“This continuing campaign of distortion and disinformation about the
investigation, as well as the insidious attempts to prevent possible
bona fide witnesses from submitting information to the investigating
team, is an affront to the United Nations Human Rights Council which
mandated* the investigation,” High Commissioner Zeid said.
“The Government of Sri Lanka has refused point blank to cooperate
with the investigation despite being explicitly requested by the Human
Rights Council to do so,” Zeid said. “Such a refusal does not, however,
undermine the integrity of an investigation set up by the Council –
instead it raises concerns about the integrity of the government in
question. Why would governments with nothing to hide go to such
extraordinary lengths to sabotage an impartial international
investigation?” he added.
“The Government’s attempts to deter and intimidate individuals from
submitting evidence to a UN investigation team is unacceptable conduct
for any Member State of the United Nations which has committed to uphold
the UN Charter,” the High Commissioner said. “Since the end of the
conflict in 2009, Sri Lanka has continued to obstruct any independent
investigation despite the persistent, compelling and widespread
allegations that possible serious international crimes were committed by
both sides during the conflict in Sri Lanka.”
The High Commissioner noted that Sri Lankan civil society
organizations and human rights defenders have continued to be subjected
to surveillance, harassment and other forms of intimidation. “A wall of
fear has been created that has undoubtedly served to deter people from
submitting evidence,” Zeid said.
The High Commissioner rejected this week’s “false and unsubstantiated
accusations by the Sri Lankan Government that the conduct of the
investigation has been ‘unprofessional’ and that its approach is
‘selective and biased.’”
He also rejected as “absurd” the accusation that the investigation
was somehow compromised by the arrest of a man who was allegedly in
possession of blank signed forms that would then be fraudulently filled
in and submitted to the investigation.
“We don’t accept anything at face value. UN human rights
investigators are trained to spot fraudulent submissions. The process of
analysis and corroboration of information and evidence is well defined,
refined and codified on the basis of many years’ experience,” Zeid
said. “We have been directly involved with more than 40 Commissions of
Inquiry, Fact-Finding Missions and similar inquiries. It is a false
equation to suggest that because someone may have been trying to submit
false submissions, the inquiry is discredited. In addition, the
submissions form only a part of the investigation.”
The High Commissioner stressed that the UN had not formatted or
distributed any forms for people to fill in, nor had the investigation
team requested any individual or organization to go out and collect
information on its behalf. He also rejected the imputation that the
United Nations would ever provide monetary compensation in exchange for
information.
“The methodology of the investigation has been made public through
its terms of reference. It is based on standard methodology for such
investigations aimed at ensuring the integrity of the process through
the application of the principles of independence, impartiality,
objectivity and protection of witnesses,” Zeid said.
“On the issue of transparency, we will not be releasing information
on the interviews we are conducting, or where, or when they take place.
This is, again, standard procedure for protecting sources of information
especially where there is a clear risk that people providing
information may suffer reprisals,” the High Commissioner said.
He urged the Government to “focus on the substantive issues under
investigation instead of obscuring them by the constant questioning of
procedures which – while not unimportant – are not the heart of the
matter.” He encouraged the Government to begin engaging with the
investigation.
The investigation team confirmed that the call for submissions ended
on 30 October and that the submissions email address has ceased to
exist.
* The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution in March 2014
requesting the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights “to
undertake a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations
and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri
Lanka”. The Council requested the High Commissioner to present a
comprehensive report, resulting from that investigation, to its 28th
session in March 2015.
colombotelegraph
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