{"id":60092,"date":"2018-07-22T03:05:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T07:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=60092"},"modified":"2018-07-22T03:07:40","modified_gmt":"2018-07-22T07:07:40","slug":"sri-lanka-human-rights-commission-head-dr-deepika-udagama-while-welcoming-constructive-criticism-strongly-condemns-attempt-to-de-legitimze-slhrc-through-the-prism-of-ethnic-politics-and-patriotism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=60092","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission Head Dr.Deepika Udagama Welcomes Constructive Criticism But Strongly Condemns Attempt to De-legitimze SLHRC Through The Prism of Ethnic Politics and Patriotism."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Namini Wijedasa<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Human Rights Commission\u2019s (HRC) Chair Deepika Udagama this week denounced what she said were sinister efforts to interfere with the work of her institution and to bully it into adopting specific positions.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, the HRC\u2013and, in particular, its Chair\u2013was targeted by nationalist politicians. The attacks were so inflammatory that the Prime Minister\u2019s office issued a statement on Thursday underlining that the HRC was appointed under the country\u2019s constitution to function as an independent entity. It is a serious issue, it held, to publicly threaten the HRC\u2019s Chairperson.<\/p>\n

Dr Udagama, who specializes in international human rights law, was also backed by civil society groups. <\/p>\n

They decried statements \u201cakin to death threats, violence and hate speech\u201d against her, in particular by Rear Admiral (Rtd) Sarath Weerasekera, former Director General of the Civil Defence Force. After personally criticizing the HRC\u2019s chair, he called for the death penalty to be imposed on \u201ctraitors\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very important to point out that we are not opposed to criticism,\u201d Dr. Udagama said, in an interview with the Sunday Times. \u201cThat\u2019s a fact of life, especially in human rights work. But these (attacks) are of a different nature because you can clearly see a motive to delegitimize the Commission through the prism of ethnic politics and patriotism.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From the HRC\u2019s point of view, she said, a patriot would be partial towards human dignity; and the protection of people from violation of their dignity and human rights. \u201cIt is a very interesting discourse, this whole thing about patriotism and traitors,\u201d she reflected. \u201cI think all these years of this violence and particularly during the war, Sri Lankan society has gotten used to looking at any issue through the prism of ethnicity and religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attacks were \u201ca front, a line-up of, not just of personalities, but a political position\u201d. If left unchecked, they could snowball into hate speech on social media, etc.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, even independent Commissions are unable not to function in a free and independent way,\u201d Dr Udagama said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean we ought to be unaccountable. Of course we are accountable to Parliament and, above all, to the people. The people must see us as credible entities they could bring their problems to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attacks reached a crescendo after the HRC was awarded international \u2018A\u2019 status accreditation by the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions in June, just two-and-a-half years after the new Commission took office. The recognition was the culmination of efforts to win public confidence and to establish the institution as a functionally independent Commission. In the end, it was a systemic achievement that wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the 19th Amendment. To remind the public that reform is possible, and that institutions can change, the HRC called a press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut within a week, the attacks started,\u201d Dr Udagama said. \u201cThat was quite unexpected because we had not been attacked in this manner before. There had been some criticism, but criticism is fine. These attacks particularly targeted the Chair as a traitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the press conference, the HRC was asked what its position was on the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). It is one of the issues on which it is being targeted. \u201cWe answered that the Commission, in 2016, recommended to the Government that it (PTA) be done away with and that, as national security was important for a nation, a human rights-friendly national law be drafted,\u201d Dr. Udagama recounted.<\/p>\n

The PTA has not achieved its goal of dealing with terrorism, she asserted. Bail conditions were difficult. It facilitated torture. And it permitted 18 months of administrative detention, which meant a detainee need not be produced before a court of law for one-and-half years.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, when you are dealing with that sort of uprising or violence, you do need certain extraordinary measures,\u201d the Chair said. \u201cBut what we saw with the PTA was just brutalizing of communities; and communities getting more and more extreme and radicalized because of the problems that set in with this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Human Rights Commission, we have to take these principled positions because our framework is not nationalist politics or any type of politics,\u201d Dr Udagama emphasized. \u201cIt is the framework of human rights law and standards and values.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was problematic were the sort of attacks accusing the Commission, or the Chairperson, in particular, of holding a brief for LTTE interests and working with the Tamil diaspora, with NGOs, to promote LTTE interests,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can interpret a position that we take as that of the Tamil diaspora,\u201d she continued. \u201cThat is the way they view it. But from the point of view of the Commission, its opposition to the PTA or its support for the Office of Missing Persons has nothing to do with what the Tamil diaspora does or does not say.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Commission works on torture, people would raise the issue of \u201cTamil torture or Sinhala torture\u201d.
\nThe Human Rights Commission rejects that. \u201cIt is irrelevant to us whether it happens in the North or South or East or West,\u201d Dr Udagama said. \u201cWe need to deal with the phenomenon of torture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics are also taking aim at the Commission for its role in vetting service personnel chosen for UN peacekeeping missions. All UN Member States that nominate or provide personnel to serve with the UN must screen and certify that such personnel have not committed, or are alleged to have committed, criminal offences and\/or violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n

Vetting does not come under the HRC\u2019s mandate, outlined in its parent statute. In 2016, however, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) wrote to the Commission and requested it to take on the task.<\/p>\n

Vetting was earlier carried out by the UN. But the MFA said Sri Lanka was the first to be invited to do it locally. \u201cThe Foreign Ministry\u2019s position was the Human Rights Commission was the obvious choice as it was an independent institution now under the 19th Amendment and had the credibility to take it on,\u201d Dr Udagama said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly speaking, it didn\u2019t take us very long before we agreed because we thought it would add value to have an independent Human Rights Commission do the vetting,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt would also be a way of encouraging and providing an incentive to the tri-forces and police to have better human rights compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been difficulties. Even the military in a recent statement recognized this but there are efforts to iron those out. A recent roundtable discussion in Colombo with the HRC, tri-forces, police and the MFA went some distance towards addressing the issues which are mainly logistical.<\/p>\n

For instance, applications were usually submitted late, a few weeks before deadline. The required information was not provided, causing a bulk of the applications to be sent back. \u201cThe army recognized this and are providing the information,\u201d the Chair said. \u201cVetting is a very time-consuming, painstaking process,\u201d the Chair said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point is this,\u201d she asserted. \u201cThe vetting has to add credibility to the selection of personnel to be sent. As a country, what would be right is to make the vetting process credible. If the vetting entity is being attacked in this manner and basically told \u2018You all are traitors and you deserve to be attacked\u2019, these elements are proving that Sri Lankan domestic mechanisms cannot work.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are the very same elements that reject international observers or interlocutors looking into such matters. \u201cWhat we are saying is there is capacity at the national level which can function very fairly and independently,\u201d Dr Udamaga analyzed. \u201cThat\u2019s the strength of a country. What these parties are trying to do is negate that. They are pulling the rug from under their own feet, so to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

There could be rejections following vetting, she said. \u201cIt has happened with the UN before,\u201d she pointed out. \u201cAnd the military knows that, if there are grounds for rejection, there could be rejections. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is very problematic right now is (the position), purely based on conjecture, that so-and-so is LTTE-prone, that so-and-so is going to reject any sort of application of soldiers who took part in the war,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, that is ridiculous! We are not doing this for ourselves. We are doing this for the United Nations because of an agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Human Rights Commission of the country is so arbitrary and you write off people on the basis of a mere whim, that\u2019s not going to go down,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is going to undermine this Commission. Why would we do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Commission was now, after the recent roundtable discussion, revisiting the terms of reference\u2013or standard operating procedures (SOPs), as they are called\u2013for the vetting. The objective is to try and accommodate the views of all parties, including the tri-forces and police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose will be the parameters of vetting and anybody having an issue with it ought to make representations to the Government of Sri Lanka because these are terms agreed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations,\u201d Dr Udagama said. Vetting has been temporarily halted till the new SOPs are finalised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will take a few weeks,\u201d she said. \u201cThese are the delays we have been accused of. They are procedural, they are logistical delays and we are yet to come out with a verdict as such. All parties must act with a sense of responsibility and maturity, without using this as a political tool to achieve one\u2019s own political agenda and making very irresponsible statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

One must also recognize, she concluded, that undermining an independent Commission so vital to public life is absolutely against national interest.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Namini Wijedasa The Human Rights Commission\u2019s (HRC) Chair Deepika Udagama this week denounced what she said were sinister efforts to interfere with the work of her institution and to bully it into adopting specific positions. In recent weeks, the HRC\u2013and, in particular, its Chair\u2013was targeted by nationalist politicians. The attacks were so inflammatory that …<\/p>\n

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