.”

His warning came after having heard fears that the government “may be wavering on its human rights commitments” despite its promise to ensure ethnic reconciliation and accountability.

Mr Zeid travelled to the former war zones of Jaffna and Trincomalee to gauge the island’s progress in investigating war-time atrocities in line with a Human Rights Council resolution adopted late last year. He is due to deliver two assessments to the Council in June and March 2017.

A UN report in September described horrific wartime atrocities committed by both the government-backed military and Tamil Tiger rebels during the conflict which claimed at least 100,000 lives. At that time Mr Zeid called for courts involving international judges to investigate the atrocities to help ensure accountability. On Tuesday the rights chief said he had made that recommendation because of decades of judicial failures, but that the process must be decided by Sri Lankans.