[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 86 (Thursday, May 19, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SRI LANKA--MAY 2022

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 19, 2022

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
commemorate the 13th anniversary of the end of the war in Sri Lanka in 
May of 2009. The Sri Lankan government won the war to keep the 
Sinhalese and Tamil communities within one country but has not yet won 
the peace. In 2015, the Sri Lankan government made commitments on 
transitional justice and accountability, a political settlement of the 
ethnic problem, security sector reform, the return of land, the release 
of Tamil political prisoners, actions to end human rights violations 
and other ambitious reforms. Unfortunately, not enough improvement has 
yet been seen by the Tamils, Christians and Muslims who feel 
marginalized and discriminated against. Instead, in February 2020, the 
Sri Lankan government withdrew their commitments to implement their 
goals to transitional justice and accountability made at the United 
Nations Human Rights Council in 2015.
  The U.S. is a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council 
(UNHRC) and has initiated resolutions on Sri Lanka since 2012. I'm 
urging the State Department to start work on a new UNHRC Resolution 
before Resolution 46/1 expires this September. I suggest this 
resolution includes:
  An extension of the mandate of the OHCHR's special mechanism for 
evidence collection, especially vital because of the belated start of 
that mandate in April 2022.
  The extension should explicitly determine that:
  Evidence collection is not limited to the time period set by Sri 
Lanka's Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which had 
a mandate of conflict prevention rather than accountability but include 
the entire war which began in 1983 and the period just preceding when 
gross human rights violations began, notably from 1979 with the 
introduction of the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). 
Evidence from reputed NGOs should be accepted by the mechanism;
  All crimes will be considered, including war crimes, crimes against 
humanity and genocide, including what the 2015 report Office of the 
High Commissioner's Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) noted as 
`widespread' and `systematic' crimes by the State against the Tamil 
population;
  A recommendation that the General Assembly act on the evidence 
collected to provide accountability for mass atrocity crimes by 
referral to a higher international court such as the International 
Court of Justice or the creation of a special tribunal for Sri Lanka; 
and
  An operative clause on the immediate need of major constitutional 
reform under international supervision and guarantees to achieve a 
permanent political solution to the longstanding ethnic conflict to 
achieve regional stability and peace and prosperity for all communities 
on the island.

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