Compassionate Justice for peace, prosperity and development
Sarath WIJESINGHE - LL.M (London)
Solicitor-Attorney-at-Law
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, nationality,
law, natural law, religion, equality along with the punishment of the
breach of the commitment. The most important part in this definition is
the punishment and the mode of punishment.
Different societies and religions have defined and given guidelines
for mode of punishment and reparation for justice. Justice is synonymous
with fair play, reasonableness and compassion. Utilitarianism is a form
of justice justified by the ability to achieve future social benefits
resulted in crime reduction and retributive justice is in response crime
proven by lawful evidence, so that punishment justly imposed.
Training for IDP youth. File photo |
Restorative justice is dealing with making the victim reparation and
paid for the loss including reintegrating the offender into the society.
Distributive justice is directed at the proper allocation of wealth,
power etc. and oppressive justice exercises and authoritarian approach
to legislature totally unrelated to justice.
Legal systems
Understanding of this concept are dependent of history, mythology,
culture and the legal systems. Justice involves a system of consequences
that naturally derive from any action or choice.
Compassionate justice is completely different from these modes of
justices and is mainly based on religious beliefs. This concept is
embodied in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and other religions.
In Compassionate Justice elements of most of other justices are
embodied. But the West always deals with other forms of justices other
than ‘Compassionate Justice’.
Compassionate justice is not an area alien to Sri Lankan culture.
Wrongdoers are compassionately considered and the treatment was based on
basic norms of kindness, compassion and reparation in a compassionate
way. In 1970s misguided youth took to arms on an armed insurrection to
change the government democratically elected by the people.
International pressure
Sri Lanka government then after having suppressed the uprising the
misguided youth were compassionately treated by rehabilitating them in
university camps. History has shown that the then government has taken
correct steps of performing compassionate justice by not punishing them
ruthlessly and taking steps on compassionate reparation and other means.
Most of these youth who were reformed today are leading high positions
in Sri Lanka and worldwide.
Currently Sri Lanka is faced with international pressure on as to how
the group of Sri Lankans who took to arms was treated at the last phase
of eradication of terror which has threatened world peace, regional
peace and the peace of the entire nation over 30 years. The brutality of
the terrorist organization is well documented wildly and locally and the
amount of mass murders destruction of property 30 years has taken the
nation back to hundred years. The world watched in disbelief the victory
over terrorism which the world considered unwinnable succeeding in a
short span of three years based on the brevity and strategy masterminded
by the current regime headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa who
continuously and consistently demanded that justice should be done and
it should be compassionately applied.
There is a concern by some Western countries and nongovernmental
organizations of the responsibility of the Sri Lankan government on
reparation and accountability. Accountability is a factor derived from
humanitarian law which is based on in the UN Charter and the UNHCR
adopted in 1948. Though it outwardly speaks of restorative justice the
theme of these two important and powerful human rights documents are
based on compassion.
UN Charter
The documents were prepared as a result of the aftermath of the world
war which led to destruction of nations and millions of human beings. It
is as a result of this blood bath that the nation adopted the UN Charter
in place of League of Nations which they considered ineffective. The
similar incident in history is King Asoka’s extension of compassionate
justice after having executed massacres for winning the entire India.
At the end of the war King Asoka was repentive after having met young
Buddhist monk Negroda, he was repentive and initiated reparation in a
compassionate way. He sent his son and daughter to his best friend in
Sri Lanka King Devanampiyatissa to propagate Buddhism which is still the
basis on which the Sri Lankan culture is rooted.
There is no question that Sri Lanka forces are professionals and that
Sri Lanka maintain high standards of maintenance of war. For 30 years
all the residents in the LTTE areas were fed and the government
structure were active after having paid full salaries in schools and
universities. But the last phase of the war was crucial because of the
intervention of thousands of NGOs who poured into the area funds and
other resources in addition to the strong LTTE network worldwide aiming
at North and East to be separated from the main stream. Sri Lankans are
united, friendly and Tamils prefer to live with Sinhalese in the main
areas.
Out of the entire Tamil population majority live in peace with the
Sinhala population and in the capital of Sri Lanka majority of the
ethnic community is Tamil and Sinhala comes third. This shows how
tolerant Sinhala residents and the integration, friendship and
compassionate attitude of the people.
The government is in immense pressure demanding some countries and
NGOs that Sri Lanka should adhere to restorative justice and
accountability for the last few days of the war. This process is based
on media propaganda in which Channel 4 is mainly based on text messages,
emails, the TamilNet information and also contents of strong LTTE and
front organizations.
It is at this juncture that President of Sri Lanka has again declared
to extend Compassionate Justice for rehabilitated LTTErs. He said that
he is prepared to bring peace dividends to the country including the
North and East when shortsighted narrow-minded parties are talking about
the 13th Amendment without considering the development or welfare of the
people living in the North and the East. The priority should be given to
the welfare benefit and the development of the North and East which is
fast growing and developing.
Today our economy is booming with tourism, investments are pouring
and there is peace and stability and what matters is Compassionate
Justice in different ways that is by development, by way of reforms, by
way of commitment, by way of integration, by way of offering equality,
by way of making them equal before justice, fair play and also to take
them forward in the voyage of making Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia.
Therefore it is the duty of the professionals and academics to take
this message forward and educate the world especially the world media of
our vision, strategy, breeding, education based on our culture and
history based on compassion and kindness.
[email protected]
(The writer is the Sri Lankan
Ambassador in UAE) |