Satheesan Kumarasamy :
(From previous issue)
Finally, 18 months after the LLRC was formed, it handed over its final report to President Rajapaksa on November 20, 2011. The commission had held regular public hearings in Colombo and in the former conflict-affected areas of Vavuniya, Batticaloa, and Kilinochchi. This included field visits to meet people directly affected by the conflict. The commission received over 1,000 oral submissions and over 5,000 written submissions. The LLRC report had been tabled in Parliament and was made public in the second week of December 2011.
The LLRC comprised mainly former public servants headed by Mr. C.R. de Silva, PC, a former attorney general. The hearings took place behind closed doors without the presence of media or general public. Months have gone by; after the LLRC recommendations were tabled in Parliament, nothing has been done to implement the findings of the LLRC.
The U.S.-backed resolution in the Geneva UNHRC session in 2012 called for a speedier implementation of the LLRC, and to conduct an impartial inquiry into the rights abuses, but the Sri Lankan government has not taken any initiatives.
Dr. Alexander Boraine, one of the main architects of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the co-founder of the International Centre for Transitional Justice said, with regard to reconciliation: “At its best, reconciliation involves commitment and sacrifice; at its worst, it is an excuse for passivity, for siding with the powerful against the weak and dispossessed….”
CONCLUSION: In the post-conflict era, where war has ceased, the post-conflict reconciliation process has not taken place. A crucial part of the reconciliation process is the dilemma of addressing the past and its state-sponsored abuses while preparing for the future by building a democratic pluralist society based on the rule of law. Perpetrators of past crimes and their sympathizers often continue to occupy positions of power in government, including the judiciary, police and military, making prosecutions difficult, a problem often exacerbated by a lack of evidence.
In response to these unfavorable circumstances for providing justice to victims, a non-judicial approach was adopted in numerous countries undergoing transition. Truth commissions such as the one in South Africa were established to officially investigate and provide an accurate record of the broader pattern of abuses committed during repression and, in the case of Sri Lanka, the civil war. Sri Lanka is a case in point because the Sri Lankan government says it is doing reconciliation. At the same time, the reconciliation is taking place under military occupation. The basic necessity for meaningful reconciliation is to acknowledge, sacrifice, commit, and accept responsibility. These are necessary for any meaningful reconciliation; otherwise, all the time and energy in speaking about T & R is futile.
(Concluded)
