More legal aid centres for North

Chrisni MENDIS

The Legal Aid Commission (LAC) will be constructing more legal aid centres in the North of Sri Lanka, as enforcement to Sri Lanka's post-war legal recovery. As of now, there are only five out of 61 LAC centres located in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, namely, Batticaloa, Akkaraipattu, Kalmunai, Jaffna and Vavuniya, which certainly do not suffice for the population settling in the areas, said LAC chairman S S Wijeratne.

With the establishment of more centres islandwide, the scope by which the public could receive legal aid too, would increase.

Legal awareness will also be implemented in the centres, educating the public on legal issues and laws of the country, shortening the time frame for the nation to return to normalcy, he explained while chairing the Annual General Meeting of the LAC, held on June 30, to discuss the colloquium Conflict Legal Recovery and Equal Access of Justice. There are many problematic issues still at hand from the conflict in the North due to the lack of implementation of the law. "There were many evil consequences of the prolonged civil war that prevailed in the country," explained Dr Selvakumaran (Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo) in his contribution to the session. "It is still under the emergency rule, though some of the harshest and obnoxious regulations have been rescinded.

The civil rule in some parts of the country suffered very badly and the law and order became problematic in those areas. It has left an enormous task, with the people and the government of Sri Lanka, of rebuilding mutual trust, generating a sense of peaceful co-existence and harmony amongst these communities," he said.

UNDP representative Ross Clarke explained the improvements that must be made to the current stance of the LAC centres. The idea of this is a good programme but many people don't know that such a programme exists was the basic outline of Clarke's improvements. He also stated that the organization must also be aware of the quality of the centres at the back of their minds rather than fully concentrating on the number of centres being constructed.

LAC Chairman S S Wijeratne also stated, "Sri Lanka is today showing steady development, following the end of the long drawn conflict.

The rapid developments in economy, industries, international trade, and infrastructure amply vouch to its healthy trend. Legal empowerment of people too, undeniably, is an essential prerequisite for comprehensive development as a nation."

Funded by the UNDP Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration, the 'Equal access to Justice Project' of the LAC seems to be an ingenious plan for the future of Sri Lanka, making it "a society where all deserving Sri Lankans irrespective of their economic or social status gender, caste, creed or nationality or otherwise-able have equal access to justice."