A growing rights crisis in Sri Lanka - VISION

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Friday, February 19, 2021

A growing rights crisis in Sri Lanka

 What is the issue?

  • The human rights situation in Sri Lanka has worsened since Gotabaya Rajapaksa became President in 2019.
  • The issue gains significance with the next session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) set to take place.

What happened in the 2005 - 2015 period?

  • Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the defence secretary in the government led by his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa from 2005 to 2015.
  • This period was marked by many human rights abuses.
  • Critics of the government were murdered, tortured, and forcibly made to disappear.
  • Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the civil war between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
  • The war ended in 2009, with both sides responsible for numerous war crimes.
  • In the final months of the war, the armed forces indiscriminately shelled civilians and summarily executed suspected LTTE fighters.

What happened with the shift in Presidency in 2015?

  • When Mahinda Rajapaksa lost the 2015 presidential election, there was hope for change.
  • There was greater freedom of expression.
  • The repressive and heavily militarised situation in Tamil-majority areas began to improve.
  • The new government supported a consensus resolution at the Human Rights Council.
  • This offered victims of abuses and their families, truth, justice, and reconciliation.

What is the present situation?

  • The human rights situation has worsened since Gotabaya Rajapaksa became the President in 2019.
  • Tamil communities in the north and the east now fear increasing abuses.
  • Since 2020, singing the national anthem in Tamil has been dropped from Independence Day celebrations.
  • The religious rights of minorities are under attack, including interference with Hindu temples.
  • In January 2021, the authorities bulldozed a memorial at Jaffna university that commemorated Tamil civilian victims of the civil war.
  • People who participated in a protest march in February 2021 are now facing criminal investigation.
  • The Rajapaksa government, in 2020, renounced its commitments under the 2015 Human Rights Council resolution.
    • It is now threatening victims’ families and activists who supported it.
  • A presidential commission was set up to investigate “political victimisation” of officials by the previous government.
    • It has recommended the acquittal of those implicated in cases of abuse.
  • Also, numerous people who were involved in war crimes have been appointed to senior roles.
  • The Rajapaksa government has shown outright disdain for accountability.
  • In October 2020, the government amended the Constitution to remove constraints on political interference in Sri Lanka’s courts.

What is the global response?

  • Since 2012, the Human Rights Council has sought to work with Sri Lanka to promote reconciliation and accountability.
  • And India has backed these efforts.
  • But Sri Lanka is now rejecting that endeavour.
  • Instead, it is proposing a new domestic commission that UN experts have dismissed as lacking credibility or independence.

What should be done?

  • At the session, the UNHRC will face a crucial test in taking action for protecting vulnerable Sri Lankans and upholding international law.
  • The UNHRC should recognise the Sri Lankan government’s actions for what they are, an effort to impede justice.
  • A new resolution is urgently needed to protect vulnerable minority communities in Sri Lanka.
  • The UNHRC must take strict action against the gross abuse of human rights by Sri Lanka.
  • It should uphold the principle of accountability for the worst crimes.

Why is India’s role significant?

  • India, as a council member of the UNHRC, will have a key role too.
  • Indian leaders have committed to supporting the rights of minority Tamils in Sri Lanka to “live with equity, equality, justice, peace and dignity”.
  • In pledges to the United Nations, the Indian government has also vowed to uphold global human rights.
  • These commitments have become crucial now.
  • India should join other member states in supporting a resolution to reduce the growing risk of future atrocities.

 

Source: The Hindu