This week, Burma’s head of state and military dictator Senior General Than Shwe visited Sri Lanka. He is an unwelcome visitor to many parts of the world due to the complete destruction of democracy in his country, but his welcome by the Rajapakse regime comes as no surprise. Politically speaking, the closest that the Sri Lankan model of governance is coming to is Burma.
At one time, Sri Lankans would have been proud to claim Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s longstanding political prisoner fighting for her country’s democracy, as their own. However, as for the ruling regime, the loyalties have clearly changed. Authoritarian rulers like to embrace their own.
This was another dismal week for human rights in Sri Lanka.
Employees of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority complained of death threats while engaged in a work-to-rule action for better wages. The employees complained that for four years there had been no increase in their wages, although living costs have been rising steadily and significantly.
On Wednesday, after employees had successfully completed a full day’s work-to-rule action to put pressure on the authority to deal with their demands, several leaders complained that they and other employees had received death threats. One employee complained that he was assaulted.
President Mahinda Rajapakse is reported to have ordered an investigation into the alleged issuance of death threats.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Abductions and Disappearances reportedly stated that information provided to the commission by police regarding alleged abductions cannot be trusted. The commission has received around 15,000 complaints, but has held inquiries into only 98 disappearances and 76 abductions from the Trincomalee and Kanthale areas.
The chairman of the commission observed that in some cases abducted persons were transported through several police or military checkpoints, according to complainants. The vehicles carrying abductees could have been examined and the abductions prevented, he noted.
Also, the Sri Lankan government, speaking through Mahinda Samarasinghe, minister for disaster management and human rights, admitted that Sri Lanka’s human rights record needed improvement. The minister was responding to a strongly worded report issued recently by the European Commission on the country’s abysmal human rights record.
The report said that unlawful killings by police officers, soldiers and pro-government paramilitaries were a major problem. So too were torture and disappearances. The report further stated that the police were unwilling and unable to investigate these violations.
Samarasinghe spoke of an action plan for dealing with torture, disappearances and extrajudicial killings and the promotion and protection of women. However, government spokesman Minister Lakshman Yapa stated that calling for the abolition of the Prevention of Terrorism Act was irresponsible, as no one would be responsible for acts of terror in the absence of such a law.
The government is clearly not taking action to abolish any of its draconian laws that give security forces the powers to arrest, detain, interrogate and search by suspending the normal safeguards provided citizens under the law and the Constitution. Thus, the action plan that Samarasinghe is talking about will not change the environment in which massive human rights violations have occurred with absolute impunity.
Despite government assurances, citizens remain unprotected from the arbitrary actions of the police and security forces. It is likely that abductions and disappearances may occur against employees who demand improved wages and conditions in the face of great economic hardship.
Students and unemployed graduates who have been demanding a government response to their grievances were subjected to tear gas attacks by security forces in recent weeks. Meanwhile, journalists, human rights activists and opposition political parties are also complaining of constant and continuous harassment.
The Sri Lankan system of political control is through a one-man dictatorship known as the executive presidential system. Under this system all appointments, promotions, transfers and disciplinary action of government employees are directly under the control of the president.
This system has completely displaced any kind of meritocracy. Loyalty to the president – including loyalty to his family – is an essential condition for obtaining a top post. The slightest hint of disloyalty leads not only to dismissal but also to public disgrace.
The direct corollary to this system is a reliance on extrajudicial punishment. Disappearances, illegal arrests and detentions and the widespread use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act have become a normal part of social control. This essentially means the rejection of the law as the basis of social relationships. The law is undermined constitutionally and also in all areas of life.
The use of extrajudicial punishment as a system of social control has removed the possibility of credible investigation into serious violations of human rights.
This week, reports were filed in the case of Lasantha Wickrematunge, the late editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper who was assassinated in January, to the effect that there has been no progress in identifying his killers. The truth is that there has been no genuine inquiry into this assassination, the responsibility for which is perceived to lie with the government.
The absence of investigation reinforces the probability of extrajudicial punishment. Thus, the nation is caught in a vicious circle of lawlessness.
Source: Dictators and death threats in Sri Lanka
Filed under: abductions, Burma, civil society, corruption, crime, extrajudicial killings, human rights, justice, media, police, politics, rule of law, Sri Lanka, torture, violations
