• Local report seeks to posit Black July in its proper historical context of cycles of communal violence, a culture of impunity and failed accountability mechanisms

Although narratives both in Sri Lanka and internationally have presented the disturbing events that transpired on 23 July 1983, which cost thousands of lives, as the start of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, a careful analysis of the history shows that those events were in fact one of many incidents of violence and discrimination against ethnic minorities that had been continuing for decades.

Emphasising this, a recent report titled “Black July 1983: 40 Years On” issued by the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, said that to understand Black July is to recognise the event as one of many cycles of violence that have plagued Sri Lanka. Adding that Black July is often cited as the start of the Sri Lankan civil war which would go on to consume the island for three decades, the report placed it in its historical context of previous communal violence and an ongoing culture of impunity and failed accountability mechanisms. As Sri Lanka reflects on the experiences of Tamils in Sri Lanka in their proper historical context, it added that the country is confronted with the legacy of the island’s long culture of impunity and the abject failure of successive Governments to deliver accountability for past human rights violations.

Noting that there has never been a fully trustworthy accountability process for this violent episode in Sri Lanka’s history, the report said that it aimed to paint a longer term trajectory and highlight the lessons that should be learnt, especially considering the Sri Lankan Government’s latest plans for a truth and reconciliation commission.

Accountability for Black July

Noting that transitional justice is a societal attempt to come to terms with past conflict, repression, violations and abuses to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation through judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, the report said that this includes truth seeking at its core with prosecution-based initiatives, reparations, and measures to prevent the recurrence of new violations, including constitutional, legal, and institutional reform, the strengthening of the civil society, memorialisation and cultural initiative, the preservation of archives and the reform of history education.

It extensively discussed the accountability aspect of Black July: “The truth seeking inquiries and commissions that were set up to address the grievances of Tamils following the 1977 pogrom, the burning of the Jaffna Library and the Black July pogrom have proved abject failures. These mechanisms are subject to the broad Executive powers of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry Act, No. 17 of 1948, which successive Governments have used to maintain ultimate control over the proceedings and outcome of inquiries. While their limited capacity and strength is acknowledged, it has to be noted that even their constrained recommendations were not implemented, and that the issue of accountability was repeatedly sidestepped. Further, even where the State has accepted the recommendations, they have failed to honour these commitments, such as in the payment of reparations. With this history of inert, toothless mechanisms, the credibility of these domestic commissions continues to be met with doubt both domestically and internationally; a way for successive Sri Lankan Governments to buy time against international censure and undermine the systems of accountability.”

Also paying attention to the Government’s proposal to establish a new national unity and reconciliation commission based on the South African model with a draft Bill having been sent to the Attorney General’s Department by the Presidential Secretariat, the report said: “The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC ) was conducted after the end of the apartheid, a social context which the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) described as ‘entirely different’ from that of Sri Lanka, where ‘ethnic tensions are still prevailing’. The South African TRC was never intended to address the structural political changes such as those needed to resolve Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict; indeed, these political changes had already been implemented prior to the creation of the TRC in South Africa.”

What Sri Lanka needs, the report said, is a mechanism with a pathway to accountability, and also a proper witness protection mechanism so that victims can safely present their accounts, although none of them appear to be guaranteed for in the proposed new Bill. “The Government has still not published a clear plan on how the commission will operate. In February, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate the Findings of Preceding Commissions and Committees submitted 27 recommendations to the President, which have still not been released to the public. It is not clear if these recommendations from past commissions will be incorporated into the new process. Few victims or activists in Sri Lanka have confidence in the proposed new mechanism. Further investigation into Black July and other mass atrocity crimes, beyond what has already been conducted by the Sri Lankan Government, should be pursued internationally. Memorialisation is part of the grieving process. It is a process of continuous reconciliation with the past: a time to scream into the wind. In Sri Lanka, remembrance and memorialisation are dependent on which side of the ethnic fence you fall on. There is no public and State-sponsored memorialisation of Black July in Sri Lanka, no sections in public museums, no mention of it in the national school syllabus or coverage in the State media when the date comes around every year. Remembrance and memorialisation are a way of preserving historical memory, of mourning and acknowledging the lives lost, of fostering empathy and understanding amongst the people, making room for peace building, and promoting dialogue on accountability, reconciliation, and justice.”

Path to accountability

The report noted: “Forty years on from Black July, we are no closer to meaningful accountability or justice for that terrible pogrom. Since that time, we have seen dozens of domestic accountability mechanisms in Sri Lanka, all of which have failed. The recommendations of the LLRC, as well as almost every similar commission before or since, have gone largely unimplemented. Indeed, often these recommendations, let alone the full reports, have not even been released to the public.”

In this context, it said that on the path to accountability pertaining to the Black July violence, a number of measures need to be taken primarily by the Sri Lankan Government and in addition by the United Nations (UN) Member States. It presented a number of recommendations in this regard.

With regard to the measures that the Governments need to take, the report said: “At this late stage, any possible accountability for Black July cannot be wholly sufficient. Many of the victims, and indeed the perpetrators, have passed away, and it is too late to provide justice to all those who died. However, the lateness of the hour makes it even more imperative that action is taken to provide some justice to the victims of the pogrom. In this context, it recommends that any alleged perpetrators known to the Police or the other authorities and against whom there is strong evidence, if still alive, be prosecuted; the financial compensation proposed by the 2002 Commission be properly distributed to victims and their descendants; and that reparative justice in the form of infrastructural development, in accordance with local demands and desires, be carried out in areas and among the communities most affected by the rioting, including Malaiyaha Tamil villages in the upcountry”.

Presenting recommendations for UN Member States, the report said: “The international community must put pressure on Sri Lanka to take actions which will prevent the recurrence of such atrocities. The capacity of the Police force, the Army and elected officials to provoke and exacerbate such ethnic riots remain in Sri Lanka, so long as there is no proper accountability mechanism for any of these key State institutions. The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA), the legislation which created so much anger in the country and allowed for the massacre at the Welikada Prison, is still in use. Whilst the Government has drafted an alternative Bill, the proposed ‘Anti-Terrorism Act’ is an unacceptable piece of legislation which has already been rejected by both the civil society and international experts. There should also be an effort to further the understanding of the root causes of Black July and the ethnic conflict amongst the Sri Lankan society.” 

The report said that these States should recommend that: the Sri Lankan Government repeal the PTA and revoke the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill, ensuring that all anti-terror legislation adheres to international standards; the Government establishes independent mechanisms with prosecutorial powers to hold the Police, the armed forces, and Government departments to account for human rights abuses; the Government incorporates Black July and other root causes of the ethnic conflict, including those outlined in this report, into its public education in Sinhala, Tamil, and English medium schools; and the Government works with the Tamil community and with international experts to find a real political solution to the ethnic conflict which is acceptable to Tamils in the island. In addition, it noted that UN Member States should use both their bilateral and economic relations with Sri Lanka, as well as international mechanisms, as leverage to ensure that these recommendations are properly implemented.