Sri Lankan government has reportedly acted against human rights (HR) and noted for its notorious violation of the same.
The current government is illegitimate and has an expired mandate. Petroleum Corporation and Ceylon Electricity Board are two institutions that need to be restructured. However, to start such reforms, it is a basic requirement to have a legitimate government. But it is unlikely that such reforms can be introduced in the present government activity plan’.
Who made this very relevant statement which was heard few days ago?. It was in a very timely article by a famous scholar of this country. His name is Professor Charita Herath. Professor Charita Herath is a scholar who often speaks truth and reality in our society today. He has obtained doctorate degrees from three universities in Sri Lanka and the United States. He is currently working as a professor of philosophy at the University of Peradeniya. Another special position he held in the last season in the parliament as the chairman of the ‘COPE’ committee.
However, Professor Charita Herath is also a Member of Parliament in the current government’s ruling party. In such an environment, the above statement made by him recently is an extremely controversial. He emphasized these views presenting the reality. Professor Charitha Herath’s statement is the current government is illegitimate. It has an expired mandate. A statement made without concealing the truth.
Today Sri Lanka has to hear many different stories. Few days ago, many news surfaced related to human rights in this country. Sri Lanka is currently noted as a country where human rights are being violated.
UNHCR
Accusations are international. Recently, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the world’s leading organization on human rights, made a very strong accusation against Sri Lanka. UN Special Rapporteur on the performance of human rights defenders Dr. Mary Lowlor. This statement was made against Sri Lanka. In a Twitter message she said:
I am deeply concerned about the arrest of Inter-University Student Council’s detainer Wasantha Mudali. The Reverend Galvewa Siridhamma Thero and Hashan Jeevantha under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. I request President Ranil Wickremesinghe not to sign the detention orders regarding them. It will be a dark day for Sri Lanka if it is signed …”
This is a very official statement made with responsibility. Although she said so, a few hours after that statement, President Ranil Wickremesinghe signed the detention order. The activists were detained for a period of 90 days. Last August 19, the group was detained and interrogated for 72 hours by the CUD. The department said this time is not enough. Therefore, detention orders for a period of 90 days should be given. This is for questioning.
Arrest of activists
A group of 16 activists were arrested on August 18 and 13 of them were released on bail on August 19. But the three main activists were further detained and interrogated. Somehow the state security forces brought several charges against Wasantha Mudali’s main group and they were presented to the Colombo Chief Magistrate.
Now this situation will be clear to you. United Nations human rights expert Mary Lawler had made such a request to the government, but it all went down the drain. The detention order below was implemented in the same manner. Everything was done as the current government wanted. How can the story told by Professor Charita Herath be true under such a pathetic situation? Isn’t this government really an illegitimate government with an expired mandate? At present, what is unfolding is a a peculiar regime in this country. It is not us, the common people, who assess that. Neither are opportunistic politicians. That is the opinion of intellectual scholars.
With this kind of environment, how can Sri Lanka face the international community? The position of Human Rights Special Rapporteur of the human rights expert Mary Lawler, who recently made a very careful request to Sri Lanka, person holding an honorable and responsible position officially appointed by the United Nations. She was appointed to this position on 01 May 2020 based on a decision taken under Article 43/115 of the Official Charter of the United Nations Human Rights Council. One of her main duties there is to look into the processes of human rights defenders in different countries of the world. Also protecting the rights of such people.
Accordingly, she has worked with the regimes of many countries during her last 02 years of service. In many of those cases, it is reported that the governments respect her opinion. But recently, the Sri Lankan government did not even pay attention to her request. Anyway, under this situation, she has stated that the current government of Sri Lanka is only punishing the human rights defenders. But she has also stated that this situation is likely to create an environment that will give serious repecations to the country in the future. The three Sri Lankan activists who surrendered have thus been taken to a Tangalle detention center to be detained for 90 days. It seems that this punishment also consists of strict conditions that is , only one day a week the relatives can see detained .
Implementation of PTA
The other special story revealed here is that the government has announced that investigations are being conducted on this group under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. In other words, the Inspector General of Police had instructed the police to hand over the main group of the convener of the Inter-University Student Union, Wasantha Mudali, to the Terrorist Investigation Division if they are suspected to be involved in any terrorist act. This will be done after the investigations of the Criminal Investigation Department.
There is a wonderful saying in our ancient folklore that “Kabaragoya is chopped and eaten.” That is, it makes sense to change one’s natural shape for one’s own advantage. Sometimes another wonderful thing that has happened here is that a talagoi becomes a kabaragoyas and scares us. Kabaragoya being a talagoi when you want to eat it makes perfect sense through this event. That is, assess yourself whether these Sri Lankan human activists are really talagoiyas or kabaragoiyas. To hide from the media, the above-mentioned three activists were recently seen dressing up as ‘goni scapegoats’ and taken them into custody. The clothes of Goni Billas were also placed over the robe of preist. The people who led the protests thousands of them had to walk like the blind. However, at the time of writing this letter, there was no change in the 90-day detention order.
The real turning point of the events takes place here. That is, the aforementioned chain of events can not simply forgotten. It has now become a serious issue. This means that the international community has intervened very strongly against this incident. It is now unfolding as an evetn that need very broad action. That is, many of the powerful human rights organizations in the world have expressed their strong protest against the Sri Lankan government. These international human rights organizations have emphasized that the Sri Lankan government’s use of a cruel anti-terrorist law to repress the protestors who held public protests for the common people’s issues is a very despicable act.
These organizations have stated in their official announcements that the charges of terrorism do not match any of the crimes alleged to have been committed by the protesters. These international human rights organizations point out that since these protestors are especially university students, suppressing students by presenting an anti-terror bill in this way is a very low-level action by a government. The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was passed in 1979 and it is now 43 years since its establishment. The Act prohibiting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and other similar terrorist organizations was enacted under Act No. 48. In any case, many governments have worked to enforce this Act in various ways.
Legal experts have pointed out that this Anti-Terrorism Act is a very strict law. It is also stated that proper amendments have not been introduced to this Act for about 40 years. Anyway, it has been revealed that this government has brought some amendments in January 2022 in an effort to please the international community. Accordingly, it is also stated that the period of detention of a person under this Act has been reduced from 18 months to 12 months. Accordingly, a person can be detained for a period of one year. However, the Anti-Terrorism Act is a story of a very rigid and supression system of governance. There is no space to talk about it here. .
Yamini Mishra – Director, South Asian Region of Amnesty International, one of the world’s leading international human rights organizations, has expressed his views on this situation. Her official statement is as follows.
Using a brutal anti-terrorist law to suppress people’s protestors shows the inferiority of the Sri Lankan government. It is a very wrong act using an arm a law that has already been heavily criticized and should be repealed immediately. This shows how the authorities are not listening to the voices and criticisms of the people in any way. This situation is contrary to Sri Lanka’s international human rights obligations to freedom of expression and the rights to peaceful assembly. Allegations that the people’s protestors committed acts of terrorism are completely unfounded and a violation of international law.
Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act has a long history of many abuses. Under this situation, a violation of the economic, social and political rights of the civilian population is clearly visible. The Sri Lankan government should not forget that the international community is paying close attention to this situation…’
Opposition from HR organisations
Under this situation, many international human rights organizations had recently expressed their opposition. Along with these organizations, world-renowned international and civil organizations have also expressed their opposition. Since it is not possible to write the information of all these here, let’s look for the names of those organizations.
United Nations Organization
United Nations Human Rights Council
European Union
Amnesty International
Transperancy International
Human Rights Watch
World Organization Against Torture
International Commission of Jurists
International Federation of Human Rights
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development
Frontline Defenders
The International Working Group on Sri Lanka
World Alliance for Citizen Participation
International Movement Against AU forms of Discrimination and Racism
In addition to these organizations, several other organizations have also presented their protest. Now you understand the seriousness of this very well. Now this international protest will turn into another process in the future. In other words, the facts state that the major international organizations of the world will take some action against Sri Lanka in the future due to this kind of human rights violation. In other words, processes such as the arrival of various sanctions against Sri Lanka at the international level can happen in this way. It is a special fact that the European Union also presented its opposition very strongly.
The European Union has expressed its objection to the use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act in recent arrests in Sri Lanka. The European Union has also emphasized on the information given to the international community by the Sri Lankan government at an unofficial level before this that the Prevention of Terrorism Act will not be used. Prior to this, the GSP given to Sri Lanka during the Rajapaksa regime in 2010. Loan concession suspended. This loan relief is provided under the supervision and direction of the European Union.
This decision was taken by the European Union in view of the shortcomings in the implementation of three United Nations human rights charters in Sri Lanka. The decision was taken after an extensive investigation by the European Union. Even though the European Union focused on making such a decision in 2021, the decision was later discarded.
In any case, if a country in the world violates human rights, various sanctions are imposed by international organizations against that country. One of the most recent events is the removal of Russia from the membership of the Human Rights Council. For that, a vote was held among 193 member countries of the Human Rights Council. 93 countries voted in favor of the proposal and 24 countries voted against it. Another 58 countries abstained from voting. In this way, removing Russia from the Human Rights Council was a powerful process.
Sanctions against Russia
However, after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, various sanctions were imposed against Russia by the international community. It is very powerful where the international community is united in this way. Sanctions imposed in this way belong to a number of areas. Economic, and financial, transportation, fuel and cargo, political, personal, credit subsidies and several other areas such as sanctions are exempted. According to the 2021-2022 world reports, 05 countries have been mentioned that violate human rights in the highest manner in the world.
These countries are North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. In addition to this, there is also a list of countries that have violated human rights in the past few years. Egypt, China, Russia, Iran, South Africa, Burundi, Congo, Burma, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan, Somalia, Tunisia belong to these countries.
International reports indicate that in the last 7 years, there have been severe human rights violations in about 20 countries of the world. In 2020 and 2021, North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Iraq have been identified as the 5 main countries that violated human rights. In addition, about 15 other countries are included in that list. The other 15 countries are China, Russia, Egypt, South Africa, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Burundi, Congo, Burma, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan, Somalia and Tunisia.
Here, the main international organizations of the world and other powerful western countries have imposed various sanctions against the subjugated countries from time to time. It includes the various types of sanctions mentioned in this article. Indeed, it is a long article and there is not enough space to write all the information here. Somehow, in this kind of environment, it is possible that various sanctions will be imposed against Sri Lanka by these international organizations.
The current human rights situation in Sri Lanka is expected to be taken seriously at the United Nations Human Rights Conference scheduled to begin on September 12, 2022 in Geneva. Sri Lanka is not concerned about the destruction of its forests, just like ‘the crab is in the water’.
Priyantha Hettige
