SRI LANKA : Critical changes

necessary to restore eroding public faith

December 11, 2015

An interview with Basil Fernando, on Rights, titled Critical changes necessary to
restore eroding public faith on December , published in the Daily News, Sri Lanka, on
07 December 2015, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission
- Basil Fernando

Leading human rights activist Basil Fernando faults the government for not pushing
the good governance agenda enough:
Its time to come up with a proper implementation plan to investigate and punish those
involved in the corruption and crimes that occurred during the previous decades, says
leading Human Rights activist, Basil Fernando
Chathuri Dissanayake
The former Executive Director of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
highlighted that if the positive tide created in January 2015 is to be transformed in to a
long-term movement, urgent legal reforms aimed at tackling graft and serious crime is
a vital necessity.
I dont say the government could have dealt with everything in eight
months. But they could have declared a proper implementing policy, let it
be known to everybody. By now, people should be talking of this policy,
not creating political gossip about who was arrested, claims Fernando.
Taking stock of 2015, Fernando is appreciative that the country has been able to arrest
a dangerous downward trend in governance. According to him the decline started as
far as 1978. Sri Lanka failed in every aspect of governance, although changes were
made in the name of development, the country failed in development and governance
and there was an extraordinary increase in the level of corruption, he argues.
Continuing
abuses
Above all, the legal system collapsed with a huge amount of human
rights abuses taking place throughout the period.
The most significant change was the reversal of the expanding role of the Ministry of
Defence, he claims. The country was developing a type of Ministry of Defence which
was being characterized as a state within a state, where the intelligence services
were seriously manipulated for political purposes; the worst possible development in
any country, according to Fernando.
In the past decade, there was a frightening development of the Ministry
of Defence, and to me that is a defining change than many other aspects.
If that trend continued, Sri Lanka would have become a completely closed
country where everybody would have been under some form of
surveillance and media freedom would have further eroded. The electoral
system too would have suffered a major setback where a free and fair
election would not have been possible for many years to come, he
claims, emphasising on the significance of the political change that
occurred this year.
In comparison, he appreciates the enhanced level of freedom of expression and the
space for freedom of assembly and pays tribute to political leaders speaking of good
governance even for mere rhetoric. It is some change, he observes.

When a Head of State begins to talk about his ideology and refers to good
governance, there is something to be happy about, claims Fernando, who has been a
defiant rights advocate for decades.
However, he insists that it is now time to move forward and to deliver on promises
made. Both the former and current governments have promised to deal with corruption
and other grave crimes but little has been done in this regard.
If the government does not make some courageous and drastic
changes, they will be incapable of achieving what was promised, he said.
Good governance is not just words, but is a serious policy approach. It is
about a functioning legal system. If the legal system is not reliable, it will
create adverse conditions. Nothing we envisaged could be achieved then
and the public has begun to realise that, said Fernando.
Accordingly, he said, urgent reforms are needed and bottle necks cleared.
The country has an inherently bad situation in the courts. On an average, a criminal
case takes over a decade to draw to a close. Many cases get stretched beyond that
time period. These delays make the countrys legal system lose its meaning.
A criminal case should not take more than one year for trial and another one year for
the appeal process to conclude, Fernando insisted.
The idea is not that you punish the criminal someday. Because of laws
delays, criminal justice is failing to be a deterrent. This ails the entire
country, he said.
The poor law enforcement capacity in Sri Lanka is seriously counterproductive in
achieving anything tangible, he noted.
If one has to wait for 15-20 years to have something happen, that
something wont be effective or meaningful. That time period can be used
by an offender to commit may more offenses and to intimidate victims.
The system betrays you, he claims.
The same fate may befall the current investigations into abuse of power and resources
by the former regime.
Curbing
corruption
The government has indicated a broader policy framework for dealing with corruption
and crime but a practical policy is needed to put a broad policy in to action, he said.
This is the main reason why we have not been able to achieve good
governance. Unfortunately everyone is talking about everything else,
claimed Fernando.
Accordingly, Fernando advocates the introduction of an implementation policy that is

designed to achieve the goals set.

We need the hands and feet necessary for achieving good governance.
The hands and feet are the Police Department and the Attorney Generals
Department. If the hands and feet are paralysed, then there is little one
can do, claimed Fernando.
It was a priority to identify shortcomings in the police, the investigating bodies, the
Attorney Generals Department, the Judiciary and the Bribery Commission.
A key problem is the delay in court houses. The government must allocate more funds
to double the number of high courts and for training and technology facilities, he said.
Reform
the
Police
Added to this, the countrys main law enforcement authority, Police, is not disciplined
to carry out their duties efficiently, Fernando claims.
Referring to the rape and murder case of Seya, he claimed that terrible miscarriages
of justice occurred in the hands of the police.
Under pressure to investigate and bring justice to the victim, the police acted
irrationally and without evidence, he claims.
They just listen to gossip and without evidence, take this man and boy in
to custody. And when they deny the police beat them up. Worse is telling
the media, we have solved the problem, the culprit is him and they tell
the names of the arrested and the police think the crime is solved. Thats
deception, Fernando says severely critical of the conduct of the Police.
Secondly all the rights of those accused have been violated. That is not a
criminal Justice system.
Rights of accused should equally be protected, Fernando insists, if not it is not a
proper Criminal Justice system.
Applauding the response of the Human Rights Commission in dealing with the
complaint on police attack on the demonstration held by Higher National Diploma in
Accounting (HNDA) students on October 29, he said that the Police lacks experience
and understanding of how to deal with riots.
However, he is doubtful of the follow up, as the Commission can only make
recommendations, as the authorities have a bad record in implementing
recommendations.
We have a tradition of publicly saying ok there is a recommendation and
then ignoring it. The situation has opened up an opportunity for reforms
and future discussion, to ensure that the Commission has enough power.
Secondly, there is room to establish a system to monitor the
recommendations being out. This could also highlight the reforms needed
in the Police Department.
The Police need to learn the distinction about a demonstration and a riot

dont treat a demonstration as a riot, he claims, and learn how best to

respond to them.
The current system is faulty, he claims, and doesnt serve anybody.
All that is required to fix the system is to instil discipline.
This doesnt require money, this is where discipline has to be brought in.
And this requires both for the IGP and the Police Commission to act. This
is also the easiest step towards good governance, Fernando insists.
Posted by Thavam