Lanka must confront and defeat demons of past: UN rights chief

Sri Lanka must "confront and defeat the demons of the past" and seize the great opportunity to accelerate the return of the Tamil lands to their rightful owners and provide justice, security and prosperity to its people, the UN human rights chief said today.
"Sri Lanka must confront and defeat the demons of its past. It must create institutions that work, and ensure accountability," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told media at the end of his four-day visit during which he also travelled to war-torn Northern Province.
In Northern Province, Hussein met Tamil leaders and promised them to raise with Sri Lankan leadership the issue of over 4,000 civilians reported missing during the civil war.

According to UN figures, up to 100,000 people were killed in the civil war. Hundreds of people are still missing.
Hussein, on his first visit to Sri Lanka after succeeding Navi Pillay as UN rights chief to review measures taken by the government to investigate alleged war abuses during the war, said, "Sri Lanka needs a through, frank and honest discussion of the findings of the UN report."
In the hard-hitting report submitted by him at the UNHRC last September, Hussein had criticised Sri Lanka's failure to deliver justice to the victims of the 26-year conflict.

He has prescribed an international "hybrid court" with foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators.

Asked about the progress so far on this, the UN rights chief said the Lankan government has set in motion a consultative process and he was confident that justice would be delivered to the victims of the conflict.
He commended President Maithripala Sirisena's government for showing the will to make great changes.
"It must seize the great opportunity it currently has to provide all its people with truth, justice, security and prosperity," the UN official said.
Hussein said the military needs to accelerate the return of the Tamil lands to their rightful owners and urged the armed forces to face up to the "stain on their reputation" by addressing allegations of war crimes during the conflict.

The government must also take action to find a formula to charge or release the remaining detainees.
He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's recent statement that nearly all disappeared persons are dead had created distress among the victims.
Hussein said this statement must be followed by rapid action to identify precisely who is still alive and who has died or killed during the conflict.
The UN official is due to deliver two assessments to the Council in June and March 2017.
He said the Lankan government has expressed its commitment to implement the UN Human Rights Council resolution mandating an investigation into the alleged rights abuses during the ethnic conflict that ended in 2009.

"I have heard fears that the government may be wavering on its human rights commitments. I was therefore reassured today to hear both the President and the Prime Minister express their firm conviction in this regard," he said.