Entertainment from the Human
Rights Establishment
The forgetfulness of the Asian Human Rights Commission
Secretary General The
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP)
18th October 2007
The Peace Secretariat is delighted at the new levels of debate developing
in the Human Rights industry with the comparison of me to a character
from an Orwell novel. Literary comparisons and a sense of humour are
always welcome, and it is good to see that Basil Fernando of the Hong
Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission has not lost his touch.
I am also grateful for his recognition of the criticisms I used to
make of the Jayewardene regime. Earlier he graciously, having cited
extracts from a report of the Jaffna University Teachers for Human Rights,
asserted their credibility in terms of what he quoted as a certificate
from me. I believe this shows he understands that I am supportive of
Human Rights organizations that strive for objectivity in highlighting
problems. This does not mean I accept that everything they say is true,
but I would argue that their complaints must be taken seriously and
investigated.
I am sorry therefore that I have now upset him. But what worries me
is blanket generalizations and falsehoods that are either deliberate
or culpably careless. I am also worried about intellectual shoddiness.
If I might cite just one sweeping line from his most recent statement
he claims that 'Together with the new conception of power developed
by the executive presidency the basic institutions such as the police,
the prosecution system under the attorney general, the judiciary under
Sarath Nanda Silva, and the parliament itself have suffered extraordinary
setbacks.'
Unfortunately Basil seems to have forgotten completely the situation
in the eighties, when the concept of the all powerful executive presidency
was developed. Though the power of the position has declined, not least
because the massive parliamentary majority that backed it, with ready
expulsion of MPs who opposed the boss, no longer exists, I am immensely
proud of my opposition to the system then - when there was no Human
Rights industry and, apart from the sterling Civil Rights Movement,
criticism was by lone individuals.
To take one simple instance of Basil's failure to appreciate salient
differences, he may disapprove of Sarath Nanda Silva, as he calls him,
but no one would claim that the current Chief Justice is seen as an
instrument of the government. There is not the slightest possibility
of him being hauled before Parliament as happened to poor Neville Samarakoon,
Jayewardene's personal lawyer, who was elevated to the post but finally
decided that the regime was execrable.
Again Basil may disapprove of the attorney general, but there is nothing
like the deliberate distortions that began well before the Richard de
Zoysa murder with for instance the Ananda Sunil case, a mirror image
involving a much poorer family that I have highlighted in my writings
Sadly, the establishment in those days did not care, and there was no
one to protest, unlike today when everything can be questioned. And
with all these questionings, there has been no challenge to the integrity
or the intelligence of the current Attorney General, unlike Shiva Pasupathy
who blindly followed Jayewardene and is now blindly following the Tigers,
not wholly unlike some elements in the UNP.
The Time Machine of the Fantastic Four
But the Human Rights establishment 7 establishment really gets more
preposterous every day. Now it claims that the government did not permit
Louise Arbour to visit the East. The government tried very hard to persuade
her to go to the East, but she strenuously refused, citing a lack of
time. Where she would have found the time to go to Kilinochchi when
she had no time to visit the East is another question, but doubtless,
in pursuing her determination as she put it to convey her concerns to
the LTTE she would jolly well have found the time. With regard to the
East perhaps she was reassured by Sir John Holmes' comment that the
situation there was much better than he had been led to believe.
Then we have the sanctimonious pronouncements of four members of the
establishment, that they have resigned from a government committee,
a resignation that has received much international publicity. One reason
cited for this is that the government is not serious about reform, another
is that the government sought to stop them speaking out because they
were on the committee, another that they had been criticized by the
Peace Secretariat.
The four have been members of the committee for well over a year, and
have not between them attended many meetings. The reason for their resignation
may well have to do with SCOPP, in that when one of them was holding
forth in Geneva one of our staff pointed out that they were on a government
committee, and should have attended its meetings and made such points
there. It is not perhaps entirely coincidental that the discovery that
the government was not serious occurred after twelve months and more,
at the same time as Louise Arbour's visit when maximum publicity for
the resignation could be achieved.
All this sleight of hand may not be noticed internationally, where
reporters may not realize why opponents of the government are terribly
anxious to claim that there is now a 'Showdown on key HR issues'. But
it would be sad if the purported showdown diverted attention from what
should be the more urgent responsibility of the international community,
to persuade the LTTE to negotiate, instead of hoping that these shenanigans
would weaken the government.
Rajiva Wijesinha
Secretary General
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process
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