jkpo; rptpy; r%f mikak;

Tamil Civil Society Forum

Vavuniya,
12 February 2015

His Excellency Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland

Your Excellency,
OISL Inquiry

We write on behalf of the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF), a network of more than
100 civil society activists from the North - East of Sri Lanka, in relation to the
upcoming UN Human Rights Council session in March 2015 at which the report of
your office's inquiry on Sri Lanka (OISL) is due. TCSF has been an active campaigner
for peace with truth and justice in Sri Lanka. As the OISL team is aware we have
been engaged with the inquiry and hence take a keen interest as to its outcome.

We write to emphasise that the international investigation process set in motion
through the UNHRC resolutions of 2012, 2013 and 2014 with the resolve to usher in
accountability in Sri Lanka, has to continue despite the change in Government.

The Sri Lankan Government that took office under President Maithripala Sirisena on
09 January 2015 has spoken of its intentions to create a domestic mechanism to
inquire into crimes committed during Sri Lankas civil war. It is quite clear from the
reasons that are being given for this desire to set up a domestic mechanism that
such announcements are driven by instrumental reasons in so far as they seek to
postpone the release of the OISL inquiry report in March and/or seek a
postponement of any action that the report may recommend. Such a postponement
this Government hopes, will help permanently dislodge the call for international
investigations. In our opinion, two key reasons explain why domestic mechanisms in
Sri Lanka would not lead to robust accountability even under the new Government:

A) Key figures in the new Government including President Sirisena were an
integral part of the former government under Mahinda Rajapaksa and have
maintained that the Sri Lankan armed forces fought 'a clean war'. Moreover
certain key members of President Srisena's government were actively
involved in the conduct of the war. Even those in the present Government

The Tamil Civil Society Forum is a network of more then 100 Tamil Civil Society Activists from
the North-East of Sri Lanka convened by Bishop Dr Rayappu Joseph. For more info see:
http://goo.gl/p1Spg5 and http://goo.gl/Gn1RLR

who had no direct connection with the conduct of the war or with the past
administration narrowly conceive failure of the former Governments failure
on the question of accountability as a mismanagement of foreign policy.
Hence even under this new Government there is no real political will for
accountability.

B) Given the pride of place that Sinhala Buddhist nationalist politics gives to the
Sri Lankan armed forces as the protector of the Sinhala Buddhist political
order and given that all parties in the South of Sri Lanka have avowedly
expressed their commitment to Sinhala Buddhist ideological politics it is very
unlikely that a credible domestic mechanism would ever be set up in Sri
Lanka that inquires into the violations committed by Sri Lankan armed
forces.

For these reasons we are pessimistic about any new proposals for a domestic
mechanism in Sri Lanka. We wish to respectfully urge you not to take any promise
for domestic investigations seriously, particularly in the absence of any concrete
proposals that demonstrate such intentions. We also would kindly refer you to the
resolution passed by the Northern Provincial Council on the 10th of February 2015
also expressing disbelief in the credibility of domestic mechanisms delivering on
accountability, truth and justice.

We believe that giving more time and space to the Sri Lankan Government will not
only lead to a further delaying of justice but to its complete abandonment. We recall
that the setting up of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and
its report served as an eye washer on accountability, belittled the serious crimes
that were committed during the last stages of the war and delayed international
action on accountability. Tamil people are not in a position to give time and space
for another LLRC.

We respectfully insist that your office proceed with the release of the findings of the
OISL inquiry and in the event of finding of serious crimes being committed
recommend to the relevant UN agencies and member states of the UN to take all
steps necessary for international criminal prosecutions to be initiated.

Thank you



Kumaravadivel Guruparan



Elil Rajendram
Co-Spokesperson, TCSF




Co-Spokesperson, TCSF

Email: [email protected]

The Tamil Civil Society Forum is a network of more then 100 Tamil Civil Society Activists from
the North-East of Sri Lanka convened by Bishop Dr Rayappu Joseph. For more info see:
http://goo.gl/p1Spg5 and http://goo.gl/Gn1RLR