sri lanka's commissions of inquiry - Law & Society Trust

Preface
Sri Lanka has constituted Commissions of Inquiry during past
decades as instruments to investigate and prevent human rights
abuses. However, whether these Commissions of Inquiry established
by successive political regimes in Sri Lanka ever visualized justice,
truth and reconciliation for victims as core objectives of their work, is
a pertinent question. The failure to investigate un-inquired cases, the
lack of public faith in the commission proceedings, the reluctance of
victims to look to the law and Commission processes for relief all point
to the fact that Commissions of Inquiry in Sri Lanka have been more
political exercises than genuine attempts to reconcile a traumatized
nation.
To many observers and advocates of human rights in Sri Lanka, the
lack of political will in terms of implementing the recommendations of
Commissions of Inquiry has been a foregone conclusion. Presidential
commissions of inquiry have become part of the impunity apparatus;
an expedient mechanism to divert unwanted attention by providing
a veneer of accountability. Despite the obvious failure of prior
commissions to lead to prosecutions and to necessary legal and
institutional reform, commissions have been mostly supported by
civil society, (and prominent members of civil society who agree to
sit on such commissions), as if commissions of inquiry represent a
meaningful approach to accountability.
As a reference tool, this publication does not provide analyses of the prior
commissions or their reports. Nonetheless, certain lessons and trends are
revealed. An examination of the reports of commissions of inquiry from
1963 to 2002 reveals that Sri Lanka’s numerous Presidential Commissions
of Inquiry into rights violations have been created to fulfill multiple
stated and unstated objectives. The purpose of most commissions –
the creation of a fact-finding or truth seeking body that will promote
justice for a past injustice or past injustices – has rarely, if ever, been
fulfilled. The Commissions, in some cases, have facilitated the granting
of compensation. They have rarely led to prosecutions and have failed
to counter impunity. They have failed to deter further grave violations
of human rights.
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