Commonwealth Law Ministers to hear about corruption and uneven justice

Sri Lanka’s abhorrent history of corruption and abuse of the rule of law in the last few decades are expected to be exposed to an international audience when the Commonwealth Law Ministers meet in Colombo at their 4-day biennial conference beginning on 4 November.

By Neville de Silva in London

Sri Lanka’s abhorrent history of corruption and abuse of the rule of law in the last few decades are expected to be exposed to an international audience when the Commonwealth Law Ministers meet in Colombo at their 4-day biennial conference beginning on 4 November.

Even though these abuses may not be aired on the conference floor legal sources here said ministers and attorneys-general from the 53 Commonwealth member-states are expected to be briefed by local lawyers and academics who are anxious to see that visiting ministers and high-ranking lawyers are made aware of the huge corruption and meddling with the judicial process by unscrupulous politicians and officials that have degraded Sri Lanka’s once- respected judicial system.

With only a few more days to go for the presidential election there is added interest in the conference by the foreign visitors keen to hear about the country’s democratic process and the success of “clean governance” policy promised to the people.

“It is quite appropriate that the Law ministers and senior lawyers should, at this time, be discussing corruption and abuses of the justice system and difficulties in accessing justice. These are much in evidence in Sri Lanka and stories visiting ministers might be told are not fake”, a senior lawyer of Sri Lankan origin practicing in the UK told the Sunday Times.

“The law ministers should not only pay attention to the stories of corruption that they will hear. There are other abuses in the justice system like the long delays in bringing cases to court and major cases being continuously postponed for one reason or another, at times for several years.” 

“Justice is not equally available. The problem is that while ministers and senior officials might engage in discourse and decisions taken they are not always implemented. It is the poor litigants who cannot afford costly lawyers who ultimately suffer”, another senior practitioner said.

His comments came in the wake of the Commonwealth Secretariat announcing the upcoming conference on the theme “Equal access to justice and the rule of law.”

The Commonwealth Secretariat sources said the conference will discuss how to tackle barriers to access to justice, such as costs and poverty, distrust of the justice system, and corruption.

It said some 1.4 billion people are left with unmet civil and administrative justice needs, with the poorest and most marginalized people suffering most. The consequences of these issues, if not addressed, can be severe.

The law ministers are expected to discuss potential solutions that look beyond dispute resolution, to equality of outcomes. These include developments in technology, citizen-focused approaches and specialized justice delivery.