[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 413 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 413
Recognizing 12 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka on May 18,
2009, honoring the lives lost, and expressing support for justice,
accountability, reconciliation, reconstruction, reparation, and reform
in Sri Lanka to ensure a lasting peaceful political solution and a
prosperous future for all people of Sri Lanka.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 18, 2021
Ms. Ross (for herself, Mr. Johnson of Ohio, Mr. Danny K. Davis of
Illinois, Mr. Sherman, and Ms. Manning) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing 12 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka on May 18,
2009, honoring the lives lost, and expressing support for justice,
accountability, reconciliation, reconstruction, reparation, and reform
in Sri Lanka to ensure a lasting peaceful political solution and a
prosperous future for all people of Sri Lanka.
Whereas May 18, 2021, marks the 12-year anniversary of the end of the 26-year
armed conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and various armed
Tamil independence organizations, including the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE);
Whereas all communities suffered from violence and counterviolence during the
civil war;
Whereas the Tamil people of Sri Lanka suffered tens of thousands of deaths,
disappearances, abuses, and displacements;
Whereas in the absence of Sri Lanka implementing the recommendations of its own
Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission or instituting a credible
justice mechanism to investigate serious crimes committed during and
after the war, the United States sponsored resolutions in the United
Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2012, 2013, and 2014 calling in
ever stronger terms for domestic action and reconciliation;
Whereas the United Nation's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
issued a report in 2015 (the OISL Report) that outlined the occurrence
of war crimes and crimes against humanity and violations of
international humanitarian law during the war in Sri Lanka;
Whereas following a change in government in Sri Lanka, the release of the OISL
Report, and the recommendations of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights, the United States cosponsored with Sri Lanka a UNHRC resolution
in 2015, HRC 30/1, which was reaffirmed in 2017;
Whereas under HRC 30/1, the Sri Lankan government made transitional justice
commitments for postwar reconciliation including--
(1) an accountability mechanism with a special court inclusive of
Commonwealth and foreign judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and investigators;
(2) a truth commission;
(3) an office of missing persons;
(4) an office of reparations and institutional reforms aimed at
nonrecurrence; and
(5) a number of confidence-building measures;
Whereas following the Easter Sunday terror attacks and the reinstallation of the
Rajapaksa government in November 2019, Sri Lanka withdrew from HRC 30/1;
Whereas the northeastern region of the country, the traditional Tamil homeland,
remains heavily militarized with up to one soldier for every two
civilians in the most war-affected regions;
Whereas the Northern Provincial Council of Sri Lanka adopted in resolutions
calling for an international investigation into alleged war crimes
committed during the armed conflict and for a U.N.-monitored referendum
in the northeastern region of the island to support the development of a
permanent political solution;
Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka has postponed provincial elections for
multiple years, denying all Sri Lankans, including the Tamil people in
the Northern Province and the Eastern Province, their democratic right
to local representation;
Whereas Sri Lanka's COVID-19 response has been led and executed by the military,
exacerbating longstanding concerns regarding state surveillance,
harassment, and discrimination against Tamil and Muslim communities;
Whereas a 2021 report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
found that the Government of Sri Lanka has, over the past year--
(1) elevated individuals implicated in war crimes to senior
governmental positions;
(2) pardoned a convicted war criminal;
(3) reversed key democratic reforms and consolidated power behind the
office of the President;
(4) obstructed efforts to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of war
crimes;
(5) promoted majoritarian and exclusionary rhetoric;
(6) engaged in surveillance and harassment of civil society
organizations and human rights advocates; and
(7) allegedly employed security forces to abduct and torture
dissidents;
Whereas the report warns that ``Sri Lanka's current trajectory sets the scene
for the recurrence of the policies and practices that gave rise to grave
human rights violations'';
Whereas the United States cosponsored a UNHRC resolution, HRC 46/1 (2021), led
by the United Kingdom, which recognizes the lack of accountability for
past violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in
Sri Lanka and directs the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights to collect, analyze, and preserve information and evidence for
future accountability processes for gross violations of human rights;
Whereas no effort has been made to bring to justice those who are alleged to
have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, no investigations
have begun even on emblematic cases, evidence gathering is hindered
through arbitrary arrests and threats by the state, and impunity
prevails in the country with the outdated and the excessively harsh
Prevention of Terrorism Act, which does not comply with international
standards and has still not been repealed despite repeated promises by
the government;
Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle
Bachelet, stated in January 2021, ``Given the demonstrated inability and
unwillingness of the Government to advance accountability at the
national level, it is time for international action to ensure justice
for international crimes. States should also pursue investigations and
prosecution in their national courts--under accepted principles of
extraterritorial or universal jurisdiction--of international crimes
committed by all parties in Sri Lanka'';
Whereas families of individuals who disappeared during and following the armed
conflict still have no information regarding the whereabouts of their
loved ones, and no lists of persons who surrendered to the government
after the end of the armed conflict have been published; and
Whereas progress on domestic and international investigations into reports of
war crimes and human rights during the conflict and the promotion of
reconciliation would facilitate United States engagement and investment
in Sri Lanka and demonstrate support for the international rule of law:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) acknowledges the 12th anniversary of the end of the war
in Sri Lanka and offers its deepest condolences to all those
affected by the conflict;
(2) honors the memory of those who died and reaffirms its
solidarity with the people of all communities in Sri Lanka in
their search for reconciliation, reconstruction, reparation,
and reform;
(3) commends the United Nations Human Rights Council for
prioritizing the collection and preservation of evidence
related to human rights violations, a process that must not be
interfered with by the Government of Sri Lanka;
(4) recognizes the bravery and commitment of advocates for
justice across all communities in Sri Lanka, including the
Tamil families of the disappeared, whose protests and demands
for answers have at times been met with threats, intimidation,
and harassment by government security forces;
(5) urges the international community to advocate for and
protect the political rights and representation of the
historically oppressed northeastern region of Sri Lanka and
work towards a permanent political solution to address the
underlying issues that led to ethnic conflict;
(6) recommends the United States explore investigations and
prosecutions pursuant to the recommendations of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; and
(7) urges the United States to work with the United Nations
General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, and the
United Nations Human Rights Council to establish a credible and
effective international mechanism for accountability for the
grave crimes committed during the war in Sri Lanka.
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