Conducting A Census; Another Cosmetic Exercise Before Geneva 2014
By Paul Newman -January 24, 2014
Dr. Paul Newman
After reading the Groundviews article dated 07/12/2013 and the article by Mr.Raj Jayadevan dated 20/01/2014 in CT, I felt something more could be added to this discussion on the census of human and property damages taken up by the Government of Sri Lanka. I fully acknowledge that it is nothing but a ploy of the present regime to thwart the International community once again just before the 25th UNHRC in March.
The entire date was collected by the Gram Sevaka Niladharis and government staff, the respondents did not have a chance to fill the questionnaires which were in Tamil and Sinhalese, and there was no English translation available. There are serious allegations by very responsible people of the north that many villages were left out. The same type of population census carried out the last time would result in the reduction of the MP seats for Jaffna electoral district from 9 to 6 in the next elections. Only direct relatives of the victims, (husband or wife and parents if the victim was unmarried) were eligible to register.
Though the forms had all the details, the contents were orally dictated for filling them up, which means the people who work for the government who collected the data, collected only what was instructed to them or only what they wanted, whereas the guidelines had all the details and this to tell the outer world that the census was of International standard.
During the census one of the important issues locally was the question of witness protection especially if the families had links with the militants or if the families were to be present till the end of the war in Mullivaikal, the question raised is, when a high profile human rights activist like Fr.Yogeswaran SJ was questioned immediately after he met Ms.Navi Pillay, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, how will they be spared? Is it wise to give all the details?
In Jaffna the army has moved out physically to a large extent but the psychological scars remain and the presence of the para military too has made people think twice before they indulge in giving out details of the losses they have incurred especially if they have lost their near and dear ones, the reasons for their death/disappearance and the alleged perpetrators.
Many of those who have surrendered do not even speak about that if they have young girls at home fearing the security forces. Hence, the question of many disappeared people remains a mystery.
