In May 2009 the Sri Lankan government concluded a thirty-year struggle against an internal terrorist insurgency which affected all communities and divided the nation. Sri Lanka now has an opportunity to create a multi-ethnic, democratic and peaceful future for all Sri Lankans. To support the drive towards national unity and reconciliation after decades of division, in May 2010, President Rajapaksa appointed the eight-member Commission to report on the lessons to be learnt from the events in the period, Feb 2002 to May 2009, their attendant concerns and to recommend measures to ensure that there will be no recurrence of such a situation.

The Commission is chaired by the former Attorney General Chitta Ranjan de Silva. It  held its first sitting on Wednesday 11th August, an important landmark step for Sri Lanka as it returns to peace and stability.

The Commission is part of an ambitious wider package of measures taken by the Sri Lankan government to drive the process of reconciliation and create the basis for a stable, prosperous future. Other measures include rolling back emergency legislation; nearly 75% of those regulations now are been removed, an accelerated programme of resettlement, which has already resettled 90 per cent of the 300,000 people displaced internally; rehabilitation and retraining programmes for former combatants, including child soldiers; and sustained investment the north and east of the country to create the economic basis for unity and integration.

The independent eight-person Commission brings together eminent individuals representing all of Sri Lanka’s communities. The Commission realises the great responsibility placed upon it at this important moment in Sri Lanka’s history. Its conclusions will be drawn from the experiences and observations of the Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim people, all of whom have suffered greatly during the past 30 years and those knowledgeable in conflict resolution.

The LLRC has been influenced in part by the South African experience and the Chilcot Inquiry of the UK on the Iraq war. It is noteworthy that the LLRS was appointed within one year of the end of the conflict. Another significant aspect is that the LLRC will seek to achieve restorative justice, going beyond the mandate of similar Commissions elsewhere.

The Commission so far had regular public hearings in Colombo and in the conflict affected areas of Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Kilinochchi. This included field visits to meet people directly affected by the conflict. It spent 3 days each in these areas where people in large numbers, at times around 500 a day came before the Commission and expressed their grievances, explained the trauma undergone and hardships faced, and also suggested remedial measures and aspects of reconciliation.

So far more than 100 persons including political activists, social workers, academia, members of clergy, those engaged in conflict resolution and representatives from non-governmental organizations have given evidence before the Commission. The LLRC is expected to visit more places affected by the conflict in the coming period.

It has already submitted an interim communication recommending administrative means to resolve some of the pressing grievances of the people affected by the conflict.

The government has appointed an Inter-Advisory Committee to facilitate early in implementation of these recommendations of the LLRC.


 

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