Many newspapers reported a statement by a member of the opposition UNP made yesterday stating that during the last two months the Human Rights Commission (HRC) has received over 200 complaints of violations of human rights and also of the abduction of 40 youths in Batticaloa. The statement further alleged that the complainants were abused and chased away when they went to the HRC to report these abductions.
This information coming from the countrys leading opposition party needs to be taken seriously and appropriate action should be taken to inquire into these allegations of abductions in Batticaloa and also the allegations of the complainants being chased away when they went to the HRC to make complaints.
While in the north there is intense conflict where the government and the LTTE are both engaged in a fierce battle, there is also enormous tension in the east which is no longer part of the war zone. However, the election itself seems to be fought more like a battle than in a spirit of a contest where they people will be able to express their choices.
However, what is even more worrying is that the persons who go to make complaints are being chased away. In the previous conflicts, like the period of terror in the south of Sri Lanka in the 80s there were similar allegations of complainants being chased away from everywhere, police stations, police headquarters and from every other place. The commissions of inquiries into forced disappearances have made observations on this matter and had also requested the state to take appropriate steps to criminalize the failure on the part of any state agency to accept complaints from persons who approach them.
These commissions against forced disappearances later recorded the statements of many persons who said that they were chased from pillar to post whenever they went to make complaints. For example the parents of the Embilipitya school children have left very vivid images of their sad and bitter experience in merely trying to report a missing child to an agency of the state who was expected, not only to take prompt action to record the statement, but also to investigate the matter.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee in the case of Mr. S. Jegatheeswara Sarma vs. Sri Lanka, Communication No. 950/2000 examined the duties of the state regarding complaints of disappearances to state agencies. It reiterated the well-established principle that the state is obliged to provide opportunities for making of complaints and that the complaints should be promptly investigated. The failure to investigate promptly itself amounts to violations of rights guaranteed under the ICCPR which the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka recently held is also guaranteed under the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
Thus, any agency that discourages the making of complaints is violating both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the Constitution of Sri Lanka. Now that the matter of the compatibility of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has been finally dealt with by way of the Supreme Court declaring that the rights guaranteed under the ICCPR are contained in the Sri Lankan constitution it is the duty of the courts as well as the state to ensure that the practice of discouraging victims and chasing away complainants should be stopped forthwith. Therefore both on the basis of the constitution and the basis of Sri Lankas obligations in terms of the ICCPR action must be taken to ensure that all complaints are recorded promptly. Since there is an entrenched practice of discouraging complainants and creating obstacles for the making of complaints, the recommendation to criminalize such actions need also to be taken promptly.
Since the Sri Lankan government does not demonstrate much political will to investigate into these matters it would be the duty of all opinion making agencies in Sri Lanka and abroad to bring about an awareness of this problem and to exert pressure on the government to guarantee the rights of all citizens to have their statements recorded.
Just last week the IIGEP in their final statement stated that the Sri Lankan government does not demonstrate a political will to find out the truth of allegations against the agencies of the state involved in human rights violations. The question may also be asked about the political will of the opposition itself to safeguard the rights of all persons those who are in a helpless position when trying to make complaints. It is one thing for the opposition United National Party to report about the complaints and the failures in the system of the taking up of complaints but an opposition party needs to do more than this. It must demonstrate leadership by taking all possible actions to ensure the rights of these persons. If that is not done their press conferences will only be perceived as attempts to make political mileage out of a desperate situation. It is time for the UNP to admit openly its own human rights abuses in the past on similar occasions and make a public pledge to fight for the defence of rights. If not the government as well as the opposition will have to share the blame for the absence of the political will to find the truth of human rights abuses taking place in the country.
