Were The Commonwealth Leaders Too Judgmental ?
R.M.B. Senanayake
Ever since Jesus refused to pass judgment on the woman caught in adultery and who was produced before him and he instead, asked those of her accusers who were without sin to cast the first stone, people have been saying that those who are guilty of an offence themselves have no right to pass judgment on others. The President echoed those views when he toldDavid Cameron that those in glass houses should not cast stones. He also quoted a Pali stanza “Na paresaa vilomani – na paresam katakatamAttanova avkkheyya – katani akatani ca” which was interpreted to mean that a person should be concerned with his own actions rather than of others. The implication is that the British should mind their own business and look to their own wrongful actions. The British resorted to brutal methods to suppress the 1848 Rebellion in the Uva, laying waste vast tracts of arable land- a scorched earth policy. They showed similar brutality in suppressing the Indian mutiny in 1857.
But the world has changed since then. The UN Declarations have accepted the need to protect human rights and International Law such as the revised Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention, do not permit ethnic cleansing, war crimes etc. even where there is civil war. So the UN has set up institutions such as the Human Rights Council and the International War Crimes Tribunal. The tolerance level of crimes against humanity has changed in the world community of people. Even after 50 years Bangladesh is prosecuting those who committed humanitarian violations during the war waged by Pakistan against East Bengal , a part of its territory. The Khmer Rouge are being prosecuted in Cambodia. Kenya’s former leaders are to be hauled before the ICC.
The campaign for justice is being driven by the victims and their supporters. So it is the Tamil Diaspora that is driving this campaign against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. Since many of them are citizens in the Western countries they are pressurizing these governments to take up the need for an international inquiry. But the first call is on the government of the country and it is only if they fail to hold an independent inquiry that there is space for the UN to step in. But what is equally important is to compensate the victims- restorative justice. Have we provided restorative justice? If we have not, we need to provide compensation for the victims.
