International participation will be necessary to ensure "impartiality" of Sri Lanka's human rights accountability probe as the country's judicial institutions lack credibility, the UN's human rights chief has said, contradicting the government's stand.
In his oral update on Sri Lanka at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raaad Al Hussein called on Sri Lanka's government to take concrete steps to address impatience, anxiety and reservations towards the process.
"Key question remains the participation of international judges, prosecutors, investigators and lawyers in a judicial mechanism," Hussein said.
"The High Commissioner remains convinced that international participation in the accountability mechanisms would be a necessary guarantee for the independence and impartiality of the process in the eyes of victims, as Sri Lanka's judicial institutions currently lack the credibility needed to gain their trust," he said.
The chief's statement is in contrast to the Sri Lankan government's stance that no international participation would be required.
Hussein said the current constitutional reform process was an important opportunity for Sri Lanka to rectify structural weaknesses that hamper human rights accountability which in turn has created impunity.
"The government has also not moved fast enough with other tangible measures that would help to build confidence among victims and minority communities," he said.
Hussein criticised the government's reliance on the Prevention of Terrorism Act to make new arrests.
"These continuing concerns point to a deeper challenge for the government in asserting full civilian control over the military and intelligence establishment and dismantling the units and structures allegedly responsible for grave violations in the past," Hussein said.
The UN has estimated that 40,000 people died, many of them civilians, during Sri Lanka's civil war that lasted nearly three decades.
It was under Mahinda Rajapaksa's tenure that the Sri Lankan forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the separatist group that waged armed insurgency against the government.
