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Minister assures rehab law targets only drug offenders, but use of force and militarisation raise alarms
View(s):By Tharushi Weerasinghe
The Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill that was passed in Parliament earlier this week will be strictly applied to drug offenders only, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said.
The Bill, originally introduced in September last year, was met with loud public resistance as activists, lawyers, and other stakeholders claimed that the vagueness in its terminology left a vacuum for the arbitrary arrest of those speaking against the government. Many submitted petitions challenging various clauses and provisions of the Bill.
The Supreme Court decided at the time that the Bill was unconstitutional and could only be enacted with a special majority in Parliament and a referendum.
The since-amended Bill has addressed and rectified the concerns raised by
the Supreme Court, according to Minister Rajapakshe.
“Rehabilitation work has been going on since 2005/2006 but there was no legal framework for it,” he told the Sunday Times. The Minister noted that it was an ad hoc arrangement that worked through some regulations published in the public security ordinance.
“It was taken up due to urgency to deal with drug offenders and LTTE cadres at the time as it was the intention of the government to rehabilitate all of them.”
He said the presentation of the bill, unfortunately, took place on the heels of Aragalaya as people thought it was meant to target protestors. “We did not want controversy so the Bill is strictly limited to drug offenders now,” he noted.
Responding to the opposition from the medical community to the Bill, the Minister noted that the Ministry of Health was fully involved in the process. The draft had been the combined effort of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Defence, the Sri Lanka Police, the Ministry of Health, the Narcotics Bureau, and the Ministry of Education. “This Bill will prioritise a mental health-focused approach as we are specialising significantly on the counselling part.”
The definitions for the mechanisms of the bill will be drawn from the Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts Bill 2007 No.54 and anybody who is determined as a drug addict either through courts or voluntary submission can seek the assistance of the bureau.
“We have three centres at the moment – Kandakadu, Senapura, and Vavuniya — and we are hoping to set up a few more centres.” There are three types of rehabilitation centres in Sri Lanka at the moment: Under the Prisons Department, there are 10 centres; under the Rehabilitation Bureau there are three, and under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, there are licensed private agencies. “We are trying to bring another law to combine the Prisons Department and the Rehabilitation Bureau to make it one institution for rehabilitation.”
This bill will primarily function to establish the centres and begin maintenance. The procedure for how people can come in is already laid down in the Act of 2007, giving the voluntary option for those who want to avoid the stigma involved in getting help for drug use.
The bill despite rectifying the issues raised by petitioners still has references to “use of force” etc that experts are worried about. But the Minister noted that minimal use of force is prescribed as a technicality for authorities to be able to take action for the protection of those seeking help under the Act itself. “If any incidents are reported it will be taken up with the magistrate who will then be obliged to make a physical visit to investigate the allegations of assault and give calls for medical reports etc.”
The Justice Minister insisted that the Act had been constructed in accordance with international standards.
And yet human rights organisations have denounced the Bill as “a blow to human rights.”
Amnesty International South Asia tweeted this week that the law fails to meet international human rights and drug policy standards, including by enabling involuntary “rehabilitation” through the use of force. Prior to the second reading in Parliament, Amnesty International identified compulsory treatment, court-mandated treatment, and militarisation as significant concerns of the amended Bill.
Amnesty also noted that the militarisation was problematic as “there should be no place for the military in matters related to public health and drug policy,” since it involves the security forces in both the decision-making process as well as the exercise of powers, duties, and functions under the bill.
The Bill was passed during the second reading by a majority of 17 votes with just 23 MPs voting for and 06 against it. Most MPs were not in the House during the vote on the Bill, a circumstance that drew significant criticism from activists and other human rights defenders.
“The Supreme Court looked at the constitutionality of the clauses that petitioners challenged but it isn’t in their mandate to go into the actual policymaking questions like whether rehabilitation is needed and how it should be done,” noted Bhavani Fonseka, attorney-at-law and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives. She noted that following the amendments identified by the Supreme Court, what was passed in Parliament this week was significantly different from what was proposed initially.
“The legislature had the task of debating whether this was needed and whether it was done properly but the debate was dismal since few turned up,” Ms. Fonseka noted adding that the engagement may have been limited due to the elections that were happening.
She added that while the opposition did raise certain questions other conundrums like why the military is involved still stand. The law passed in Parliament was still open to abuse despite it addressing the initial concerns as terminology on the “use of force” remained very open to interpretation. “These are things the legislature should have addressed but the legislature and opposition did not step up.”
“The next phase of it is what will reveal the dangers if any remain,” she added noting that how the law had been used in the past raised concerns, a clear reference to the government’s repressive policies from attacks in July to arrests and detention. “The President publicly said the other day that he would declare emergency again and bring out the troops if necessary – in this context we have to be diligent to see who is targeted.”
She added that the developments in the case of Wasantha Mudalige in particular were stark reminders of how those who were seen as inconveniences to the government were targeted when there was no process safeguard.
The Speaker is expected to sign the Bill next week and the implementation may take at least two months, sources said.
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