The LLRC and Human Rights Action Plans
The first part of the LLRC Action Plan deals with what are termed
International Humanitarian Law Issues, which may create the wrong
impression given the excessive attention focused on what are termed war
crimes by some national and international critics of the government.
This is a pity because what I would term general Human Rights issues
figure here, and these should be dealt with swiftly and constructively.
The need to stop abductions and enforced disappearances is widely
recognized, and steps must be taken to prevent such happenings, and to
both investigate and prosecute when wrongdoing is apparent. If such
wrongdoing is on the part of the state, or forces associated with the
state, it is even more important to act decisively, and restore
confidence in law enforcement agencies.
To confuse this with dealing with war crimes is a mistake, and might
prevent swift action. The LLRC made clear that it did not think there
was good reason to assume war crimes had been committed, though it does
note that there should be further investigation of complaints based on
specific incidents.
Data collection
The specific incidents it does describe are those connected with
disappearances after surrender or arrest. These should not be confused
with the conduct of the war, but relate to the wider phenomenon as to
which we still hear allegations, though few of these now, it seems
relate to Tamils.
In this regard, perhaps the most important action recommended is data
collection regarding missing persons. Such data should be systematically
recorded and made publicly available. I believe this will make clear
that there are fewer instances of such disappearances now than is widely
believed, and than the manner in which statistics are maintained
suggests - with records dating from a couple of decades back being used
to claim that the problem in Sri Lanka is on a massive scale.
I myself a couple of weeks back had several queries concerning the
recent ICRC report, whereas a careful reading even of the table of
statistics would have made clear that recent complaints were
comparatively few, and that the figure of over ten thousand related to
information received in the 90s.
But, at the same time, such a data base should also be a spur to
action, since whether the problem is large or small is not the point, it
is the duty of the state to stop such a problem altogether, and
certainly to make it clear that involvement of state agencies is
unacceptable. Thus we need, as the Foreign Ministry tried in the 90s and
the Ministry of Human Rights in the period before the end of the war, to
clear the backlog and ensure that death certificates are issued where
needed.
Political pressures
This is necessary to achieve closure for those still in uncertainty,
even though we know that, as even the American ambassador has granted
recently, ‘the issue of missing persons is not as clear-cut as it seems,
because there are many Tamil people seeking refugee status in other
countries who haven't been accounted against those reported as missing
here’. We need to add to this that it is not only a question of Tamil
people, since some of those listed in JVP days as missing also went
away, albeit in those days the Security Forces were far more ruthless
than over the last decade, and therefore the proportion of those missing
who are in fact abroad will be less for the earlier period. Still, given
that the period for reaching conclusions is longer, there will be no
harm done in issuing certificates if the next of kin are in agreement,
since clearly we need to stop outdated statistics being used to build up
political pressures.
In some cases, it is true, we do not know anything about the alleged
cases, and the information supplied by the Working Group on Enforced
Disappearances is insufficient for us to work on. I suggested some years
back that we therefore ask the Working Group to contact whoever gave
them information, and let us know whether the case is still unsolved, in
which case we can work with the next of kin to ensure appropriate
closure.
Conflict period
Parallel to this database is the household survey recommended to
ascertain ‘the scale and circumstances of death and injury to civilians,
as well as damage to property during the period of the conflict’.
This should have indeed been started long ago, and it also needs to
look systematically into allegations of disappearances during the
conflict period. Something of the sort has been done through the recent
census, but a more systematic analysis, with dialogue and discussion
with those who have queries, should also be instituted with regard to
the missing.
I should note here, with some satisfaction given the attacks I
received from all sides when I first estimated the number of possible
civilian casualties three years ago, that the figures the census
revealed are very much in the region of my estimate.
In all cases, the principle of maximum transparency needs to be
affirmed and implemented.
Thus it is also pleasing that the LLRC Action Plan recommends also a
comprehensive database of all detainees, and also the creation of ‘a
special mechanism to examine cases of persons being held in detention
(for long periods without charges)’. But that is another important
question, relating also to general Human Rights issues, so I will
explore it in another article. |