By Saman Indrajith
Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister D. M. Swaminathan yesterday told Parliament that there was an urgent need to bring in new laws to criminalise hate speech.
Participating in the debate on Geneva based UNHRC report and alleged human rights violations during the last phase of the war, the Minister said: “In 2014 and so far this year 112 incidents of hate speech against Muslim community have been reported. There have been 22 such incidents since January this year. Christian groups have reported 126 incidents against Christians and their religious sites, this January.”
“There have been no prosecutions in relation to attacks by the Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena on the Muslim community in Aluthgama in June 2014 where four people were killed and about 80 were injured.”
The Minister said that the government had not embarked on any comprehensive process of demilitarisation. Local civil society sources recorded 26 cases of harassment and intimidation by military and intelligence services in the North and the East from January to August this year. This figure highlights the reality that the structures and institutional cultures created by the repressive environment of the past had come to stay and there had to be fundamental security sector reform.
“Under the Prevention of Terrorism Act which has long provided a legal framework for arbitrary detention, unfair trials and torture continue. According to the civil society sources, from January to August this year, 19 persons have been arrested and 12 still remain in custody. Although the government has engaged in a dialogue with Tamil Diaspora groups, it has not yet taken any step to delist the numerous Tami Diaspora organisations and individuals.
“Security forces and intelligence services have enjoyed near total impunity and not undergone any significant downsizing or reform since the end of the armed conflict. The military continues an oppressive presence in the war-affected areas of the north and the east by occupying private land and maintaining a culture of surveillance and harassment of the local population and civil society.”
Courtesy:The Island