|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 11 May 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Urging legal remedies to prevent, deter disappearances by Lalith Edrisinha (Commentary based on the recent publication 'Disappearances in Sri Lanka and the available legal remedies' by Priyadharshini Dias released at BMICH on Friday, May 2) Delving into the dark days that spanned nearly three decades, within a time frame of less than five decades of post independence Sri Lanka Priyadharshini Dias presents a well documented case for criminalising the offense of causing disappearance and highlights a ludicrous lacuna in the law that is almost tantamount to a licence to commit crime and not be accountable for it to society through the courts of our land. If that is a telling indictment of the Human Rights situation in a country that flaunts to the world its antecedents as a Dharmadvipa Priyadharshini's work is a veritable call for sanity. To wade into the murky waters of that period which earned for Sri Lanka the epithet of 'killing fields' would call for a salutary resolve and commitment to campaign for the upholding of human rights. This presentation of a sordid tale becomes readable by the threads of humane thought that run through the work with a poem by a Filipino mother setting the tone for it. That the fundamental right to life (not enshrined in the 1978 constitution) is blatantly violated outside the confines of this island as well does not dilute the horrendous crimes committed by government and armed groups here when more blood was spilled and more lives taken than during a span of four hundred and fifty years of foreign rule. But it certainly brings to the fore that violation of basic human rights though localised in this work is a universal phenomenon that appears in different locations at different times. "Looking at you in your sleep That life goes on and there are yet tomorrows despite disappearances documented in this book does not however justify such wanton disregard for fundamental rights and if Dias' preface is poignant enough the opening paragraph in Chapter One downloaded from a website captures the tenor of the tragic drama: "The men come. They kick in the door of the house, the villa or shack. Its residents are rich or may be poor. The perpetrators do not always wear uniforms but they always carry weapons. They often come at night but sometimes also in clear daylight. They take the father, the mother or the child into custody without an arrest warrant. The victim has disappeared. Without a trace...." That then is a chilling narration of a 'disappearance', an all too familiar scenario in Sri Lanka which traumatised not only the victims and their nuclear families but society as a whole rendered helpless and left milling about like cattle. If Priyadharshini's work results in the setting up of those structures that would effectively prevent a repeat of those bloody days and also pave the way for recourse to the Law then she would have contributed a major share to the collective effort of civil society organisations that clamour for deterents for such open violations of civilised norms. Dias' study is not confined to a mere documentation of available material and data extracted from reports of Presidential Commissions that form the basis of her presentation but deals with the future as well. Says Dias "In order to deal with the issue of 'disappearance' in the future, the need to enact a law criminalising the offence of 'causing disappearance' is pointed out. Another method of addressing this issue or to curb these incidents would be by acceding to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court. Ratification of this statute would make our governments and individuals accountable for their actions. The government will also be compelled to be transparent diligent and responsible in dealing with situations arising out of passible armed conflicts and insurrections in the future. Further, individual and rebel groups are also subjected to the jurisdiction of the court for committing offenses defined in the statute." Chapter 01 brings into focus the phenomenon of disappearances in Sri Lanka, the emergence of killings and disappearances, the profile of victims, profile of those responsible, summary of methods of causing disappearances and the legal framework that prevailed. Covering the period from the first JVP insurrection to the mid-1990s when bodies were found floating in the Bolgoda Lake the chapter is short enough to prevent the reader from discarding the book in revulsion at the extent to which deadly power was exercised. Says Dias "The political systems that existed during periods in which disappearances were widespread and systematic in Sri Lanka justified disappearances on the ground of necessity. The state using the rhetoric of national security.., ...the non-state groups too justified their actions on the basis that their excessive acts were in fact a reaction to extreme actions of the state." Chapter 02 deals with "The available legal remedies and their drawbacks". The longest chapter in the book, there is ample reference to existing laws but the drawbacks in implementing existing procedures far outweigh the remedies that they are meant to be. The need to reconstruct our society on the basis of principles of democracy and mutual trust accords with the current scenario where confidence building among communities is considered uppermost. Chapter 03 takes the issue of disappearances into the international arena. Dias makes the point that 'Although there is no current convention relating to disappearances, many UN working groups have been appointed to look into enforced or involuntary disappearances in certain countries including Sri Lanka. Chapter 04 characterises the International Criminal Court as a gift of hope to future generations and notes that Sri lanka has not ratified the Rome Statute. Sri Lanka and 20 other participants at the Rome Conference abstained from voting, 120 voted in favour while the US, China, Libya, Qatar, Iraq, Yemen and Israel voted against it as Dias records in the endnotes. Chapter 05 -the concluding chapter restates that the legal system in Sri Lanka is ineffective to respond to or prevent involuntary removals and disappearances. Quoting the UN's expert on disappearances in Chile "The failure to identify and punish those responsible for disappearances might well encourage some to see disappearances as an acceptable method of operation in the administration of national security in the future." Annexed to the five chapter study are accounts of killings of Wijedasa Liyanarachchi, Sarath Karaliyadda and Richad de Soyza that shook every strata of society in Sri Lanka then. The Embilipitiya students' disappearance case gets wide coverage next. In presenting comparative analysis of the procedure followed in a regular criminal investigation vis-a-vis the wide powers laid down in the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER) Attorney-at-Law Dias is on home ground. The worldwide campaign initiated by Amnesty International in December 1992 and its 14 point program for the prevention of disappearances rounds off the 'Annexures' followed by as many as 317 Endnotes that help the reader to comprehend the context of the references made in the main study. To return to the beginning then, Attorney-at-Law Priyadharshini Dias presents a well argued out case for criminalising the offense of causing disappearances in a readable and convincing maiden effort emphasising the need to bring the culprits to book. Her study commissioned by The Women and Media Collective and The Law and Society Trust is the outcome of an International Criminal Court Project. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
