Commonwealth judges renew concern

Saturday, 15 December 2012 00:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Dharisha Bastians

By its arbitrary actions and its failure to follow even its own Constitutional safeguards for the removal of judges, the Sri Lankan Parliament has seriously undermined independence of the Judiciary and called into question its adherence to the shared values of the Commonwealth, Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges Association President John Vertes said on Wednesday in a statement by a collective of Commonwealth legal associations.

The statement comes days after the announcement that Sri Lanka would be the 2013 host of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in November next year.

The impeachment proceedings against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake in Sri Lanka have ignored the Commonwealth Principles on accountability and the relationship between the three branches of Government, severely damaging the Judiciary and Rule of Law, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) and the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association (CMJA) said in a statement yesterday.

President Vertes’ charge was part of the collective statement. The CMJA is the most powerful judges’ association in the Commonwealth.

The associations said that as a member of the Commonwealth, Sri Lanka is expected to adhere to the values and principles of the Commonwealth, including the provision of an independent and impartial Judiciary that can only be removed by proper process on grounds of incapacity or gross misconduct.

In a follow up to its 19 November statement on the motion to impeach the Chief Justice, the Associations urged “the Government and Parliament of Sri Lanka to respect the independence of the Judiciary and in particular to comply with its Constitutional safeguards and the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles and international standards.”

Endorsing the statement on the impeachment made by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers and the International Commission of Jurists on 6 December, the Associations said they had made representations to the Commonwealth Secretariat General on the issue.

In a further flexing of its muscle, the Associations in the statement also “noted” the Commonwealth Secretary General’s statement of 12 December 2012.

Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma earlier this month announced that Sri Lanka would host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November 2013. However, concerns have been raised about Sri Lanka hosting the event, as the country faces major human rights and Rule of Law challenges currently being scrutinised by the UN and the world community. Canada has already said it would boycott the event in Colombo. The impeachment process against the Chief Justice has also drawn criticism and concern from around the world, including the Commonwealth.

The prestigious leaders’ meet, CHOGM, brings some 54 world leaders and country teams together every two years and will be the largest summit hosted by Sri Lanka since the fifth Non Aligned Summit in 1976. Following the summit in 2013, Sri Lanka will serve as Chair of CHOGM till 2015.