JUSTICE SYSTEM MUST SPEAK TO THE POOR - Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies Executive Director

Ishara Mudugamuwa

“It is important to have policy and guidance for delivering a social care system that provides equal care for all while enabling people to retain their independence, control and dignity,” said Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies Executive Director Jeevan Thiyagarajah who is also associated with the Institute for Human Rights.

In an interview with the Daily News, he said the care and support system must be developed with a focus on people’s well-being and helping them stand on their own feet; providing better information to help people make choices about their care; giving people more control over their care; improving support for carers; improving the quality of care and support and better integration of different services.

Amongst the new areas of care support and functions suggested are: dementia, senior citizens, end of life care strategy, day care or residential facilities built with investments by senior citizens or families, mental health, learning disabilities, offender health, substance misuse services,etc.

Following are experts:

Talking about social care in Sri Lanka Jeevan Thuyagarajah said the Ministry of Social Services is the principal agency of the government which looks at the whole portfolio of social services in Sri Lanka. Care and support system must progress with a focus on people’s well-being and support stay independent for as long as possible; provide better information to help people make choices about their care; give people more control over their care; improve support for carers; improve the quality of care and support; improve integration of different services are some of the fundamentals of the what could be social service in future. When we look into the future it is important to look at new areas of social services.

In Sri Lanka now we have a peaking population. There is absolutely no doubt that, as we grow older all of us can become afflicted by dementia. I think it is important to look at what you can do to slow down that process.

Correction centres

A man is usually considered old when he reaches the retirement age of a public servant. That is to say that a person who has passed 60 years of his or her life is considered to be old, but this is not true. Ageing is a development process from birth to death. The government needs to be aware of the growing number of older people and of the need to address the various problems that arise with ageing.

Describing how the knowledge and experience of elders’ can be used for the country’s development, he said countries like Singapore are trying to extend the retirement age by about 10 years. We may have to consider a similar stance by looking at ways and means that our public servants can contribute their services in a similar manner as done in the private sector. It is not only beneficial to the country but for individuals and to the family simply because we are stretching their earning life a little longer.

It is our duty to look after people with learning disabilities. It is vital to adopt new teaching methods to teach people who are slow learners and with learning disabilities. I think our education system does make provision for people with learning disabilities. I think we should always remember that there could be a sizable population who may have hearing impairements, sight impaired or any other learning disabilities. How can we allow them also to be a part of the main stream the education system?

We also have issues about substance misuse. Some of the cases are concerning repeat substance misuse or abuse. Some of them unfortunately end up in correction centres. All praise should go to the Defence Secretary for giving instructions to the relevant authorities that the correction centres function properly. The alarming fact is that about 65 percent of the population in correction centres are there for substance related offenses, while others are consumers and sellers.

The National Dangerous Drug Control Board, National Institute of Mental Health, Ministry of Defence and a couple of other agencies have made concerted efforts regarding the treatment of substance abusers.

In terms of substance misuse and abuse something which could be very pertinent is that rehabilitation cannot really take place in isolation from potential family units. It is also important to focus into the surroundings in which they are living in. In this scenario, the Police have a significant role to play in looking at substance free communities. We need to really look at alternate avenues of employment for current drug-pushers, if we can’t get to the bottom of this, he said.

Taking about poor people’s access to the legal system, he said the poor do not have proper access to the legal system, while our laws themselves are fantastic. There is actually a notion of Dhamma in our laws. Many people would not believe that. But I can give a classic example to prove my point.

We have a whole array of laws which protect animals and also protect our environment. I do not know whether these laws go back a long time. It is illegal to destroy the eggs of animals. It is illegal to kill an animal. Sri Lanka is quite advanced in terms of giving precedence and consideration to life. This is a classic example of how our laws treat animals. Our law actually related to that.

It is something that a very few people know about. I think if that is the spirit of our laws which we think is the case, we should really be going through a system where the justice system speaks to the poor. Right now, our system is such that the poor cannot speak to the justice system unless they have a representative. I am very happy to learn that the new Judiciary Services Commission Secretary has given a patient ear to several representations and is mindful of this particular aspect.

What is happening to children who are in children’s homes? What is happening to a majority of citizens who are in correctional facilities? Those in remand for a long time?

Looking at our system, we observe that it is a system of court productions. Sometimes court productions perish because of their poor quality and owing to space constraints in court premises. The attention of the Judiciary Services Commission has been been drawn to this situation. This is a very welcome move.

Legal services

Thiyagarajah also made a strong observation about the cost for legal services. Once a case is filed nobody is in a hurry to complete the case. Every time court hearings are postponed for a future date, there is more cost involved which is beneficial to the lawyers. It is a loss for the State and the people. I think a stop should be put to this situation. I think the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has a crucial role to play along with the Attorney General’s Department and Police Department in helping overcome these problems, he said.

Thiyagarajah pointed out the importance of various Ordinances which go to help the poor, homeless or destitute women and children. We have a large number of children in children’s homes.

There are thousands of people in correctional facilities. If we look at the situation of children, our gut reaction is that children and women are in a vulnerable situation.

When children are put in children’s homes, nobody asks the question as to what their fate would be after they reach 18 years and when they becomes adults. We have to realize that you are talking about somebody else’s child.

Proper foster care

The National Child Protection Authority and the Women and Child Affairs Ministry have a policy directive which looks at finding good families for these children who would provide proper foster care. I think that is very very important.

Thiyagarajah stressed that the business of incarcerating women just because they are destitute, poor or homeless is something that we really need to look at again. Locking up people is an inheritance from the British system. This is not something we should be content with.

Dispensation of Justice is determined in a significant measure by Attorneys at Law. They are governed by Supreme Court’s Rules of Conduct. Disciplinary proceedings if any are subject to recommendations of Committees of Lawyers who are constituted to filter complaints against Attorneys.

The question though that has to be posed indeed is that Attorneys are independent to recommend proceedings on fellow attorneys.

I am making this comment with full knowledge of serious lapses in the conduct of some attorneys, the details of which have been copiously documented.