Wednesday, 20 November 2013 10:28
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AS the spruced-up city of Colombo returns to normal after the intense Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), tallying up the positives has become ever more important. In that context, steps being taken to make the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission more independent is an integral result of greater engagement with the Commonwealth secretariat.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka will conduct the first national inquiry into alleged human rights violations with assistance from local and foreign experts. Human Rights Commissioner Dr. Prathiba Mahanamahewa has told the media that the first national inquiry into the alleged human rights violations related to torture between the period of 2009 and 2013 will be conducted with local and foreign legal experts. It is expected that the inquiry will be carried out during a period of 18 months.
Dr. Mahanamahewa noted that the Commonwealth Secretariat believed that Sri Lanka should focus on a national inquiry without leaving space for an international inquiry over alleged human rights violations. The importance for this investigation to be more than cosmetic cannot be overstated.
According to the Commissioner, the national inquiry would be independent since it will be carried out with the participation of local and foreign legal experts. The need for credible investigations into sensitive incidents, particularly torture that the military is accused of having carried out during the war, has been emphasised time and again during CHOGM.
Moreover, the now famous ultimatum issued by British Prime Minister David Cameron to Sri Lanka to get its human rights record in order before March 2014 or face the consequences at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva will continue to resonate.
Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma himself is under intense scrutiny to push Sri Lanka to show progress on its human rights record as the Chair of the Commonwealth till the end of 2014. He repeatedly assured international media during CHOGM that his office will provide expertise to strengthen institutions within Sri Lanka, particularly the Human Rights Commission, to conduct credible investigations, specifically mentioning torture several times.
With documented reports of torture by armed forces by Human Rights Watch and an appeal from Amnesty International for Sri Lanka to remain in the spotlight, it is clear that the Government also has to support and speed up such processes as proposed by the Human Rights Commission if it wants to keep alive hopes of at least lightening the shadow over Sri Lanka.
As March marches ever closer, substantial investigations carried out by the Commission to investigate into disappearances, increased media freedom, progress on power devolution and tangible cooperation with the north will all have to show some level of progress. The Northern Provincial Council in its first sitting passed a call for the military Governor of the North to be replaced by a civilian counterpart and the Central Government’s response to this will be one of the key points that will be monitored over the next few weeks.
CHOGM was only a pit stop in Sri Lanka’s journey on human rights. Even though it is now ended and Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa enthroned as its head, the war is likely to have even more battlefields.
