As the violence has escalated within the last few days and the lives of many are affected by the actions of all sides, the issue that comes to the forefront is the absence of any human rights monitoring mechanisms in Sri Lanka.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) became defunct with the expiry of the terms of office of the commissioners in early April. Dr. Radhika Coormaraswamy and other commissioners are now out of office. The absence of the Constitutional Council to make the new appointments for the Commission will ensure that it remains incapable of functioning. It is not likely that the Constitutional Council will be appointed soon, as the government stands opposed to such appointments. The excuse used is that the name of a member representing the minority parties has not been agreed upon. However, overwhelming legal opinion has been that this is not an insurmountable impediment for the appointment of the other members. The Prime Minister and the opposition leader are reported to have submitted five names some months ago. The four other members are ex-officio members in terms of the offices they hold. Thus, if the five nominated members are appointed then there will be nine members out of the ten member council and the quorum required, according to the Constitution, is only six. Thus, if the government were not actively obstructing the appointment of this commission it would be functioning by now. The members to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka could then have been appointed and there would have been at least the presence of the HRC to monitor the human rights issues arising out of the current escalation of violence.
It is not only the Human Rights Commission and that is absent but also a constitutionally appointed National Police Commission (NPC). The disciplinary control of the police is a function of the NPC. The investigation of various complaints, which are numerous even in normal times, and which are likely to increase enormously with the escalation of the conflict, need to be investigated in a credible manner if the violence is to be controlled. However, in the absence of the NPC the issue of human rights will suffer a great deal. Even by the admission of high ranking police officers, the discipline within the police force is very low.
The crucial issue is the presence of human rights monitors to scrutinize the escalating violence in the country. This means the immediate appointment of the Human Rights Commission and others, the failure of which will contribute to the further enhancement of the violence. The present situation also calls for the international monitoring of human rights as it was done during the last year in Nepal. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-Nepal (OHCHR-NEPAL) contributed to the lessening of violence and to increasing the capacity of the ordinary folk, not only to live their lives but also to participate effectively against all extreme elements that use violence as their tool.
In a situation where parties to the conflict only use the violence of one party as the excuse for further violence on their part, it would have an extremely negative effect if the issue of human rights monitoring is not resolved urgently.
The Asian Human Rights Commission requests the President of Sri Lanka to take effective action to ensure the appointment of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and other Constitutional bodies capable of intervening at this stage to maintain law and order. We also urge the UN Secretary General to intervene effectively to ensure that the local human rights monitoring bodies be appointed urgently and also to take action to ensure international human rights monitoring under the present circumstances.
We also urge all concerned persons and particularly civil society organisations to write to the president and the Secretary General to address the issue of human rights monitoring.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
John Sloan
Programme Officer – Interventions
