Civil society worried over Rights to Human in Sri Lanka

(May 15, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In May 2008, Sri Lanka comes up for re-election as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, after serving as a member of the Council for two years.

According to the GA Resolution 60/251 creating the Human Rights Council, members “shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights” and “shall fully cooperate with the Council.”

During the period that the government of Sri Lanka has been a member of the Council, the human rights situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated and impunity has flourished. The figures of disappearances, abductions, extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrest and detention and torture that have been gathered by local and national groups, as well as by international human rights bodies including the UN and other international agencies working in Sri Lanka bear this out. The phenomenon of the ‘unidentified gunman’ means that nobody is brought to justice for these crimes and the culture of impunity that prevails as a result of lack of investigations and punishment of perpetrators creates a culture of silence and terror among victims and witnesses. The national mechanisms created by the government have proceeded slowly and with almost no success and the legitimacy of the premier national human rights institution in the country, the National Human Rights Commission, has been undermined by the irregularity of appointments to the Commission.

In addition, the government of Sri Lanka has flagrantly disregarded its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law throughout this period. In 2006, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled that accession by the Sri Lankan government to the first Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was unconstitutional and legally invalid. This has contributed to the environment of impunity by placing international protection out of the reach of ordinary Sri Lankans who are victims and survivors of human rights abuse.

During 2007, Manfred Novak, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Walter Kalin, the Special Representative on internally Displaced Persons and Ms. Louise Arbour, the High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Sri Lanka, as did Sir John Holmes, the head of the UN’s humanitarian operations. All of them have commented on issues of violations and impunity, and made recommendations to the government regarding improvement of the situation. However, the response of the government and its supporters to these recommendations have been often negative and sometimes even hostile. The most contentious issue has been the consistent call by all special mechanisms of the Council and by the High Commissioner for independent monitoring of the situation on the ground through an enhanced and field-based presence of the OHCHR in Sri Lanka. The government of Sri Lanka has repeatedly refuted this call by arguing that effective national mechanisms for human rights monitoring already exist, and it only requires technical support.

Sri Lankan human rights defenders have advocated independent and international monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka since 2006 and continue to argue for the establishment of such a mechanism, on the basis that their experiences bear out the fact that no national mechanism could undertake the type of independent monitoring that is called for by the situation on the ground.

A statement signed by over twenty Sri Lankan organizations working on human rights says that “We feel that international scrutiny is all that can protect the civilian population of our country from a further escalation of violations and abuses. As such we urge all member states of the UN to use the process of elections to the Human Rights Council as an opportunity to hold the Sri Lankan government accountable for the grievous state of human rights in the country.

Our appeal to you is to consider withholding support for Sri Lanka’s re-election this year. By doing so, your government will send a strong message to the Government of Sri Lanka that it must reform its practices if it wants to continue as an equal partner in international institutions such as the UN. Technical assistance with no political will cannot result in any effective change in the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and certainly cannot provide protection for those Sri Lankans who most desperately need such protection.”
- Sri Lanka Guardian