Focus on Rights

An all-party consensus on the commissions
Now that the exciting business of elections is over and we are back to unstable governance again, perhaps it may be best to concentrate on the gains that may yet be made.

Towards that end, the grouping of Buddhist monks forming the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has indicated in no uncertain terms that its support to the new government, (presently caught appropriately enough between the devil and a particularly turbulent deep blue sea), is subject to a number of conditions. Its first three conditions, namely the immediate de-merger of the North and East, the maintaining of Sri Lanka as a unitary state and identification of LTTE as not being the sole representative of the Tamils, have all the obvious propensity of propelling us back to war.

Equally, its emphasis on enacting laws banning unethical conversions, promises a return to the rising religious tensions evidenced last year (which, one must not forget, subsided fairly mysteriously with the dissolving of Parliament and the announcing of the April 2 elections).

However, the last three conditions put forward by the JHU are extremely praiseworthy and indeed, comprise issues on which the major political formations, now including the JVP, should unite, given the tremendous public concern displayed thereto. These conditions include strengthening the National Police Commission and the Bribery and Corruption Commission, as well as establishing the Elections Commission. An all-party consensus on these three issues, (by far, the least controversial of all the outstanding matters that the new administration has to deal with presently), will signify to the voters in this country, the commitment of our representatives to minimal democratic rule.

The JHU has also indicated that it will push for the formation of a Media Commission, due in part obviously to the recent defamation of its candidates by the state electronic media. This objective has however, a more opaque tinge to it, if the aim of the JHU is to ensure a state media free from political interference. Even though the 17th Amendment did contemplate a Media Commission appointed by the Constitutional Council, in its early drafts, the manner by which it was supposed to ensure the freedom and independence of the State controlled media in the dissemination of news, was not exactly clear. The old drafts stipulated that the Chairman and Directors of the two state electronic media institutions as well as print or electronic media institutions where the State directly or through agency owns the majority of the issued share capital or has contributed to over fifty percent of the capital, should be appointed by the Commission.

Rather troublesomely, the proposed Media Commission was also given the power to issue general or special directions as it thinks fit to any of the above named persons or bodies, raising thereto the question of editorial independence. It stands to reason therefore that, if this proposal is to be resuscitated, it should be first subjected to extensive public discussion as to whether its objectives cannot be secured otherwise. A radical overhaul of the laws governing the state electronic media institutions and the enactment of an independent Broadcasting Authority may well be more appropriate.

In general however, the strengthening of institutional capacity of key governance bodies in Sri Lanka, may draw upon some useful examples in Malaysia, which akin to Sri Lanka, recently underwent general elections. In particular, continuing debates in Malaysian civil society with regard to the monitoring of police abuse are relevant to us. Despite the accolades rightly due to the National Police Commission (NPC) during the elections, its performance as far as general police abuse is concerned since its inception, could have been more proactive.

In both countries, the police continue to be accused of corruption, failure to act on complaints, abuse of powers, use of unreasonable force, torture and deaths in police custody and attitudes of "shoot to kill."

Strong calls have been made for strengthening the Malaysian National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) and the establishing of an effective and independent commission having powers of investigation as well as prosecution over the police. Malaysia's just-elected Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, within in his first hundred days in office, conceded that "the police were facing a serious image crisis owing to negative public perception, allegations of police brutality, perceived corruption among police personnel and their failure in respecting human rights."

Badawi announced the setting up of a Royal Commission on the police as a step towards rehabilitating the image of the force and restoring public confidence in it, whilst stating that "We don't want to make improvements on an ad-hoc basis, amending the laws a little here and there." Apart from human rights organisations working in Malaysia, the Malaysian Bar has also strongly lobbied the Attorney-General's Chambers to effect an inquiry into every case of custodial death and police shooting and ".....where appropriate, institute criminal proceedings against persons responsible for such deaths."

Sri Lanka exhibits an equally grave situation as far as police killings are concerned. However, the level of concern here is far different from Malaysia, given also the total indifference exhibited by our dismal local equivalent of the Malaysian bar, to this and other issues that do not directly affect their own pockets.

For example, as recently as March 9, 2004, on the same day, two separate incidents of extreme police brutality were reported by rural level activists, from police stations in Mahawela and Kandy/Peradeniya, resulting in the first instance, the death of the victim. Both cases, based on the testimony of the victims, identify the police officers responsible and exemplify consistently documented patterns of police abuse that are difficult to turn a Nelsonian eye to and which have moreover, been deplored by the Supreme Court time and time again.

In that sense, the National Police Commission (NPC) has yet to initiate its public complaints procedure against police officers cited as responsible for rights violations. This was an issue regarding which the United Nations Human Rights Committee, (UNHRC) examining Sri Lanka's Fourth and Fifth Periodic Reports under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights expressed severe concern in Geneva last November. Sri Lanka has to report back to the UNHRC in this regard by November, 2004 and it would be interesting to see the manner in which compliance with last year's recommendations would be manifested.

The duty imposed on the NPC, to fulfill its constitutional obligations in this respect under the 17th Amendment, obviously stands on its own. However, it is good that strengthening the institutional capacity of the NPC as well as other monitoring bodies, (including most importantly the Bribery and Corruption Commission) and the establishing of the Elections Commission have now been featured in conditions put forward by the JHU to the new government. We need to see an all-party consensus in this regard immediately.

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