COLOMBO: UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Thursday expressed regret over Sri Lanka's decision to withdraw from a 2015 resolution calling for an investigation into the alleged human rights violations during the country's civil war against the Tamil separatists, saying it risks setting back efforts to advance reconciliation.
Sri Lanka co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council's 2015 resolution along with 11 other countries, including the US and Britain, calling for an investigation into alleged human rights violations during the island nation's civil war, which ended in 2009 with the killing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran by the Lankan Army.
"I regret that the new Government has announced a very different approach to the commitments previously made in the resolution which risks setting back efforts to advance reconciliation, accountability and human rights," Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at the 43rd UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva.
Responding to Sri Lanka's pledge to appoint yet another Commission to probe human rights accountability, Bachelet expressed doubts about its ability to deliver justice to the victims.
Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on Wednesday pledged to appoint another Commission while notifying the UN rights body about Sri Lanka's decision of withdrawal.
Gunawardena blamed the previous Lankan government of agreeing to a resolution which he alleged ran counter to the country's sovereignty.
Bachelet, however, asserted that domestic processes have consistently failed to deliver accountability in the past and she was not convinced the appointment of yet another Commission of Inquiry would deliver justice.
"Domestic processes have consistently failed to deliver accountability in the past and I am not convinced the appointment of yet another Commission of Inquiry will advance this agenda.
As a result, victims remain denied justice and Sri Lankans from all communities have no guarantee that past patterns of human rights violations will not recur," she said.
"The State must work for all its people and the needs of all communities, particularly the minorities, must be acknowledged and addressed.
I urge the Government to preserve and build upon the gains which have been made over the last few years.
"In particular, I encourage the Government to ensure the Office on Missing Persons and the Office of Reparations are provided with political and resource support," the former Chilean president said.
Bachelet said she was troubled by the recent trend towards moving civilian functions under the Ministry of Defence or retired military officers, and renewed reports of surveillance and harassment of human rights defenders, journalists and victims.
"The increasing levels of hate speech, and security and policy measures appear to be discriminately and disproportionately directed against minorities, both Tamil and Muslim.
"The fundamental problem remains that Sri Lanka has still not addressed impunity for past violations, nor undertaken the security sector reforms needed to address their drivers and enablers.
Systemic barriers that continue to exist within the criminal justice system remain an impediment to real justice," she said.
Sri Lanka's decision to withdraw from co-sponsoring the resolution came after the US imposed travel restrictions on Army chief Lt Gen Shavendra Silva and his immediate family members over alleged gross violations of human rights during the final phase of the island nation's Civil War in 2009.
Silva, 55, was appointed as the Sri Lankan Army Commander last year and previously headed the Army's 58th Division in the final battle against the LTTE rebels of the civil war in 2009.
His brigade was accused of attacking civilians, hospitals and stopping humanitarian supplies to trapped Tamil civilians.
According to a United Nations report, some 45,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the last months of the war alone.