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| Sunday, 14 March 2004 |
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HR Commission takes tough stand on election violations by Don Asoka Wijewardena More than 30,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in the North-East will be able to cast their votes at the General Election 2004. This follows a request made by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) to Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayaka to provide IDPs with voting facilities. Arrangements are being made to include the names of IDPs in the election lists, according to HRC sources. HRC, which is playing an active role in ensuring that human rights are not violated during the elections, has also warned that it would not hesitate to institute legal proceedings against the Police Commission or Election Commission, if either or both act in contravention of Article 12 (2) of the Constitution, which declares that "no citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste or sex, political opinion, place of birth or any one of such grounds. Unequal treatment or discrimination, especially on political opinion is termed an express violation of Article 12 of the Constitution". Secretary to the Human Rights Commission, Hema Siriwardena urged voters to act individually and collectively to protect their democratic rights and said that voters are entitled to lodge complaints against election malpractices at the nearest police post. He emphasised that all police officers were required to act on the 11 guidelines issued by the HRC to the Inspector General of Police. Siriwardena pointed out that in accordance with the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and international human rights norms, non-entertainment of public complaints, acting in a partisan manner in enforcing election laws and resorting to torture or violent behaviour through police action would be considered as flagrant violations of human rights. He said that citizens could report to HRC's regional co-ordinators if their complaints were not attended to or ignored by the Police. Siriwardena also said that the Article 4 (D) of the Constitution had provided immense powers to the Human Rights Commission to exercise exclusive jurisdiction for the protection of fundamental and human rights and added that it was the right of the people to exercise their legitimate rights. He said that it was the duty of the people to report unattended complaints to the HRC, which would deal with the relevant authorities immediately on behalf of them. He also said that people would be free to lodge complaints against the Elections Commission for any irregularities that violate human rights and added that all those cases would be duly and impartially investigated by the HRC. The HRC is empowered to perform specific duties for the protection of fundamental and human rights pertaining to complaints on election day, pre-election and post-election activities and to investigate them in accordance with Article 12 of the Constitution. The Human Rights Commission has also advised all political parties and independent groups contesting elections, State employees on election duty, voters and monitors or observers to fulfil their obligations and exercise their rights in strict compliance with the law and act at all times with full commitment to the objectives of ensuring all human rights. It has urged people to condemn and try to prevent acts of intimidation, violence, impersonation and other malpractices, regardless of their support for any political party. |
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