Britain urged to sanction three Sri Lankans for alleged war crimes
A leading Human Rights Organization focusing on Sri Lanka has demanded the British government impose targeted sanctions who are alleged to have committed serious human rights violations during the conflict in Sri Lanka.
London-based Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice (SLC) has impressed upon their government that even a decade and a half after the brutal civil war in Sri Lanka came to a bloody end, allegations of war crimes and atrocities remain unaddressed.
Stressing high-ranking officials implicated in the alleged abuses are continuing to enjoy impunity, SLCPJ says the British government should act now by imposing sanctions.
“The UK has a unique opportunity to advance global justice by enacting targeted sanctions against individuals responsible for these crimes”.
Two former wartime Generals of the Sri Lankan Army-General Shavendra Siva presently Chief of Defence Staff and General Kamal Gunaratna former Defence secretary, both of whom are accused of serious human rights violations and have come under the scanner of war crimes allegations, along with paramilitary leader and former chief minister of the Eastern Province Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan aka Pillayan are now being pushed for sanctions by the UK.
The call for sanctioning these three individuals has come in the month of November, known globally by human rights organizations and defenders as ‘Magnitsky Month’.
‘Magnitsky Month’ commemorates the life and legacy of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who was murdered in November 2009 after uncovering high-level government corruption. Following his death, the Global Magnitsky Act was enacted in 2016 to allow the U.S. to impose sanctions on perpetrators of corruption or human rights abuses- no matter where they are in the world.
Gen. Shavendra Silva was heading the Sri Lankan Army’s 58th Division and oversaw alleged serious violations. SLC has outlined what they called gross human rights abuses and war crimes.
“Silva has been Army Commander since August 2019. As the leader of the 58th Division, Silva oversaw operations linked to mass atrocity crimes, including attacks on civilians, hospitals, and UN-designated No Fire Zones. His division is accused of using banned weapons and committing torture, rape and enforced disappearances”.
He is also accused of being behind the enforced disappearance of numerous Tamils who were handed over or surrendered to the Sri Lankan Army during and after the final stages of the war.
Hundreds of surrendering Tamils allegedly vanished in Silva’s custody, including prominent Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leaders who were last seen surrendering but later found executed.
Although his diplomatic immunity served as a cover, he was sanctioned by the US in 2020.
Despite grave allegations, General Silva was never made to face trial by the Sri Lankan governments led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithiripala Sirisena, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The present President AKD has also made his intentions clear about accountability and international investigations into wartime atrocities and crimes. During his campaign, he had openly stated the NPP “will not seek to punish anyone accused of rights violations and war crimes”.
In its appeal to the British government, SLC accuses General Kamal Gunaratne of various crimes allegedly perpetrated by him when he was heading the 53rd Division of the Sri Lankan Army when a Brigadier.
“As the former commander of the 53rd Division, Gunaratne is also implicated in war crimes, including indiscriminate attacks on civilian zones and extrajudicial killings, notably of LTTE news reader Isaipriya. Post-war, Gunaratne oversaw Joseph Camp, where torture and sexual violence were widespread. He also managed Manik Farm, an internment camp where over 200,000 Tamil civilians suffered abusive conditions. Despite these allegations, he remains celebrated domestically and there have been no independent investigations into his conduct”.
Amidst mounting allegations of serious human rights violations, he was offered a lucrative diplomatic posting and elevated to the coveted post of Defence Secretary of the island nation.
Since the end of the war Gunaratne has been repeatedly rewarded by promotions to influential positions, such as Deputy Ambassador in Brazil (2012-2014), and since 2019 has been Defence Secretary in Sri Lanka until he was terminated by the AKD regime.
Like the two Generals now under international sanction scanner, the third person demanded to be sanctioned by the SLCPJ is a former paramilitary and politician Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan aka Pillayan. He also heads the Tamil Makkal Viduthalaip Pulikal (TMVP) a political party based in the East and until recently was a minister in successive regimes since Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In their demand for sanctioning Pillayan SLC has put forward allegations he is accused of and justifying such a demand.
“Pillyan is implicated in numerous human rights abuses, including abductions, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances targeting both civilians and political opponents. TMVP forces under his influence were also notorious for forcibly recruiting child soldiers. Pillyan is also connected to the 2005 murder of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham. Arrested for this crime in 2015, he was released in 2019 under contested circumstances”.
Despite these allegations, Pillyan has continued to hold influential positions within the government, and there has been limited accountability for his actions. Calls for an independent investigation into his role in human rights abuses have repeatedly been obstructed their note to the British government adds further.
Countries including Canada, the EU, and parts of Europe have sanctioned individuals accused of gross human rights violations, crimes against humanity, war crimes, etc.,
Sanctions under the Magnitsky style legislation often include travel bans, financial and asset freezes, and other restrictions on international dealings, effectively cutting perpetrators off from global financial networks.
Unlike broad economic sanctions, which can negatively impact entire populations, Magnitsky-style sanctions target only those directly responsible for abuses. This focused approach minimizes harm to innocent citizens of the perpetrator’s country while isolating and limiting the freedom of the guilty.
For Sri Lanka, where human rights violations from the civil war era remain unaddressed, these sorts of sanctions offer a path toward justice, SLCPJ says.
Under the Global Magnitsky Act, the US has already sanctioned some alleged perpetrators from Sri Lanka including General Shavendra Silva.
Now, the SLCPJ demands that other countries, particularly the UK, follow suit.
“With a strong commitment to human rights, the UK has an opportunity to bolster the global movement for accountability and support justice for Sri Lankan victims”.
Around the world, Magnitsky-style sanctions have achieved notable successes by holding perpetrators accountable.
In 2011 a UN panel of experts published a report accusing both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE of committing war crimes and called for investigations into these alleged violations.
Four years later in 2015, the UN Human Rights Council passed resolution 30/1 urging the Sri Lankan government to address past abuses set up a truth and reconciliation commission, and prosecute those responsible for war crimes.
The UN in 2017 reported Sri Lanka has made “little progress in implementing resolution 30/1”.
In 2019 General Shavendra Silva was sanctioned by the US under the Global Magnitsky Act and in 2021 the UN Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights established the “Sri Lanka Accountability Project (SLAP)” under UNHRC resolution 46/1.
This project mandates to collect, preserve, and analyse evidence of gross human rights violations in Sri Lanka, particularly those committed during the civil war and later incidents like the deadly 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. The SLAP has now been extended till 2025.
Sri Lankan President AKD commenting on the question of accountability has gone on record saying, “it should not be in a way to take revenge, not in a way to accuse someone, but only to find the truth” and continued to claim, “even the victims do not expect anyone to be punished” even as the Tamils in the North and East has been demanding an international accountability mechanism and also wants Sri Lanka to be taken to the International Criminal Court.
The current National Peoples Power (NPP) government has categorically rejected any co-operation with the UN SLAP initiative.
