Sri
Lanka: Presentation of the Attorney General of Sri Lanka Hon. C.R. De
Silva, PC
UNIVERSAL
PERIODIC REVIEW - SRI LANKA
The
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva
Mr. President, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
I wish to deal with the issues of abductions, disappearances, extra-judicial
killings, torture and the allegation of impunity with regard to violations
of Human Rights violations at some length because of the importance
of the issue and the nature of the concern expressed by colleagues in
the international community. Let me at the outset state that, given
the prevailing conflict, certain individuals have been abducted, some
have disappeared, a number have been subjected to torture, and indeed
deaths have occurred under very peculiar and suspicious circumstances.
Mr. President, notwithstanding the serious nature of the security situation
prevailing in Sri Lanka resulting from a reign of terror unleashed by
the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world - the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), it is not the policy of the State to adopt
and enforce extra-ordinary measures that are outside the framework of
the law.
The government has steadfastly insisted that all agents of the state
should necessarily carryout arrests, detentions, and investigations
including interrogations, in accordance with the due process of the
law and in a manner that would not infringe human rights. In addition
to the written law, the President has also issued directives on the
manner in which arrests and detentions have to be carried out. It has
been expressly provided, that no transgression of the law will be tolerated
and that all persons found to have violated the law would be dealt with
and held accountable for their conduct.
As regards the issue of disappearances, I do not wish to cite figures
because of the unique character of the problem and because statistics
given by various sources have been found to be at variance and unreliable.
For example, in a list of 355 alleged disappearances submitted to the
government by a diplomatic representative of one country, initial investigations
alone revealed that 12 persons in the list had left Sri Lanka through
the international airport for other countries under their own name and
using their own regular Passports. If that be the case, we do not know
how many of this list had left the country using false documentation
and other illegal means.
Upon investigations it transpired that 17 persons were found by the
police to be living with their own families in their normal habitat.
In other words, they had not disappeared at all. Investigations also
revealed that another 11 young persons had eloped with their partners.
We are unable to verify how many may have entered the un-cleared areas
in which the LTTE operates. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain
the veracity of these figures and the genuineness of the complaints.
It is also important to note, that investigations revealed that in some
instances, the LTTE has influenced some people to lodge false complaints
of disappearances with the view to discrediting the government. Therefore,
it is not safe to consider the nature and the magnitude of the problem
on the basis of unsubstantiated statistics.
However, it remains a fact that certain individuals have disappeared
and as a responsible government, we are concerned about this problem.
We are therefore studying credible reports and information, so as to
identify the nature of the problem, its magnitude, possible reasons
and identities of those who are responsible. As said before, it is not
the policy of the State to illegally and surreptitiously arrest persons
and detain them in undisclosed locations or to extra-judicially eliminate
arrested and detained suspects.
Mr. President, a Presidential Commission of Inquiry has been specially
established to inquire into allegations of disappearances. The work
of this commission supplements the inquiries being conducted by the
National Human Rights Commission. We hope that material collected by
these two commissions will enable the government to form reliable conclusions
as to the nature and magnitude of the problem. Recommendations made
by these Commissions would also enable the State to pay compensation
to the victims and provide other relief. Furthermore, material collected
by these Commissions would facilitate the conduct of criminal investigations
against alleged perpetrators and their prosecution.
A special agency of the Police Department named the Disappearances
Investigation Unit (DIU), has been investigating complaints into alleged
disappearances. We are determined to ensure that all complaints are
comprehensively and impartially investigated into, perpetrators identified,
and evidence against them collected, so that such persons can be prosecuted.
I might in this regard mention that, during the past decade, I as well
as my predecessors as Attorneys General have instituted criminal proceedings
against 599 members of the security forces and the police with regard
to their alleged involvement in abducting persons, detaining them unlawfully
and extra-judicially eliminating persons in custody.
The latest of these prosecutions is against a former member of the
Sri Lanka Air Force, two police officers and two civilians, with regard
to their alleged involvement in causing the abduction and disappearance
of a person in 2006. The process of investigation and prosecution may
not be as expeditious as one would like it to be. This is associated
with general resource constraints faced by the enforcement agencies
and the judicial system of Sri Lanka. However, what is important is
that, the due process of the law and justice has been set in motion
and is moving in the correct direction.
The allegation of torture is also one that concerns our government.
Both the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) which conducted a confidential
inquiry in terms of Article 20 of the Torture Convention and the UN
Special Rapportuer on Torture Prof. Manfred Nowak who visited Sri Lanka
in 2007 and examined the situation with regards to torture, concluded
that the practice of torture was not systematic in Sri Lanka. It is
our government's view that unfortunately torture may be possibly occasionally
used by certain overzealous investigators on certain occasions as an
investigative tool to extract the truth from persons under interrogation.
Possibly this problem is not one that is unique to Sri Lanka. However
much the purpose for using torture may be in the best interests of investigations,
our government does not condone torture under any circumstances. It
is a violation of an important fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution
and an offence under the criminal law of Sri Lanka attracting very serious
penal sanctions.
All persons who allege a violation of the Fundamental Rights against
being subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
have the constitutional right to complain to the Supreme Court and obtain
redress. Where the Petitioner establishes a prima-facie case, the Attorney
General does not appear in court on behalf of the alleged perpetrators
who may be officers of the police or the security forces. The Special
Investigations Unit (SIU) of the Police has been specially mandated
to cause criminal investigations into all complaints of torture. At
the Attorney General's Department a special team of officers has been
entrusted the task of expeditiously considering the investigational
material, with the view to instituting criminal proceedings against
those found to have been responsible for perpetrating torture. During
the last 12 months alone, criminal proceedings have been instituted
against 61 police officers with regard to their alleged torture in the
course of criminal investigations.
Let me reiterate that, it is certainly not the policy of our government
to protect persons who may conduct themselves in a manner that infringes
fundamental and other human rights of our citizens. To the contrary,
all allegations of the violation of human rights are and will be fully
and impartially investigated and where there exists reliable and sufficient
material to launch prosecutions, all alleged perpetrators of human rights
violations would be prosecuted. Measures necessary to expedite the process
of investigation, launch of prosecutions and conduct of trials would
be adopted.
It is indeed our intention to ensure that, notwithstanding the identity
of the person, his designation and the role supposedly performed by
such persons, all those who commit human rights violations which are
also recognised as criminal offences are dealt with under the due process
of law, prosecuted and appropriately punished. Such action by the State
would not only provide relief to the relevant victims, it will also
serve as deterrence and thereby dissuade others to commit such crimes.
I might also mention that, during the last year, I as the Attorney General
has sanctioned the forwarding of Indictments against several key persons
in authority including Ministers, Members of Parliament and several
other senior officers of the government in respect of their participation
in various criminal activities.
In view of the foregoing facts and circumstances, I submit Mr. President
that the government of Sri Lanka refutes the allegation of impunity.
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