Human Rights vs Polls

By Easwaran Rutnam

While the spotlight remains on the January eighth  Presidential elections, the human rights issue has not been forgotten with evidence and statements collected by UN investigators being analysed ahead of submitting a report to the UN Human Rights Council in March.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has maintained he will not allow UN investigators to visit Sri Lanka to gather evidence for their probe, while the common opposition has said should it come to power it too would reject a UN led investigation.

Human Rights Watch, one of the international human rights groups which have been pushing for accountability over the Sri Lankan war, said that the human rights issue should be a key focus of the candidates contesting the crucial election.

“Accountability for conflict related human rights violations should be a priority for the candidates, as well as ensuring an end to ongoing abuses by promising to protect minority and other vulnerable communities, ending intimidation of civil society activists and media that play a crucial part in a democracy, defending the rights of migrant workers that travel to the Middle East and elsewhere,” South Asia Director for Human Rights Watch, Meenakshi Ganguly told The Sunday Leader.

Amnesty International, another leading human rights group, also called on the presidential candidates to commit publicly to ensuring that human rights are protected, respected and fulfilled in accordance with international human rights law, transparency and accountability, through rebuilding strong independent institutions to protect human rights, including civil and political rights as well as social, economic and cultural rights.

The London based human rights group noted that ending impunity, which exists at all levels, is crucial, but it is only part of the challenge Sri Lanka faces in repairing its human rights record and restoring public faith in its justice system and the rule of law.

Amnesty International called on all candidates to make a firm commitment to end the widespread human rights violations that have plagued Sri Lanka for decades, eliminate the climate of impunity which facilitates these violations and abuses and combat ethnic, religious and gender-based discrimination and violence. It also said that candidates should commit publicly to fulfilling Sri Lanka’s international human rights obligations.

As a first important step Amnesty is urging candidates to repeal the 18th Amendment, repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), ensure free speech, end discrimination and protect ethnic and religious minorities, strengthen the justice system and rule of law, end abuse of detainees and ensure due process, ensure thorough and efficient criminal investigations with witness protection, ensure victims’ rights to justice, truth and reparation, end violence against women and abolish the death penalty.

International election monitors

Another concern is how free and fair the election will actually be and Ganguly said the government should take all steps to ensure a free and fair election, and invite impartial election observers.

So far the Department of Elections has said that Asian election monitors and Commonwealth monitors have been invited for the election. Indian High Commission sources said that election monitors from India, who are part of the Asian monitors invited by the Elections commissioner and local election monitoring groups, have already begun arriving in Sri Lanka.

Recently, a report released in Brussels said that the presidential election looks set to defy the predictions of many and be a true competition. The report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) said that the polls threaten risks and promise opportunities for long-term stability and post-war reconciliation. It said that the sudden emergence of a strong opposition candidate caught many, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, by surprise. Running on a platform of constitutional reforms to limit executive power and restore independent oversight bodies, the opposition coalition led by former Rajapaksa colleague Sirisena seems set to pose a challenge to Rajapaksa.

‘Amid a restrictive climate for civil society, for Tamils and for religious minorities, the risk of serious election-related violence merits close international attention and active efforts to prevent political instability, including the possibility of extra-constitutional means by the government to retain power.

Reacting to disappointing results for his coalition in a series of recent provincial polls, President Rajapaksa’s 20 November announcement of an early election for a third term was designed in part to strike while the opposition was still divided.

To the surprise of many, a coalition of opposition parties announced that its common candidate would be Maithripala Sirisena, the general secretary of the government’s own Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). A number of key SLFP members joined Sirisena and more defections have followed.

“While he is still the frontrunner, for the first time since the end of the war in 2009 it can no longer be taken for granted that President Rajapaksa will remain in power indefinitely. Should additional senior members of the SLFP or other constituents of the ruling coalition abandon the government, the pressure will mount. For the first time in years, the opposition, together with critical voices among Sri Lanka’s beleaguered civil society, is sensing that political change is a real possibility,” the report said.

At the same time, the ICG report notes that the sudden emergence of a viable joint opposition increases the chances of severe election-related violence and other malpractices. ‘The government is almost certain to deploy the full resources of the state – money, vehicles, state-owned radio, TV and newspapers, civil servants and the police in support of the President’s re-election. The tighter the race, the more violent it will be.

‘Many fear that the radical Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force, or BBS) may be used to produce a violent incident designed to distract from other malpractices, or to lower Muslim turnout, or to provoke a Muslim backlash.

‘With the northern and eastern provinces still under tight military control, security forces could, as in last year’s provincial election, be used to restrict campaigning by opposition parties and intimidate Tamil and Muslim voters to reduce turnout. Restrictions on travel by foreigners to the northern province, re-imposed in September 2014, will make it harder for media, diplomats and international organisations or aid workers to monitor and report on any violations’, it alleges.

The ICG report notes that whoever wins in January, core questions around national identity – issues of devolution of power, of accountability and reconciliation, and of the equal status of Tamils and Muslims in a Sinhala majority state – will remain contentious and they will require deft handling if greater instability is not to result.

President’s Northern campaign

The President, last week kicked off his campaign to win Tamil votes, by reminding the people in the north that the Presidential election is not like the northern provincial council election where the Tamil National Alliance was brought to power.

Speaking at an election rally in Mullaitivu, the President had said that the people of the north faced 30 years of hardship with no hope for a future.

However he said his government changed everything five years ago by defeating the LTTE and giving the public a good future. The President recalled that northern provincial council elections were held last year where the public chose representatives for the north.

However he said the Presidential election is for the entire country and the public must decide based on that. He noted that the government has developed the north and constructed new roads and reconstructed schools and hospitals in the area. The President also urged the Tamils not to be misled by false propaganda and he insisted that the government treats all Sri Lankans equally and not as divided communities.

“Some people want to take this country backwards. Look at what has happened to Iraq, Libya and Egypt. We cannot let that happen to our country and we will not allow that. Four days ago innocent children were killed in a terrorist attack in Pakistan. Yesterday I spoke to the Pakistan Prime Minister and expressed our grief to him. We cannot allow a situation like that to occur in Sri Lanka,” he said.

Later, speaking in Tamil, the President said he was glad to be able to address the public in the north and reminded them of what his government has done for the people in the area following the end of the war.

He also said that the government had spent a lot of money to develop the north, adding that he has given instructions to extend the Yarl Devi train service up to ]Mankulam.

The President told the Tamils to trust him saying he will always protect them and urged them to support him for a better future.

Keen interest will now be on what opposition Presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena tells the Tamils when he campaigns in the north next week.