Just as the UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour concluded her fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka, four of the 10 civil society members, part of an advisory committee set up by the Human Rights Minister to address human rights concerns resigned from the panel citing differences with the government.
Award winning Human Rights advocate, Sunila Abeysekera, Nimalka Fernando, Rohan Edirisinha and Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, in a letter to Minister , Mahinda Samarasinghe Friday, said they were resigning from the panel as they felt their advice was not taken seriously, reported the Daily Mirror newspaper.
The administration “is not serious about protecting human rights or eliminating the culture of impunity,” Dr. Saravanamuttu said in an interview.
“There is no window of opportunity left to hold talks with the government on the issue.”
He noted that another reason for the move was some members of the government delegation who attended the recent UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva had publicly questioned the credentials of Ms. Abeysekera, who just last week was recognized by Human Rights Watch for her contribution to protect human rights.
Samarasinghe, while expressing disappointment at the decision of the four members, asserted that the process would continue with the remaining six members while four new members would be invited to replace the vacant slots.
“The whole idea of having a committee was to give the opportunity to civil society leaders to sit together with others and discuss issues face to face. Just because of some differences they should not resign. You can have differences but you should sit down and iron out things through dialogues,” he was quoted as saying.
Samarasinghe acknowledged there were "shortcomings" in the government's human rights efforts.
However, the panel had several successes, including persuading President Mahinda Rajapakse to reissue directives to security forces on the proper procedures for arrests and detentions, he said.
The panel was also able to make surprise visits to police stations to ensure they were complying, he said.
"This is such a pity that these four individuals have decided to opt out of this panel — because despite differences, despite disagreements, despite shortcomings, this gave them an opportunity to air their grievances," he said.
The Human Rights Minister asserted that the process would not be weakened by the withdrawal of the four members from the panel and reiterated that he would be compelled to appoint four new members if they fail to reconsider their decision.
However, Saravanamuttu said participation in the panel had become counterproductive: the government was ignoring its advice, while using the existence of the body to fend off international criticism.
Saravanamuttu said the government has shown no commitment to reining in security forces and did not appear committed to constructive engagement with local activists.
"The government objective is military victory, and human rights concerns and humanitarian concerns are at best secondary," he said.
“We were not achieving anything.....We served the committee for one and half years, the human rights situation is getting worse,” said Edrisinha, another of the activists who quit the government's advisory panel.
“We began to realise that in a sense serving in an advisory committee wasn't really yielding any concrete results from the ground when it comes to human rights issues,” he said.
More than 1,100 abductions and ‘disappearances’ have been reported in Sri Lanka since a February 2002 truce with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam broke down 20 months ago, Human Rights Watch said in an Aug. 6 report. Killings and abductions have “dramatically increased,” the New York-based group said.
“The human rights situation in Sri Lanka is very serious,” said Saravanamuttu, who is also the executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a research institute based in Colombo.
“In northern Jaffna region there is at least one person killed or abducted every day. Only international pressure can turn the situation around.”
Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission is appointed by the government and the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons, which constantly monitors the situation in the country, government spokesman Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said in an interview.
The 10-member panel, formed last year, hoped to push the government to investigate and prosecute soldiers, police officers and other gunmen blamed for an ongoing wave of assassinations, illegal detentions and disappearances of civilians in the country's civil war.
“The four members who quit have made a colossal mistake,” Yapa said.
“We have done quite enough to protect the human rights of each person.”
