NAME OF MECHANISM

Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence

PERIOD

July 2001 – December 2002. The commission was appointed on 23 July 2001 and released its report the following year.

MANDATE AND OPERATIONS

Mandate: The commission was appointed by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to investigate the burning of the Jaffna Public Library (1981), the District Development Council elections (1981), the July riots (1983) and the killing of prisoners at Welikada Prison (1983). Its mandate was to determine the causes of the violence, who was directly or indirectly responsible for it, the extent of the damage done, compensation due to victims and measures for preventing recurrence. It had the power to summon witnesses to testify before it.

Staff: Chaired by former Chief Justice Hon. S. Sharvananda. The other commissioners were Mr. S.S. Sahabandu, PC, M.M. Zuhair, PC, S.M.J. Senaratne (secretary). They were assisted in their investigations by A.H.M.D. Nawaz, state counsel [Asian Tribune | 6 Dec 2002].

RESULTS

The commission handed its report to the president in December 2002 and it was published as Sessional Paper No. III in 2003. The report provides a historical account of the violence of the period, but almost none of its recommendations were implemented by government. In addition, it did not find anyone specifically responsible for the violations detailed in its report and did not recommend any prosecutions.

BACKGROUND

From 1981 to 1984, Sri Lanka went through a period of ethnic violence that started with the burning of the Jaffna Public Library in Tamil territory in 1981 and was followed by a series of reprisals. The president appointed the commission to demonstrate that the government was not ignoring the violence and its causes.

SOURCES

[Asian Tribune | 6 Dec 2002]
[International Commission of Jurists | 2010]