This is to bring to your notice that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, which is your counterpart in that country, has ceased to function as the time of office of the earlier commissioners, chaired by Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, has expired and no new commissioners have been appointed.
The power of appointment of the new commissioners is in the hands of the Constitutional Council which also is not functioning at the moment as the time of office of the council members expired in March 2005. It is obviously a political decision not to appoint the Constitutional Council members who have the power of selection of the commissioners to many of the vital, independent commissions in Sri Lanka, including the HRCSL. 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 escalation of violence.
The net result is that the commission is not functioning. Dr. Coomaraswamy wrote to the President of Sri Lanka about this matter and the consequences that would follow. Her letter was published in the newspapers in early April. However, it is very unlikely that this matter will be resolved soon.
Therefore, the human rights monitoring body which was to function under the principles of the Paris Agreement does now not exist. Of course it is possible that, like King Gyanendra of Nepal did, the government may appoint a commission of their own without following the constitutional process. However, it must be noted that according to Dr. Coomaraswamy the funding agencies have informed her that they will not support any commission that is not appointed in the proper manner.
In the past the Asia Pacific Forum on National Human Rights Commissions and many global organisations have been talking a great deal about national institutions for the protection of human rights. Therefore we are now looking to you, to see how you will intervene to see that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka will be brought back into existence and allowed to function.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely
Basil Fernando
Executive Director
PS. The letter written to the Sri Lankan President and the Secretary General of the United Nations on the same issue can be found at http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/511/
