On 28 February 2017, the Monitoring Accountability Panel (“MAP”) will issue its Second Spot Report, which will coincide with the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council (the ‘HRC’) scheduled for 27 February to 24 March 2017 in Geneva. In the 27-page report, the MAP’s international legal experts will outline their assessment of the Sri Lankan Government’s transitional justice efforts to date, and provide recommendations going forward.
Since co-sponsoring the UN Human Rights Council Resolution on ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka,’ (A/HRC/30/L.29, October 2015), the Sri Lankan President and Government Ministers have backtracked on their commitments to implement effectively the four transitional justice pillars. In particular, the Sri Lankan Government has reversed its own pledge to include foreign judges and prosecutors in a special war crimes court, and appears intent on ignoring legitimate recommendations of the Consultation Task Force.
In its Second Spot Report, the MAP will analyse these and other issues and provide its views on whether or not the Sri Lankan Government has fulfilled its legal obligations to the victims of mass human rights abuses.