In a sense, the next key event which is coming up is the United Nations Human Rights Council.
I think the problem is that the international community has for the past four years said, quite correctly, that the state should first investigate the allegations within the state. This would be in line with all international norms, in any case. The problem is that the Sri Lankan government has not done so for four years, and I believe is not capable of doing so.
It did launch a thing called the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, LLRC, which you may have discussed, which entirely failed to deal in any respect with allegations of war crimes or crimes against humanity. It did make a few good suggestions in terms of responsibility to search for the disappeared or to trace the disappeared, responsibility of getting the Ministry of Defence to withdraw from civilian administration to the extent that it is involved just now. These kinds of recommendations, although good ones, were completely ignored. The trouble is that Sri Lanka does have a record of producing endless investigations and presidential commissions which are often never published at all. Even when they are published, nothing is done on them. I think that in practice they've shown that they are not willing.
I'm sure you will also discuss this, but the removal of the chief justice, the impeachment of the chief justice, and this is what the law society of Sri Lanka, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, is also saying, has effectively gone some way to destroy, if not actually to completely destroy, the independence of the judiciary. I would argue that they have demonstrated they're not willing, and in practice, they are no longer capable because they do not have an independent judiciary for managing such an inquiry. For that reason, I think that the pressure and the demands for an international independent inquiry are overwhelming.
I think it should have happened a long time ago, but I certainly think it should happen in March. I think it's extremely important that in March at the United Nations Human Rights Council that call be made formally. Navi Pillay has said that if nothing happens before March, that should happen. I think that David Cameron has now also said exactly the same thing.
I think that is very, very important. I'm slightly concerned that there is some discussion or suggestion that South Africa is suggesting helping setting up some kind of form of truth and reconciliation commission. Obviously, in principle, I'm absolutely in favour of such a thing. I think that South Africa is absolutely the best country to help advise on such a thing. The problem is that we know from the pattern of the past that this would be seized upon by the Sri Lankan government as an excuse for putting off the international inquiry, which I now believe is the only way forward. It would not actually be, given what we know about the way Sri Lanka operates, a useful way forward, and I think it needs to be shown as not being a sensible way forward.