A Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission - WORLD: The Sri Lankan Government retaliates to proposed the Human Rights Council resolution by arresting activists and witnesses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-045-2014
March 17, 2014

A draft resolution promoting reconciliation, accountability, and human rights in Sri Lanka is to be discussed at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The proposed resolution calls for, among other things, the Office of the High Commissioner, "To lead a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka and establish the facts and circumstances of such violations and of the crimes committed with the view to avoiding impunity and ensuring accountability with assistance from relevant experts".

In retaliation to this proposed resolution the government is conducting demonstrations in various parts of the country through its supporters.

Meanwhile, a number of human rights activists have been arrested, detained, and are being interrogated by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID). Yesterday night (March 16, 2014), Ruki Fernando and the Rev. Praveen were arrested in Kilinochchi by the TID. Last week, Ms. Balendran Jayakumari and her 13-year-old daughter, Vithuskaini, who have been campaigning against enforced disappearances were also arrested and are being interrogated by the TID.

Ruki Fernando is a human rights advisor to INFORM, a human rights documentation centre based in Colombo. He is a well known human rights defender in Sri Lanka who has also participated in international advocacy for the protection and promotion of human rights in the country. Rev. Praveen OMI is the director for the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (CPR) based in Jaffna. Both of them were travelling to visit Ms. Jayakumari and Vithuskaini.

Two lawyers contacted the Kilinochchi Police Station soon after the arrest of Fernando and Rev. Praveen came to be known. Initially the Kilinochchi police denied that they had made the arrest. However, they informed that two persons had been arrested by a specially appointed unit of the TID and they were being held at a separate location in Kilinochchi. Later the Kilinochchi police confirmed that Ruki Fernando and Rev. Praveen were being questioned by around 15 TID officers at the Kilinochchi Police Station. The OIC of the Kilinochchi police, Mr. Kumara, later confirmed the arrest of these two persons and further stated that "Ruki Fernando and Rev. Praveen behaved in a suspicious manner as they visited some families of those who have lost their family members".

The arrest of Ruki Fernando and Rev. Praveen, as well as Ms. Balendran Jayakumari and her 13-year-old daughter, Vithuskaini, was done with the involvement of a large number of TID officers and security personnel. Before the arrest of Ms. Jayakumari and her daughter it is reported that a large group of army personnel surrounded her house. Ms. Jayakumari and her daughter campaigned for information regarding persons who had been victims of enforced disappearances which included Ms. Jayakumari's son. A picture of the daughter appeared in the media, holding her disappeared brother's photograph, calling for his recovery.

The Asian Human Rights Commission calls upon the Sri Lankan government to engage with the Human Rights Council in a positive manner and make use of the opportunity of this resolution to overcome many of the serious problems relating to human rights and the protection of the country's citizens which has prevailed in Sri Lanka over a long period of time. The entire legal system, including the capacity of the police for investigations into crimes, the capacity of the Attorney General's Department to act as an independent and impartial prosecutor and above all the capacity of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka to act independently and ensure the protection for individuals against state repression has all been undermined and compromised. The opportunity that has become available through the premier global institution for the protection of human rights, which is the Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner's office, provides an unprecedented opportunity to resolve these problems and to reestablish rule of law which has been lost.

As the proposed resolution also empowers the High Commissioner's office to investigate human rights violations and other crimes committed by the LTTE this provides a great opportunity to reestablish and strengthen the capacity of the Sri Lankan state to deal with problems of terrorism and to establish a framework to prevent the recurrence of the dismal situation which has prevailed during the last four decades. In this manner the proposed resolution also provides an opportunity for the Sri Lankan state to abandon the militaristic path that it has entered into after the suppression of the LTTE. Demilitarisation is an unavoidable necessity for the normalization of the entire situation of the country as well as for reconciliation with the minorities.

The Asian Human Rights Commission calls upon the president of Sri Lanka and the government not to utilise the proposed resolution as a propaganda stunt for petty political ends. The position taken by the Sri Lankan president and expressed openly through the media that it is only the people through the electoral process that has the power to deal with any crimes that may have been committed, is an untenable position under international law. Sri Lanka, as a member of the United Nations and also a participant of the Human Rights Council is not entitled to challenge the very mandate of the United Nations and the Human Rights Council. Such challenges do not contribute to the betterment of the country but, in fact, lead to the isolation of Sri Lanka within the community of nations.

We especially call upon the Sri Lankan government not to use its security forces, particularly the Terrorism Investigation Division and intelligence services with a view to harass and intimidate victims of human rights abuses who seek justice and human rights defenders, journalists and others who are playing their role to ensure protection for the people.

We call upon the Sri Lankan government to release Ms. Balendran Jayakumari and her 13-year-old daughter, Vithuskaini, Ruki Fernando and Rev. Praveen as there is no justifiable reason to arrest or detain them.

We call upon the High Commissioner for Human Rights to pay special attention during this time of the debate on the proposed resolution, and thereafter, to take all measures within her mandate to ensure protection for victims of human rights abuse by the government as well as the LTTE so as to avoid their harassment and intimidation. This must also include the protection of human rights defenders, journalists and all other persons who want to contribute to justice and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

We also call upon all civil society organisations throughout the world and media organisations to be on special alert on behalf of the victims of human rights abuses, human rights defenders, journalists and others on this special occasion and in the immediate period thereafter.


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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

Read this Statement online

Australia Will Keep Detaining Refugees Indefinitely, Whatever the World Thinks - Ian Lloyd Neubauer

March 6, 2014

An Iranian detainee walks back to her room after hanging up her laundry at the center used for younger men, and women and children, on Christmas Island, Australia. Paula Bronstein—Getty Images
Canberra says it's a matter of security and deterring people smugglers, but detainees pay a heavy price

In 1992, Australia introduced a mandatory detention policy for non-citizens entering the country without a valid visa. It was intended to be a risk-management tool, enabling the health and security status of refugees and illegal immigrants to be checked while preventing such arrivals from simply vanishing into the general population.



While that sounds reasonable on paper, the reality is that there are today around 10,000 men, women and children detained indefinitely, without hope of release unless they agree to return to the countries they risked their lives to flee in the first place. Just under half that number are being held in squalid detention centers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the South Pacific island of Nauru that are breeding grounds for rape, rioting, malaria and mental illness, and that bear the look and feel of concentration camps.

“If a liberal democracy decides a group of people, depending on where they come from, can have their liberty placed in jeopardy without the ability to defend themselves, then the consequences are very dire – not only for that specific group but for everyone in that country that supposedly lives under the rule of law,” says David Mann, head of the legal team at Melbourne’s Refugee and Immigration Legal Center. “It casts a very dark shadow over Australia’s commitment to human rights and fundamental respect for human dignity.”

The government’s view is that Australia’s security must come first. “Security assessments are an important part of ensuring the safety of Australians,” the Attorney-General’s office told TIME.

The authorities also say that holding asylum-seekers in places like PNG deters people smuggling. “The Government’s offshore processing policy is designed to prevent people smugglers sending illegal boats to Australia, which over the last five years has resulted in the deaths of over 1,100 people at sea and more than 15,000 people in camps around the world being denied resettlement in Australia, as their places were taken by people who arrived illegally by boat,” a spokesperson for the Ministry for Immigration and Border Protection said. “These policies are proving to be highly effective, with 75 days having passed without a successful people smuggling venture to Australia.”

Critics however point to the harsh and often dangerous conditions of the camps. Last month, at a detention center on PNG’s Manus Island, a 23-year-old Iranian national, Reza Barati, was found dead with a blunt force trauma to the head, and 76 others refugees were shot or otherwise wounded, after local security guards responded to a protest by the 1,100 predominantly Middle Eastern asylum seekers kept there.

The bloodshed sparked hundreds of candlelight vigils across Australia, including a 4000-strong protest in front of Sydney’s Town Hall. Hunger strikes took place at a number of other detention centers, and widespread condemnations were made by respected figures such former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, who oversaw the successful integration of thousands of Vietnamese refugees fleeing war in the late 1970s. Numerous social media campaigns have also surfaced to vent disapproval, including the website sorryasylumseekers.com where Australians post selfies taken while bearing placards reading “Not in my name.”

In Tehran, Australia’s Ambassador Paul Foley was summonsed to demand changes to his government’s treatment of asylum seekers. In Beijing, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Baodong questioned the legality of repatriating asylum seekers to third countries and detaining children. And in PNG, Manus Island Police Chief Alex N’Drasal has called on Australia to address poor conditions inside the detention center, while local Catholic bishops this week released a joint statement demanding the center be closed.

“Detaining people against their will in PNG, even if it works as a deterrent, is not a just solution worthy of a great nation otherwise proud of its human rights record,” the bishops stated, saying they encouraged Australia “to find a more humane solution to people seeking asylum in their country.”

Also drawing fire is the fate of 46 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka and Myanmar recognized as refugees by Australia, yet who remain in indefinite detention after receiving negative security assessments from the country’s chief spy agency ASIO. Details on how those assessments were reached have been withheld from the accused, creating a legal black hole legal experts are comparing to the incarceration of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

“The comparison is valid because in both cases there are very serious procedural irregularities preventing people from getting a fair hearing and effectively challenging the accusations against them,” says Dr Ben Saul, a professor of international law at the University of Sydney. “Of course there are differences – the refugees are not being tortured as was the case at Guantanamo and the conditions under which people are detained in Australia are undoubtedly better.

“But they are being subjected to the next worse thing which is indefinite detention, in some cases for as long as five years,” he says. “If you are stuck in there forever not knowing when if ever you will be released, it inflicts and aggravates extreme mental illness. That’s why so many of these detainees have attempted suicide.”

The UN’s Human Rights Committee agrees. In August of last year, it described Australia’s arbitrary and indefinite detention of asylum seekers as “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” and set a deadline for Australia to release the 46 individuals into the community and the payment of compensation under its obligations as signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The deadline expired last week, with the office of Australia’s Attorney-General’s saying that it was still considering its response.

Despite the legal and humanitarian shortcomings of Australia’s tough stance on asylum seekers, a recent poll by MUR Research shows 60 percent of Australians want the government to “increase the severity” of its treatment of asylum seekers as a means to combat the dangerous people smuggling business that in recent years has flourished in Indonesia.

Even a portion of those who’ve been detained by Australia think the policy is necessary. “If I were in charge, I would do the same,” says a former asylum seeker from the Middle East who refused to give his name it case it imperiled his new status Australia. “This country has borders and laws and I agree people do not have the right to enter illegally.

“But while saying that,” he continues, “most people in detention did not have a choice and they did not come for financial reasons. They were forced into the situation because they could not come here legally and they had nowhere else to go.

“People living in a good country like Australia could never imagine what it’s like living in a war zone, or to have their safety and the safety of their children constantly threatened by violence and persecution,” he says. “They will never understand what it means to live under danger unless they have experienced it themselves.