GENERAL APPEAL (Sri Lanka): Institutional development relating to human rights 

Dear friends,

You will be aware that Sri Lanka has a new Executive President who was elected on 17 November 2005.  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is issuing this urgent appeal because of the serious constitutional deadlock that has been affecting human rights in Sri Lanka for several months due to the non-appointment of members of the Constitutional Council.

The Constitutional Council is the highest constitutional body that can make appointments to the most important national institutions in Sri Lanka.  The non-appointment of members to this Constitutional Council has created a situation whereby some of these commissions have become defunct.  One is the Commission on Elections.  Our concern mostly is regarding the National Police Commission (NPC), which may become defunct by 27 November 2005 if the Constitutional Council is not appointed by that time and it appoints the commissioners for the NPC.

The AHRC has written to the newly elected president to make these appointments immediately, in order to avoid a possibly chaotic situation, which may push back the limited achievements of trying to curb torture and enforce discipline within the police service of Sri Lanka.  We urge you to write to the president on this matter.

Following is the letter sent by the AHRC to H.E. The President of Sri Lanka.

23rd November 2005

H. E. The President Mahinda Rajapaksa
Temple Trees
Colombo 3
SRI LANKA

Fax: 94 11 2542919

Your Excellency,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to extend its warm greetings to you on the occasion of your election as President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The AHRC is a member of the international community, which is committed to the well being of all Sri Lankan citizens and the nation as a whole.

As Your Excellency is aware, a significant constitutional deadlock has existed in Sri Lanka during the last few months due to the non-appointment of members to the Constitution Council of Sri Lanka. This non-appointment has resulted in the inability to appoint commissioners to lead the commissions appointed under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. This situation was dramatically exposed when the Commissioner of Elections who announced Your Excellency’s electoral victory immediately requested that he be allowed to retire from his office–which he has held for four years after his due date of retirement–due to the fact that the Elections Commission as stipulated by the 17th Amendment to the Constitution has not been appointed. While Your Excellency is willing to grant the Commissioner’s request, in order for the request to be realized, the Constitutional Council must appoint the Election Commission, which is the only constitutional body that can replace him.

Similarly, the members of the National Police Commission will also be ending their term of office on November 27, 2005. Your Excellency will be aware of the enormous role this Commission has played to depoliticize the national police service, which among other things made possible the holding of peaceful elections in Sri Lanka, ending the electoral violence besetting the country since the early 1980s. Keeping in mind Sri Lanka’s deteriorating law and order situation as well as collapsing criminal justice institutions, the AHRC is sure Your Excellency will do everything necessary to ensure that no one will be allowed to sabotage or interfere with the proper functioning of the Commission.

For several years, the AHRC has highlighted the total collapse of the policing service in the country; it has reached the point where the existing policing system poses a grave threat to the rule of law in the country. Mild reforms attempting to reestablish disciplinary control within the institution, such as the interdiction of officers facing criminal charges before the high courts, have met with significant resistance.  However, radical reforms are necessary for the effective functioning of the policing institution. For this reason, how the matter of the National Police Commission and the modernization and reform of the local policing system is handled by Your Excellency will be scrutinized by all Sri Lankan citizens as well as the international community.

We urge Your Excellency, as the custodian of Sri Lanka’s Constitution, to ensure that the Constitutional Council be appointed as soon as possible so that the important constitutional role of all the commissions created under the 17th Amendment, in particular the National Police Commission, will be able to function without disruption.

We wish Sri Lanka stability, which is a pre-condition for prosperity. We hope to see the revival of vitality in all public institutions, which unfortunately suffered greatly under previous presidents. The contribution of the presidency to a democratic nation lies not in the stifling of national institutions but in fact in enhancing and nurturing these institutions. This includes enacting the necessary legal provisions and providing the requisite resources.

We sincerely hope that your presidency will alter the previous course of conflict between the all powerful president and the national institutions which were made powerless by various means.

The Sri Lankan delegation to the review of the United Nations Committee against Torture during November 10-11, 2005 of the country’s periodic report gave a solemn undertaking that the Constitutional Council will be appointed immediately and that the National Police Commission will not be made dysfunctional by the non-appointment of Commissioners. This delegation was led by the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, and included the Solicitor General of Sri Lanka. The AHRC is confident that Your Excellency will honour such solemn undertakings given on behalf of the Sri Lankan government.

Yours sincerely,

Basil Fernando
Executive Director

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SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the new president of Sri Lanka voicing your concern regarding this matter.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER