TURC; ‘don’t bring these to us and try to hoodwink Tamils and international community’.
Relatives of the forcibly disappeared categorically rejected Sri Lanka’s latest while President Ranil Wickremesinghe was visiting the north.
The bill on Truth, Unity and Reconciliation Commission in Sri Lanka (TURC) was issued on 1 Jan 2024 by the ministry of foreign affairs.
“Make use of this commission in the south for the Sinhalese,” said Manuel Udayachandra, President of the Mannar Association of the Relatives of the Enforced Disappeared (ARED) speaking to journalists last weekend.
“Hereafter don’t bring these to us and try to hoodwink Tamils and the international community”.
ARED have been protesting for 2500 days - the longest ongoing protest in Sri Lanka - for the rights and justice for their relatives and loved ones who have surrendered to the security forces.
International human rights watchdogs, have substantially criticised the bill for its shortcomings and contradictions.
“The bill is designed to appease the International Community, so that Sri Lanka itself can avoid any further international scrutiny and get rid of the OHCHR’s independent investigation process,” said Yasmin Sooka of International Truth and Justice Project Sri Lanka (ITJP).
The government says that TURC set to ‘investigate, inquire, and make recommendations in respect of complaints or allegations or reports relating to damage or harm caused to persons or property, loss of life or alleged violation of human rights anywhere in Sri Lanka’.
Its mandate is to do with the violation of human rights that were caused in the conflict ‘which took place in the Northern and Eastern Provinces during the period 1983 to 2009, or its aftermath’.
https://youtu.be/b_NhJMagX2w?si=QV6nfiDmn0CSwJfQ
Over 200 relatives have died in the course of their 2500 day protest demanding accountability for their loved ones. The United Nations states that there are ‘credible allegations of war crimes’ in the international assessment of Sri Lankan armed forces’ bloody conclusion to the war, which had claimed at least 70,000 civilian deaths.
