The challenge of building confidence
JUL 09 2016
The UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva this time did not make headlines though the so-called Combined Opposition blamed the government for not responding to the criticism of Prince Hussein.
During the time of the previous government the UNHRC sessions in Geneva were utilized to rally popular support on the grounds that the west is using HR to undermine our independence. The fascistic regime used to say that HR issues are used by the west to create instability in developing countries such as ours.
As such Mahinda regime gave the work of the UNHRC the maximum of negative publicity during time of those sessions. It accused the international community of seeking to harass those in the Lankan Security Forces who had won the war against the LTTE and promised to defend them. Fascistic regime said the successive resolutions of the UNHRC since 2009 as being motivated by the desire to discredit Lankan forces and its war heroes. They insisted that the Tamil liberation is a design of western imperialism.
UN human rights policy
By way of contrast, the policy of democracy with equality of the successor government in office since 2015 has succeeded in assuring the Lankan masses about the attention given by the international community and the UN human rights policy which is binding all members of the UNO. Most people in Lanka would now see the government as handling the international obligations, with skill and with tact.
More than nine months have elapsed since the government took the clever step of co-sponsoring the UNHRC resolution of October 2015 and disarming hostile countries in the UNHRC into friends once more. However it is true that the resolution itself is only implemented in part as yet. Though defeated pervasive culture of fascistic force was able to slow down the process so that only one of the four transitional justice mechanisms that the government promised to establish has appeared, and that too only in draft form.
However the present government did not allow any facetious displays during the UNHRC sessions. It made aware that what the international community is seeking from Lanka in terms of addressing the human rights violations of the past, fraught with fascistic inhuman deeds.
The three decade long war is over and the military battlefields have been cleared but the divisions of the past continue with the political demands of the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities not able to find a common platform against fascistic villainy. In working out answers to the demands of the UNHRC process, the government was constantly under the pressure of fascistic forces who are hell bent on sabotage.
Central Bank Governor
The issue of the reappointment of the Central Bank Governor who had come under a cloud for bond transactions worth billions of rupees showed how the fascistic forces work. These forces were able to bring the two main constituent parties of the government against each other, the Prime Minister supporting the reappointment of the Governor but the President not willing to do so. Better sense has prevailed and a mutually acceptable choice for the position of the Governor of the Central Bank has been made.
The appointment of Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy to the top position in the Central Bank has brought a statesmanlike conclusion to a problem that was threatening to undermine the unity of the government. It is in this context we have to comment on the report of UNHRC.
Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)
In his report to the UNHRC, High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, appreciated the progress made by the government in a number of areas, but also pointed out that the government has not moved fast enough with tangible measures to build confidence among victims and minority communities and that there are anxieties that the full promise of governance reform, transitional justice and economic revival, risks stalling or dissipating. This fact has been highlighted by local HR organisations and there were protest throughout the country!
He said the progress in identifying and releasing land in the North and East still held by the military has been slow. He also said that the military presence in the north and east remains heavy and that a culture of surveillance, and, in certain instances, intimidation, also persists. He said that the fate of persons detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) remains a concern and that while government released on bail 39 individuals detained without charge, the fate of around 250 detainees remain unclear and that more than 40 new arrests reportedly took place in 2015-16. Absolutely correct and our campaigns continually highlighted the lapses.
Accountability process
However, the understanding of the High Commissioner about the cause of delay is incorrect. It is false to believe that these delays and lapses come because of structural faults in the state; civil service, armed forces, judiciary and police are filled with structural defects. There could be minor defects; but all state structures are intact and educated and professional people are in charge.
The problem is that there is an organised fascistic force with millions in coffers, who intervene to sabotage the process of redemption. Prince made specific mention of the government’s failure to set up a special court for war crimes and to bring foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators into it to make the accountability process a credible one.
He expressed his view that “a valuable step for the Government to quickly build public and international confidence will be to advance some of the emblematic cases pending before the courts and achieve successful prosecutions.” For that, mass mobilization to break the power of fascistic menace is necessary. Technical operations will only strengthen the fascistic forces.
