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Trump’s new fund-cut move may halt war-crime probes
View(s):By Chandani Kirinde
President Donald Trump’s office announced a recommendation to terminate US funding for nearly two dozen programmes that conduct war crimes and accountability work globally, including in Sri Lanka.
The announcement came coinciding with the UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk’s visit to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka accountability project the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has set up as part of its external mechanism to collect evidence on alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka is likely to face funding shortages as the US reviews its contribution to the UN body.
An outcome is expected in August as the US reviews its funding of the United Nations and multilateral institutions ordered by President Trump.
The US announced in February it would withdraw from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), while further financial cuts to the agency is likely after the review.
The OHCHR admitted last October that the team and work of its Sri Lanka accountability project had been affected over the past year by the liquidity situation in relation to the regular budget of the United Nations. A comprehensive report on progress in reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka is due at the 60th session of the UNHRC in September this year.
The OHCHR says that as of July 5, 2024, the repository established within the framework of the OHCHR project comprised 96,215 items and contains information from more than 470 different sources (over 220 witnesses and 250 organisations), including international and multilateral organisations.
Legal Action Worldwide, a legal aid group funded, among others, by the US State Department and working in Sri Lanka and several other countries, is likely to be affected if the fund cut is implemented.
Based on investigations funded by the US, several Sri Lankan military personnel have been barred from entering the US over alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings during Sri Lanka’s northern separatist insurrection.
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