Sri Lanka's government must "confront and defeat the demons of the past" and accelerate the return of the Tamil lands to their rightful owners, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said here today.
"Sri Lanka must confront and defeat the demons of its past. It must create institutions that work, and ensure accountability," he told reporters at the end of his four-day visit during which he also travelled to war-torn Northern Province.
In Northern Province, Hussein met Tamil leaders and promised them to raise with Sri Lankan leadership the issue of over 4,000 civilians reported missing during the civil war.
According to UN figures, up to 100,000 people were killed in the civil war. Hundreds of people are still missing.
Hussein, on his first visit to Sri Lanka after succeeding Navi Pillay as UN rights chief to review measures taken by the government to investigate alleged war abuses during the war, said, "Sri Lanka needs a through, frank and honest discussion of the findings of the UN report."
In the hard-hitting report submitted by him at the UNHRC last September, Hussein had criticised Sri Lanka's failure to deliver justice to the victims of the 26-year conflict.
He has prescribed an international "hybrid court" with foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators.
Asked about the progress so far on this, the UN rights chief said the Lankan government has set in motion a consultative process and he was confident that justice would be delivered to the victims of the conflict.
He commended President Maithripala Sirisena's government for showing the will to make great changes.
Hussein said the military needs to accelerate the return of the Tamil lands to their rightful owners and urged the armed forces to face up to the "stain on their reputation" by addressing allegations of war crimes during the conflict.
The government must also take action to find a formula to charge or release the remaining detainees.
He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's recent statement that nearly all disappeared persons are dead had created distress among the victims.
Hussein said this statement must be followed by rapid action to identify precisely who is still alive and who has died or killed during the conflict.
He said the Lankan government has expressed its commitment to implement the UN Human Rights Council resolution mandating an investigation into the alleged rights abuses during the ethnic conflict that ended in 2009.
"I have heard fears that the government may be wavering on its human rights commitments. I was therefore reassured today to hear both the President and the Prime Minister express their firm conviction in this regard," he said.
He reiterated his position that Sri Lanka's politicised judiciary was unreliable.
It was for this reason that Hussein in his report had suggested international participation in the accountability mechanism set up to deal with international crimes and human rights violations committed by both military and the LTTE.
He said the process needed to be a Sri Lankan process.
