The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has handed over to the Sri Lankan government, its report on war crimes and other infringements of international humanitarian law in Sri Lanka between 2001 and 2009, The New Indian Express said.

While some sources said that the report was handed over on September 11, others said that it would have been shared three to six days earlier to enable the Lankan government to prepare its defense before the commencement of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in Geneva on September 14.

The Express said that the report will be made public on Sunday ahead of the session, citing 'sources'. The published report is expected to have taken into account the Lankan government’s response to the “draft” submitted to it earlier.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights will make a general statement on the agenda of the September session in which he will touch on the report on Lanka. The countries listed on the agenda, including Lanka, will then make their presentations.

The head of the Lankan delegation, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, will highlight the positive steps taken by the Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe government since it took over from the hawkish regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa following the January 8 Presidential election.

Samaraweera is expected to highlight the de-militarization of the war zone in North Lanka; the return of more than 1000 hectares of lands seized by the armed forces; the setting up of a high level committee on reconciliation under the chairpersonship of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga; the holding of free and elections in the conflict zone; accommodation of Tamils in the national parliamentary structure; and the fact that “reconciliation” is now the direct responsibility of the President himself. Above all, the government is in the process of setting up a credible domestic investigative mechanism, the contours of which the US has apparently approved.

US-SL Collaborative Resolution

Between September 14 and September 30, the US and Lanka will be working on a “collaborative resolution” to be presented to the UNHRC on September 30, The New Indian Express pointed out further.

In this resolution, the Lankan government is expected to agree to conduct a credible domestic investigation into charges of war crimes and other infringements of international humanitarian law, and accept UN monitoring of the process. The details will be thrashed out during negotiations to be held between now and September 30.

After drafting the collaborative resolution, the US would announce its intention to move a resolution which could be adopted either by consensus or by voting. Since it is a collaborative resolution, the US-dominated council is expected to carry it by a consensus voice vote.

The UN’s report was completed in February this year, ahead of the March session of the UNHRC. But it was not presented at the March session because the US (which was spearheading the attack on Lanka) agreed to give the new Lankan government time until September to take meaningful steps towards ethnic reconciliation.

The report, presently given to the Lankan government, is believed to have taken into account the encouraging changes which had taken place in Lanka since January. It is also said that the report has refrained from naming individuals but had only mentioned institutions and command structures in apportioning blame for violations of humanitarian law.

(With inputs from The New Indian Express)