Judges should dialogue with the Executive!

The doctrine of proportionality in its present form is of European origin. A product of interpretation of Platonic and Cicerian theory, the concept was first applied in Prussia in the late 18th Century as the law was codified on Rechtsstaat (‘constitutional state’) lines, and refined by the German courts in the 19th Century. The principle took further hold in continental Europe after the Second World War, when proportionality became embedded in the new German constitution. It was then taken up by the European Court of Human Rights upon its founding in 1959, and later by the fledgling European Community as a conceptual ‘meta principle of judicial governance’

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Point of View

Historical role of Buddhism:

Not for nothing that we have Article 9

The most powerful single factor in the development of Sri Lanka has been Buddhism evidence of which is available through 2300 years of predominantly Buddhist governance. The status quo changed only with the arrival of Western colonials in 1505 ruling, plundering and removing Buddhism from its foremost place among religions in the conquered territories of Sri Lanka,

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Strengthening institutions and organizational capacity:

Pow-wow is good for progress...

My own concerns, both with regard to aspects of Reconciliation that are not being addressed adequately, and also in terms of my responsibilities as Convenor of the Task Force to expedite implementation of the Human Rights Action Plan, were more with Protection issues. I therefore concentrated initially on these in the consultations, with ministries and officials from the North, that the UN has kindly facilitated.

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