Administer justice to GoSL genocidaires on basis of Truth, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 July 2013, 18:51 GMT]
Commenting on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's statement that India has “long advocated the creation of an environment in Sri Lanka in which all communities, particularly the Sri Lankan Tamils, are masters of their own destiny within the framework of a united Sri Lanka,” Professor Boyle, an expert in International law, said that this was not an appropriate remedy to deal with genocidaires, adding, "It would be like asking the Jews to engage in a Truth and Reconciliation Process with the Nazis. The very idea is absurd and insulting upon its face alone." India's Prime Minister was responding to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa statement urging the Center to ensure that the process of democratic decentralization, integral to the survival of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, should lead to the Tamils realising their legitimate aspirations.

Professor Boyle said, "Most experts in the fields of international human rights law and international criminal law believe that a Truth and Reconciliation Process is not the appropriate remedy to deal with genocidaires and their victims.

"It would be like asking the Jews to engage in a Truth and Reconciliation Process with the Nazis. The very idea is absurd and insulting upon its face alone," Boyle said.

Prof Boyle added, "Rather, the international community set up the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment and Principles as well as the Genocide Convention to deal with the Nazi extermination of the Jews.

"That is why I have proposed that the United Nations General Assembly establish The International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka as a “subsidiary organ” under U.N. Charter Article 22 that would be modeled upon the Statute for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

"Justice must be administered to the GOSL genocidaires on the basis of Truth. Therefore, we must have a Truth and Justice Process with respect to the GOSL genocidaires," Boyle said.