The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, we cannot be held responsible for 16 years of inaction. We have been in office for six months. Within our term, we must build mechanisms and processes to strengthen institutions to conduct investigations and deliver justice. We cannot personally conduct inquiries; the key is ensuring the State can address such cases. Institutional and systemic failure caused these problems. We are setting up the institutions and environment to prevent recurrence and to investigate existing injustices. Legislation passed yesterday is part of this process.

¶ 02 Distrust of the OMP and Office for Reparations stems from past failures where institutions were set up in name only without adequate strengthening. We are correcting that by appointing the right people and allocating sufficient resources. If these institutions are insufficient, we are prepared to broaden mandates and create new mechanisms, but sustainably and through due process.

¶ 03 As to specifics, while many cases exist, some are already being pursued. If the Hon. Member identifies particular cases, we will look into them and provide whatever information we have. These are difficult investigations after 16 years, but we are committed to justice.