As the new President of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Sri Lanka must explain why de-miners have repeatedly found cluster remnants in the 2009 war zone, given the ongoing denial, a former member of a UN panel on Sri Lanka said.<\/p>\n
All the evidence points to government forces using cluster munitions in 2009 against densely populated areas that they unilaterally declared safe for hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians, the Executive Director of the International Truth and Justice Project, Yasmin Sooka, who first investigated the allegations in 2011 for the UN Secretary General\u2019s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka, said.<\/p>\n
She says the allegations that Sri Lankan forces used the banned weapons during the war have been so persistent that in 2016 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights himself called for an independent and impartial investigation to be carried out, which has yet to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cFudging your own past use is simply not an option as President of the body championing the campaign to eliminate this banned weapon,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTamils who worked for the United Nations and de-mining groups tell us on several occasions they personally witnessed cluster munitions falling and examined the casings immediately afterwards. Doctors in the war zone operated to remove a cluster munition embeded in a woman\u2019s leg. After the war, deminers described finding cluster remains in several locations, only to have the army cordone off the area and keep the findings secret from the local community,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Under the Convention, Sri Lanka is required to show transparency and report annually in a public document on use, stockpiling, clearance and destruction. These obligations include issuing an immediate and effective warning to civilians living in cluster munition contaminated areas, instead the Sri Lankan Army has to date tried to hide discoveries of cluster munitions and has not informed or consulted local communities as required by the Convention.<\/p>\n
Indeed on becoming President of the Convention on Cluster Munitions this month, Sri Lanka\u2019s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador A.L.A Azeez, again flatly denied the country had ever used cluster munitions without explaining how the remnants keep being discovered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis continual denial is an ever increasing affront to the victims who witnessed the death and injury of loved ones \u2013 or were themselves injured by cluster munitions,\u201d said Ms. Sooka. \u201cThe Government of Sri Lanka has never explained how cluster munitions were dropped from the air onto civilians if it wasn\u2019t from their jets\u201d.<\/p>\n
Under the Convention on Cluster Munitions Sri Lanka has an obligation to persuade other states to join, which is difficult to do if the President lacks transparency over both its own alleged past use and its clearance operations post-war.<\/p>\n
The Convention also requires Sri Lanka to assist victim communities and not to discriminate against or among victims (Article 5e). At the same time, identifying themselves in the current climate could put Tamil victims at risk from the security forces. Those who are former combatants and not yet detained would fear coming forward because they would risk detention in the government\u2019s \u201crehabilitation programme\u201d, which was recently declared \u201cwrongful detention\u201d by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.<\/p>\n
Courtesy: Colombo Gazette<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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