Critical changes necessary to restore

eroding public faith

Leading human rights activist Basil Fernando faults the government for not pushing the good
governance agenda enough:

DEC
072015
Its time to come up with a proper implementation plan to investigate and
punish those involved in the corruption and crimes that occurred during the
previous decades, says leading Human Rights activist, Basil Fernando
Chathuri Dissanayake
The former Executive Director of the Asian Human Rights Commission
(AHRC) highlighted that if the positive tide created in January 2015 is to be
transformed in to a long-term movement, urgent legal reforms aimed at
tackling graft and serious crime is a vital necessity.
I dont say the government could have dealt with everything in eight
months. But they could have declared a proper implementing policy, let it
be known to everybody. By now, people should be talking of this policy, not
creating political gossip about who was arrested, claims Fernando.

Taking stock of 2015, Fernando is appreciative

that the country has been able to arrest a dangerous downward trend in
governance. According to him the decline started as far as 1978. Sri Lanka

failed in every aspect of governance, although changes were made in the

name of development, the country failed in development and governance
and there was an extraordinary increase in the level of corruption, he
argues.
Continuing abuses
Above all, the legal system collapsed with a huge amount of human rights
abuses taking place throughout the period.
The most significant change was the reversal of the expanding role of the
Ministry of Defence, he claims. The country was developing a type of
Ministry of Defence which was being characterized as a state within a
state, where the intelligence services were seriously manipulated for
political purposes; the worst possible development in any country,
according to Fernando.
In the past decade, there was a frightening development of the Ministry of
Defence, and to me that is a defining change than many other aspects. If
that trend continued, Sri Lanka would have become a completely closed
country where everybody would have been under some form of surveillance
and media freedom would have further eroded. The electoral system too
would have suffered a major setback where a free and fair election would
not have been possible for many years to come, he claims, emphasising
on the significance of the political change that occurred this year.
In comparison, he appreciates the enhanced level of freedom of expression
and the space for freedom of assembly and pays tribute to political leaders
speaking of good governance even for mere rhetoric. It is some change,
he observes.
When a Head of State begins to talk about his ideology and refers to good
governance, there is something to be happy about, claims Fernando, who
has been a defiant rights advocate for decades.

However, he insists that it is now time to move forward and to deliver on

promises made. Both the former and current governments have promised
to deal with corruption and other grave crimes but little has been done in
this regard.
If the government does not make some courageous and drastic changes,
they will be incapable of achieving what was promised, he said.
Good governance is not just words, but is a serious policy approach. It is
about a functioning legal system. If the legal system is not reliable, it will
create adverse conditions. Nothing we envisaged could be achieved then
and the public has begun to realise that, said Fernando.
Accordingly, he said, urgent reforms are needed and bottle necks cleared.
The country has an inherently bad situation in the courts. On an average,
a criminal case takes over a decade to draw to a close. Many cases get
stretched beyond that time period. These delays make the countrys legal
system lose its meaning.
A criminal case should not take more than one year for trial and another
one year for the appeal process to conclude, Fernando insisted.
The idea is not that you punish the criminal someday. Because of laws
delays, criminal justice is failing to be a deterrent. This ails the entire
country, he said.
The poor law enforcement capacity in Sri Lanka is seriously
counterproductive in achieving anything tangible, he noted.
If one has to wait for 15-20 years to have something happen, that
something wont be effective or meaningful. That time period can be used
by an offender to commit may more offenses and to intimidate victims.
The system betrays you, he claims.

The same fate may befall the current investigations into abuse of power
and resources by the former regime.
Curbing corruption
The government has indicated a broader policy framework for dealing with
corruption and crime but a practical policy is needed to put a broad policy
in to action, he said.
This is the main reason why we have not been able to achieve good
governance. Unfortunately everyone is talking about everything else,
claimed Fernando.
Accordingly, Fernando advocates the introduction of an implementation
policy that is designed to achieve the goals set.
We need the hands and feet necessary for achieving good governance.
The hands and feet are the Police Department and the Attorney Generals
Department. If the hands and feet are paralysed, then there is little one can
do, claimed Fernando.
It was a priority to identify shortcomings in the police, the investigating
bodies, the Attorney Generals Department, the Judiciary and the Bribery
Commission.
A key problem is the delay in court houses. The government must allocate
more funds to double the number of high courts and for training and
technology facilities, he said.
Reform the Police
Added to this, the countrys main law enforcement authority, Police, is not
disciplined to carry out their duties efficiently, Fernando claims.
Referring to the rape and murder case of Seya, he claimed that terrible
miscarriages of justice occurred in the hands of the police.
Under pressure to investigate and bring justice to the victim, the police

acted irrationally and without evidence, he claims.

They just listen to gossip and without evidence, take this man and boy in
to custody. And when they deny the police beat them up. Worse is telling
the media, we have solved the problem, the culprit is him and they tell the
names of the arrested and the police think the crime is solved. Thats
deception, Fernando says severely critical of the conduct of the Police.
Secondly all the rights of those accused have been violated. That is not a
criminal Justice system.
Rights of accused should equally be protected, Fernando insists, if not it is
not a proper Criminal Justice system.
Applauding the response of the Human Rights Commission in dealing with
the complaint on police attack on the demonstration held by Higher
National Diploma in Accounting (HNDA) students on October 29, he said
that the Police lacks experience and understanding of how to deal with
riots.
However, he is doubtful of the follow up, as the Commission can only make
recommendations, as the authorities have a bad record in implementing
recommendations.
We have a tradition of publicly saying ok there is a recommendation and
then ignoring it. The situation has opened up an opportunity for reforms
and future discussion, to ensure that the Commission has enough power.
Secondly, there is room to establish a system to monitor the
recommendations being out. This could also highlight the reforms needed in
the Police Department.
The Police need to learn the distinction about a demonstration and a riot
dont treat a demonstration as a riot, he claims, and learn how best to
respond to them.

The current system is faulty, he claims, and doesnt serve anybody.

All that is required to fix the system is to instil discipline.
This doesnt require money, this is where discipline has to be brought in.
And this requires both for the IGP and the Police Commission to act. This is
also the easiest step towards good governance, Fernando insists.
Pictures by Rukmal Gamage
Posted by Thavam