by ‘Tamil Guardian,’ London, March 15, 2015
The United Nations Human Rights Council will have to act on the investigation into Sri Lanka’s atrocities (OISL), moving to establish an international judicial mechanism in order to ensure justice is served to all communities, said the director of the documentary, No Fire Zone, Callum Macrae.
In a press release, issued after the new Sri Lankan president rejected cooperation with the OISL and pledged to set up a domestic investigative process, Callum Macrae said: “He says this domestic inquiry will be conducted ‘efficiently, in a balanced, legal and impartial manner’, but when asked about the allegations in No Fire Zone he said he ‘doesn’t believe’ them.”
“President Sirisena, like President Rajapaksa before him, has refused to let the OISL investigators in to Sri Lanka. So we are back to square one and when the OISL report is presented in September the UN Human Rights Council will have to act on that report and move to set up some form of international judicial mechanism which can ensure that justice is done for all the communities of Sri Lanka.”
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“These comments by President Sirisena are both surprising and disappointing and represent a step backwards in the search for justice. I’m afraid his proposal for a domestic inquiry is profoundly undermined by his own subsequent comments.”
Mr Macrae questioned further,
“How does he expect witnesses and survivors of these awful crimes to come forward and testify at a domestic investigation set up by someone who has effectively said in advance that he “doesn’t believe” the events they will describe. How can such a process be described as ‘impartial.’”
Commenting on President Sirisena’s refusal to accept a copy of the No Fire Zone documentary in Sinhalese, Mr Macrae added,
“He also says he has not yet seen the film, yet when I offered him a copy outside Number 10 yesterday he declined to take it. I’m afraid there seems to be a huge gulf between what he says and what he does in practice. That too will seem familiar to those who knew the last government of Sri Lanka well.”