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SRI LANKA: Police block a poor mother's request for a criminal investigation into the death of her daughter

December 11, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-174-2009



11 December 2009
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SRI LANKA: Police block a poor mother's request for a criminal investigation into the death of her daughter

ISSUES: Administration of justice; child rights
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the information that Galle police have refused to register a mother's complaint about suspicions that her 24-year-old daughter was murdered. The authorities also failed to adequately look into the woman's concerns that the girl was being put to work by her foster family, years before. The mother is from a very poor background and is being denied her access to the country's complaint mechanism.

CASE DETAILS:

According to local sources, R.G. Malini found out about the death of her daughter from a neighbour on 19 September, 2009 (see the funeral announcement here). Malini had given up her daughter Vajira Kumari to another family in 1992, when she was seven. She was able to visit the girl occasionally and reports being concerned about her treatment in the home. Vajira had allegedly told her in 1997 that she was not sent to school, was used as a domestic servant and was often assaulted by her host family. After numerous complaints to various police stations by Malini, the matter was reportedly loosely investigated, but not to the mother's satisfaction; the girl was returned to her hosts, Mr Ahoka Jayasekera and his wife, of Osanagoda, Maha Modara, Galle.

Malini reports that in July this year her daughter, now 24, had come to her reporting further ill treatment, and a wish to leave the care of the Jayasekeras. Since learning about Vajira's death she has tried to register her suspicions in a complaint to Galle police station, with the support of her employer Stanley Perera, but her attempts have been obstructed. Instead two officers accompanied them to the funeral house where Malini was told that Vajira had died of an unspecified sickness, and was told by officers not to make a commotion. There is no cause of death on the certificate.

Ms. Malini should have the right to be informed of the conditions surrounding her daughter's death. She also has the right to register a complaint and request a criminal investigation, at which point all efforts must be made to protect and preserve the medical evidence. Investigations must also be conducted into the custody agreement and legal status under which Vajira lived, and her treatment by the Jayasekeras. Sri Lanka ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in July 1991 and is obliged to take claims of child abuse, child labour and the denial of a child extremely seriously.

SUGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the authorities below supporting Ms. Malini's right to file a complaint, and requesting a criminal investigation into the death and former living circumstances of Vajira Kumari.

The Asian Human Rights Commission has written to the Committee on the Rights of the Child requesting its intervention into this case.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _________,

SRI LANKA: Police block a poor mother's request for a criminal investigation into the death of her daughter

Name of victim: Vajira Kumari, 24, deceased
Perpetrating officials: Officers attached to Galle Police Station, Galle Divison, Southern Range.
Place of incident: Osanagoda, Maha Modara, Galle
Date of incident: 19 September 2009

I'm writing to express my concern over the rejection, by Galle police, of a mother's complaint about suspicions that her 24-year-old daughter was murdered. According to local sources, R.G. Malini found out about the death of her daughter from a neighbour on 19 September, 2009.

Ms. Malini had given up her daughter, Vajira Kumari, to another family in 1992, when she was seven but alleges that the young girl reported ill treatment. Vajira had allegedly told her in 1997 that she was not sent to school, was used as a domestic servant and was often assaulted by her host family. I am told that after numerous complaints to various police stations by Malini, the matter was reportedly loosely investigated, yet the girl was returned to her hosts, Mr Ahoka Jayasekera, of Osanagoda, Maha Modara, Galle.

Ms. Malini reports that in July this year her daughter had come to her reporting further ill treatment and a wish to leave the care of the Jayasekeras. Since learning about Vajira's death, she has tried to register her suspicions in a complaint to Galle police station, with the support of her employer Stanley Perera, but her attempts have been obstructed. Instead two officers accompanied them to the funeral house where Malini was told that Vajira, at 24, had died of an unspecified sickness, and was told by officers not to make a commotion. There is no cause of death on the certificate.

Ms. Malini is from an underprivileged background, and has been frustrated by her lack of acces to information about her daughter's death, and to the complaint mechanism. Please ensure that she is able to register her complaint, and see that a criminal investigation takes place, at which point all efforts must be made to protect and preserve the medical evidence. Investigations must also be conducted into the custody agreement and legal status under which Vajira lived, and her treatment by the Jayasekeras. As you are aware, as a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child Sri Lanka is obliged to take claims of child abuse, child labour and the denial of a child extremely seriously.


Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

Mr. Mahinda Balasuriya
Inspector General of Police (IGP),
New Secretariat,
Colombo 1,
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440
E-mail: igp@police.lk

Mr. Mohan Peiris
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421

Secretary, National Police Commission,
3rd Floor Rotunda Towers,
109 Galle Road
Colombo 03,
SRI LANKA
Tel/Fax: +94 11 2 395960
E-mail: polcom@sltnet.lk

Secretary, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka,
No 108 Barnes Place
Colombo 07
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

Senior Superintendent of Police
Office of the Senior Superintendant of Police
Galle Division
Fax: +94 91 2232061

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Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-174-2009
Countries :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.