"What makes for a good victim and a good cause? Why is some life sacred and some not? Why does the world take so long to count the dead?" These are just some of the questions that Yasmin Sooka addressed, and tried to answer, during a compelling conversation with SPP Professor of Practice Robert Templer at the School of Public Policy at Central European University on November 4.
Sooka, who is the inaugural George Soros Visiting Chair, focused most of her remarks on Sri Lanka, using it as "a test case for the world's unwillingness to address mass atrocities." Sooka pointed out that most of the people living in the war zone were civilians. According to a UN report, as many as 70,000 civilians may have been killed in just five months in 2008-09. Although many countries were aware of the violence, "the world hardly blinked."
Sooka and Templer spoke about the sometimes uncomfortable issue of accountability. Templer noted that there had been "broad awareness" of events in Sri Lanka at the time, and yet US President Barack Obama had made only one comment about the situation during a nine-month period. "Why the phenomenal indifference?" he asked. Sooka noted that during the final phase of the conflict neither the Security Council nor the Human Rights Council met or held a session to discuss Sri Lanka.
Sooka said she had no answer for why the world was so willing to watch some people die. She quoted Pastor Martin Niemöller ("First they came...") and asked, "How do you live in a country [like Sri Lanka] and not know what is happening?" Citing Karl Jasper's definition of metaphysical guilt, she challenged her audience: "We have a responsibility to learn about what happens during these conflicts and to build solidarity with the victims."
Sooka described the difficulties in uncovering the truth and building accountability – and the ways in which it has become even more difficult since 9/11. "When groups are defined as terrorists, some argue that the rules of war should be suspended," said Sooka. She noted that a similar argument had been made in her home country, South Africa, to excuse some of the actions of the African National Congress that was, in the minds of many, fighting a "just war."
Templer asked Sooka what needed to be done to convince Sri Lankans of the utility of transitional justice. Reflecting on her experience in South Africa, Sooka said that there must be national consultations, and that voices from all sides need to be included in order to build a plural diverse society in which all are treated as equal citizens.
Templer and Sooka also spoke about the impact of technology on our ability to learn about and substantiate instances of mass atrocities. Templer noted, for example, that the International Crisis Group had used satellite imagery to document certain findings in its report. Sooka said that she and the other members of the UN panel of experts on Sri Lanka had also used satellite and cellphone technology including "selfies with dead bodies" that soldiers and embedded journalists had taken to prove – and challenge – certain claims. The panel also relied also on information in cables leaked by WikiLeaks in their inquiries
Another issue that came up during their conversation, and in several questions from members of the audience, was whether it was even possible to secure justice when there is enormous economic inequality. Sooka said that in South Africa today many people "can see, but they can't own, buy, or participate." She emphasized that changes in political leadership following violent conflicts often had very little impact on the distribution and owners of wealth. She noted that the asymmetry in the economy with enormous and growing disparities of wealth in South Africa and in many other countries is a cause of some conflicts, and obstructs efforts to secure real justice. She also raised the need for transitional justice to take account of the political economy.
Sooka ended on an optimistic note suggesting that Sri Lanka and Columbia have the opportunity to move from conflict to sustainable peace.
Yasmin Sooka is the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa. She has been part of many advisory missions on transitional justice – a topic that CEU President and Rector John Shattuck described in his opening remarks as an "elusive and impossible subject" – for the United Nations including Afghanistan, Burundi, Kenya, Nepal, and Uganda. She also consults regularly for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Switzerland, and has participated in several missions including to Burundi, Libya, and Tunisia.
The George Soros Visiting Chair was established with generous contributions from the friends and family of George Soros, the founder of CEU and of SPP, and the honorary chairman of the CEU Board of Trustees. The George Soros Visiting Chair or the George Soros Visiting Practitioner Chair is awarded to scholars or practitioners who have demonstrated outstanding achievement or a distinguished record of participation in the academic, professional, journalistic, political, or civic world of public policy.
Watch a short interview with Sooka below.
Watch Sooka's full lecture below.