Geneva - A Destination Where The Cruel Fear To Go

What people in this island cannot fathom is that the GoSL is trying to woo other countries to support a ‘party’ alleged to have committed war crimes and cruelties

- Ravi Nagahawatte

For many right thinking people the upcoming United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva offer hopes. These hopes are to have a government that’s responsible and accountable.

The many voices that support the Rajapaksa regime affirm that allegations are made against the country’s security forces and past officials of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regimes-that were in office between 2005 and 2015-sans a semblance of evidence. The tide in Geneva generated by democratic forces has always been strong and this time too Sri Lanka runs the risk of being swept away.

When one reads newspapers these days we see that the so-called patriotic forces are viewing or trying to paint a picture that right thinking forces in Geneva are ghosts or evil forces. Much propaganda is being carried out on these lines. What people in this island cannot fathom is that the GoSL is trying to woo other countries to support a ‘party’ alleged to have committed war crimes and cruelties. The GoSL is trying to stubbornly remain unchanged without reviewing its past actions during the civil war without committing to some parts of its reconciliation plan. To reconcile the defeated and damaged minds of the Tamil people there are calls to trace so many who went missing and also account for the lives lost during the decades of war between separatists rebels and government security forces.

When the regime changed in 2019 there were concerns about investigations or probes into acts of cruelties being swept under the carpet because some of those appointed to the cabinet and state institutes had allegations levelled against them for committing crimes against humanity.