For Sri Lanka it’s been something of a roller-coaster start to the autumn. First, mid-August parliamentary elections handed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa his second defeat of the year at the polls, confirming that the new political era heralded by Maithripala Sirisena’s surprise victory in January presidential polls really was the genuine article. Then almost before the country had time to draw breath it was catapulted into the international arena, in the shape of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)’s 30th session that opened in Geneva in mid-September.
Ever since Sri Lanka’s 26 year long civil war reached its bloody, tumultuous climax in May 2009 the question of what really happened during the conflict, and in particular who was responsible for the atrocities committed during its final stages has been a constant bone of contention on the international, no less than domestic plane. As a result, up to now the HRC has been a, if not the forum where these issues have been publicly – and often fiercely – debated.
Their patience finally worn down by the Rajapaksa government’s intransigent refusal to engage seriously with the international community over war crimes allegations, in March 2014 a (narrow) majority of the HRC’s 47 member states voted to set up an investigation by the main UN human rights body (OHCHR).
