Sri Lanka: Abrogation of CFA endangers respect for human rights - NPC
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Friday, 04 January 2008 |
The GoSL withdrawal from the Ceasefire, resulting in the removal of
the role played by the truce monitors, will reduce the flow of credible
information to the world outside and deprive the hapless civilians with
a credible authority to lodge complaints, said National Peace Council,
a Colombo based peace group, on Thursday.
Colombo's rejection of a UN
Human Rights field presence, the inability of the Commission of Inquiry
(COI) and the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons
(IIGEP) to make meaningful progress in discharging their mandates, and
the recent downgrading of the National Human Rights Commission, combine
to place respect for human rights in Sri Lanka in further jeopardy.
The SLMM, despite its inability to prevent violations, was able to be
physically present in the conflict zones and report violations to the
parties and the International Community, the NPC said.
Full text of the press statement issued by the NPC on Thursday follows:
Abrogation of Ceasefire Agreement Will Escalate Spiral of Violence
The
government has announced that it will abrogate the
Norwegian-facilitated Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed with the LTTE in
2002 on account of the ground reality where conditions of continuing
war and terror prevail. For the past two years the government and LTTE
have been engaging in a high level of hostilities tantamount to war,
including the overrunning of forward defense lines, capture of
territory, artillery, sea and air bombing, and large scale displacement
of people and violations of human rights.
The government's
decision follows repeated demands by the JVP and other nationalist
parties for the abrogation of the CFA. Government members have said
that the peace process and political talks will continue with non-LTTE
Tamil parties. While there is a need to include non-LTTE Tamil parties
in political talks, it cannot be done at the cost of eliminating the
LTTE from the dialogue. The danger inherent in the government's
position, especially in the event of a total rejection of the past
peace process with the LTTE, is that it is paving the way for a fight
to the finish where the costs can be terribly high, success is not
guaranteed, and no fall back position will be available.
It is
also likely that the role played by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission
(SLMM) established under the CFA will also come to an end with the
abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement. Although the international
monitors of the SLMM were unable to prevent acts of war and human
rights violations from taking place, they were able to be physically
present in the conflict zones and record incidents and report them to
the conflicting parties and the international community. The
Governmentís rejection of a UN Human Rights field presence, the
inability of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) and the International
Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) to make meaningful
progress in discharging their mandates, and the recent downgrading of
the National Human Rights Commission, combine to place respect for
human rights in Sri Lanka in further jeopardy.
The National
Peace Council regrets that the abrogation of the CFA in the present
circumstances will deprive the hapless civilians within the conflict
zones with a credible authority to lodge complaints. This will also
reduce the flow of credible information to the world outside. This
lacuna will constrain the work of human rights and peace groups who
have been pressing the conflicting parties to address the issues of
impunity and end the violations of human rights.
The National
Peace Council is dismayed and deeply concerned at the situation in the
country at the beginning of the New Year which has included the
assassination of an opposition politician belonging to the largest
opposition party who spoke of the agony of the Tamil people, the
bombing of an army bus in the heart of Colombo that killed civilians
and now by the abrogation of the CFA and the negation of the
institutions it set up. We can only pray and hope that this period of
war and terror will soon come to an end, and rationality and concern
for human rights takes the conflicting parties back to the negotiating
table and to end all armed hostilities, political assassinations and
other criminal acts.
TamilNet
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