Sri Lanka may allow global actors in war crimes issue

hile Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has always maintained that foreign participation was not necessary for an impartial inquiry, his foreign minister appeared to suggest a climb-down in earlier policy. Addressing a think-tank in Washington, Lankan foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera said, “I think it is only fair that the victims of the war would want some form of guarantee that the new courts will deliver justice and accountability in a fair manner, and for that we are willing to consider the participation of international actors”. Samaraweera’s comments come after the United Nations said earlier this month that it would not force Sri Lanka to accept a role for international judges, but any process must be impartial and independent. The United Nations says the Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels were both likely to have committed war crimes during the war, which ended with a military victory in 2009. 

A UN resolution calls for all alleged war crimes to be investigated and tried in special courts by international judges. “They could be judges, they could be forensic experts, investigators, prosecutors, all these options are being looked at,” Samaraweera said. Many Sri Lankans oppose foreign involvement, and supporters of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa believe the UN resolution aims to punish the military unfairly. According to an earlier U.N. report, around 40,000 ethnic minority Tamils were killed in a final offensive ordered by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2009. Samaraweera said the “contours and the architecture” of the court would be worked on in the next five or six months, after consulting with parties including the Tamil National Alliance.