Note from the AHRC:
In earlier communications the AHRC has reported that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka is no longer a legitimate body as the member commissioners were appointed by the Executive President in contravention of the Constitution. Subsequent to the appointments the agenda of the new commissioners has been to abandon the HRCSL’s human rights mandate and subordinate it to what the present chairman dictates to be the ‘mandatory orders of the president.’ The basic approach is to subordinate the commission to the president and to undermine its independence completely. In place of the HRCSL a ministry has been established called the Ministry for Disaster Management and Human Rights. The Minister has taken all public roles of the HRCSL thus further distancing it from the public eye.
One of the commissioners who was nominated to the commission, Mr. S.G. Punchihewa Attorney-at-Law, the only person who was known to have a credible human rights record declined to accept the nomination. Furthermore, last week Mr. M.C.M. Igbal, a senior human rights officer attached to HRCSL resigned stating that ‘certain key persons in the commission are unhappy to have me in their midst.’ Mr. Igbal, who was a retired senior civil servant, was brought in by Dr. Radika Coomaraswamy in order to strengthen the accountability of the commission and to strengthen the working environment of the commission to achieve the objectives of the protection and promotion of human rights. One of the projects that Mr. Igbal worked on was creating a database on disappearances. This week the HRCSL work on disappearances was closed down while the fresh allegations of disappearances are being made in the north and east in particular and in other parts of the country also. The news item from the Daily Mirror on July 16, covers this new development.
16 July 2006
NO INVESTIGATIONS WITHOUT SPECIAL DIRECTIONS FROM GOVT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION DUMPS 2,000 UNINQUIRED COMPLAINTS
by Namini Wijedasa
No investigations without special directions from govt – HRCdumps 2,000 uninquired complaints – by Namini Wijedasa Sunday Island, July 16, 2006
Shedding every remaining vestige of independence that it may have claimed to possess, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has decided not to investigate more than 2,000 un-inquired complaints of disappearances “unless special directions are received from the Govt.”.
Authoritative sources told the Sunday Island that HRCSL Secretary Benedict Silva has conveyed this in a signed letter to M. C. M. Iqbal, manager of the commissions Asia Foundation-funded Disappearances Data Base Project.
According to Silvas letter, the board of the Human Rights Commission did not propose to hear cases on 2,127 disappearances “for the time being unless special directions are received from the Govt. as the findings will result in payment of compensation etc.”. It was not immediately clear what “etc.” referred to.
These sources also revealed that Iqbal has resigned from the commission amid growing dissatisfaction with the existing status quo. He was not available for comment.
President Mahinda Rajapakse appointed a new board to the HRCSL in May after it became apparent that the Constitutional Council (which is responsible for these appointments) would not directly start functioning. His decision was widely criticised with serious questions being raised over the independence of a commission whose members had been chosen by the executive.
Nevertheless, some cabinet ministers maintained that it was better to have “any Human Rights Commission than no Human Rights Commission at all”. A multi-pronged effort was also launched to convince the international community of the governments clean intentions.
“Judging by the new HRCs latest action, it is clear that the government had only wanted to hoodwink the international community
they have no serious commitment towards the protection of human rights in the country,” commented J. C. Weliamuna, human rights lawyer and executive director of Transparency International.
It is learnt that the Disappearances Data Base Project, under Iqbal, initially processed 16,305 complaints of disappearances which had originally been contained in the Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Disappearances (All Island). The presidential commission had defined them as complaints that could not be investigated due to limitations in its mandate.
The list was eventually passed on to the HRCSL to deal with. It included complaints of disappearances from the north, documented and forwarded to the presidential commission by NGOs; complaints made directly to the presidential commission by one or more of the family of the disappeared person; complaints from other parts of the country, collected by the Organisation of Parents and Family Members of Disappeared Persons; and complaints from the eastern province, documented by the Citizens Committee in Batticaloa.
After processing the entire list, the Disappearances Data Base Project found that 2,127 complaints had never been heard. Iqbal reportedly recommended to the board that further funding be sought to provide a hearing to these complainants”to arrive at a finding on the incidents concerned just as it was done by the Presidential Commissions of Inquiry into Disappearances”. He also informed the board that information being collected by the Data Base Project would be incomplete if data on these uninquired complaints were not included. It is this recommendation that the HRCSL board has decided not to act upon.
“The Human Rights Commission is a legislative body with its own objectives and powers independent of government,” Weliamuna stressed, when asked for a comment. “One of its main functions is to inquire into allegations on its own. Unlike the Supreme Court, the commission can initiate inquiries and even go to courts. It does not have to depend on the government for directives or recommendations.”
“I think the new board has diluted the powers of the HRC and its tragic that the commission depends on the government,” he continued. “Its also worrisome that they have cited the matter of compensation because the HRC is also authorised to decide independently on payment of compensation.”
“Many international conventions bind governments to pay compensation in cases of disappearances,” he emphasised. “It is not for the regime or for a weak Human Rights Commission to decide on this. This government has a minister of human rights. Im sure he, at least, would want to see compensation paid to the deserving.”
“The present HRC clearly has an executive mind, not an independent one.”
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