We remain deeply committed to protection of human rights of citizens
- President
INDIA: The full text of President Mahinda Rajapksa's speech at the
Stone laying of the Foundation Stone for the 'Indo - Sri Lanka Human
Rights Centre for the South Asian Countries' at the RLEK Campus and the
releasing of the book on 'Capacity - building of Women in Local
Governance in South Asian Countries - a Handbook' at the RLEK
Auditorium, on Sunday the 26th November 2006 at the RLEK Auditorium,
68/1, Rajpur Road, Dehradun, India.
Chief Minister of Uttaranchal - Shri. N.D. Tiwari, Chairperson of
RLEK - Shri. Avdesh Kaushal, Members of the RLEK Fraternity,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Honoured and happy
I feel very honoured and in fact happy to be back again at RLEK: This
time to participate in the laying of the Foundation Stone for the 'Indo
- Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre for South Asian Countries' and in the
releasing of the handbook on 'Capacity - building of Women in Local
Governance in South Asian Countries' here at the RLEK Auditorium.
I thank the chairperson of RLEK, Shri Avdesh Kaushal for inviting me
today and for granting me this privilege. I first came to your campus in
1999 for your Human Rights Conference.
Since then I have visited your campus at least 5 times. I must
complain, however, that my friend Aveshji has in fact visited me in Sri
Lanka only once!
No stranger to this campus
I am therefore no stranger to this campus and to its work. I am no
outsider anymore. I am sure Shri Avdesh Kaushal will not grudge me the
privilege of considering myself a member of the RLEK family. Not only
have I come here several times.
On each of my visits I have met many people out here, and made
friends with several legal luminaries of India, - friendships I value
very much.
This time I bring with me the greetings and best wishes of Sri
Lanka's Human Rights Community for the Human Rights Practitioners of
this esteemed Human Rights Organization of my country's closest friend
and neighbour, India.
As many of you are aware, I cut my teeth in politics over 30 years
ago as a human rights activist. I have remained a human rights activist
ever since. This is perhaps another reason to attract me to your
activities as I feel most comfortable in your challenging human rights
environment.
As a human rights activist on the one hand, and the head of a
neighbouring country on the other, permit me, Mr. Chairman, to comment
very briefly on what has impressed me as being some of your more
important achievements where our region is concerned.
Important role
Over the past several years, RLEK's Human Rights Centre has played an
important role to disseminate a Human Rights Culture in the SAARC
region. It has done so through its training courses in which activists
from the region participate each year.
By training your students to look at human rights from a global
perspective, you have created in our region and outside, a sensitized
cadre of global citizens to carry the torch of human rights to the
different parts of the SAARC region. For this, you must be strongly
commended.
As we all know, the South Asian region is beset with problems of
human rights violations. The impunity with which the LTTE in Sri Lanka
violates the human rights of the Tamil speaking people in particular and
the Sri Lankan people in general is a glaring example of what we see.
Any Tamil leader who does not agree with their cruel and inhuman
modes of operation is killed by them. Dissent is not allowed by them
from any section of the Tamil community. A diversity of views, the
hallmark of any democracy, has no place in their order of things.
The Sri Lankan Government has always offered to negotiate with them
across the table and craft a solution that respects human rights and
democratic values.
They have always either rejected our efforts or made their own
positions impossible. It is against backgrounds such as this, that
RLEK's work in the South Asian region must be appreciated.
Menace of terrorism
We in Sri Lanka have had to adopt emergency measures to protect the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country threatened by the
menace of terrorism. But even at a time like this we remain deeply
committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all our
citizens.
Our Government has taken firm action, - both administrative and
executive in nature, - to ensure that the violation of human rights in
any form is not tolerated. I have ensured that the law of the land is
enforced without exception, and all those responsible for human rights
violations are brought before the law and justice is enforced on them.
To ensure that all complaints relating to alleged human rights
violations are inquired into, impartially and in accordance with the
relevant international norms and standards, I have appointed a powerful
Commission of inquiry to investigate and inquire into serious violations
of human rights.
The work of this Commission comprising highly respected persons
representing all ethnic communities and all segments of civil society,
will be observed by a group of internationally recognized independent
and eminent persons. This group will be headed by a former Chief Justice
of India, Justice P.N. Bhagwathie.
A unique mechanism
This model has met with approval from a group of foreign nations as
well as from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
They will be nominating persons to this group to function as
international observers. I am advised that no other sovereign nation has
ever before instituted such a unique mechanism to investigate and
inquire into human rights violations in their country.
Apart from Human Rights, our South Asian region is also beset with
problems of Local Self Governance. Here too, RLEK has worked
successfully to establish linkages beyond national boundaries to
collectively address these issues.
We ourselves in Sri Lanka are very interested in these issues. We
have stretched out, for example, to study the experience of the Indian
Panchayati Raj System with the idea of learning lessons from it for
crafting our own Sri Lankan solution to our own ethnic problem, with the
maximum devolution of power.
Against this background, the handbook you release today on
'Capacity-building of Women in Local Governance for South Asian
Countries' will, I am sure, be useful to us as well.
Let me conclude, therefore, by congratulating you on your
achievements both in the field of Human Rights and of Local Self
Governance.
The relevance of your work for my own country, Sri Lanka, only goes
to reflect its importance for the other SAARC countries as well.
I thank you once again for inviting me, and giving me this
opportunity of coming back to RLEK yet again. Thank you.
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