Sri Lanka: Church leaders testify before Reconciliation Commission
Several Catholic Church leaders in Sri Lanka gave testimony this week to the country’s
Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which has been set up in order to help
the process of national healing after a decades-long civil war in which both government
forces and ethnic Tamil rebels were accused of atrocities.
Leading the delegation
representing the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka was the archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal-designate
Malcom Ranjith, who emphasized the urgent need to move on the political front and
take measures to tackle contentious issues without delay.
Some of those issues
include controversial anti-terrorism legislation that critics say is being used to
curtail the civil rights of minorities and their advocates, as well as unsettled accusations
of ongoing human rights violations.
The Bishop of Batticaloa and Trincomalee,
Joseph Kingsley Swamipillai also gave testimony.
Bishop Swampillai expressed
grave concern over those who had gone missing since the conclusion of the war, and
cited the disappearance of two priests, one in August 2006 and another in May of last
year, as concrete instances of human rights violations.
He also discussed the
grievances of those who had been denied access to detainees.
Bishop Swampillai
told us the process of reconciliation is going to be lengthy and difficult.
"Reconciliation
has a long way to go," he said, adding that the first steps must nevertheless be taken.
The
bishop also said that reconciliation cannot go forward unless present and continuing
injustices are seriously addressed.
The war in Sri Lanka lasted more than a
quarter century, and cost the lives of as many as 100 thousand people.