Rights Groups concerned over Reconciliation Comm.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Nine international human rights organizations, have expressed concern about the Sri Lankan government’s proposed National Unity and Reconciliation Commission.

The nine international rights organizations are Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Franciscans International, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), International Working Group.

They added that the latest initiative risks repeating the mistakes of the past, exposing victims to renewed security threats and re-traumatization without any realistic chance of a different outcome.

The nine rights groups said that there have not been any genuine confidence-building measures, or steps to ensure a safe and conducive environment for such a commission to function effectively. 

They said that existing domestic transitional justice mechanisms such as the Office of Missing Persons are unable to function effectively, and there are ongoing attempts to block prosecutions of crimes under international law.

The nine rights groups said that the Sri Lankan government should approach transitional justice as a holistic process that includes truth- seeking, investigation and prosecution of international crimes, and effective remedies such as reparations, redress and guarantees of non-recurrence.