SRI LANKA: IMF observations on an Independent Prosecution office for Sri Lanka

IMF in its recent report issued in September titled Sri Lanka; Technical Assistance Report-Governance Diagnostic Assessment, has directed its attention to the problems relating to the independence in conduct of prosecutions into crimes in Sri Lanka. It points to the absence of independent prosecutor in Sri Lanka and also notes that this given rise to real or perceived impression about the weaknesses of the existing system. 

Asian Human Rights Commission has for many years pointed out that one of the major reasons for thebreakdown of the Rule of Law in Sri Lanka is the functioning of the prosecutors role within the framework of the Attorney Generals department, which even the IMF report points out has come under very serious criticism from many sources over a considerable period of time. The dual function of the Attorney General as the advisor to the government in legal matters and the task of prosecuting crime in a manner required by the law has come to a visible conflict. 

Asian Human Rights Commission also pointed out that a prevailing unprecedented economic crisis is not merely a crisis created through purely economic factors but due to failures of the system of governance in the country.  One of the major weaknesses of the system of governance is the inability to prosecute crimes effectively, impartially and with due credibility. 

Therefore Asian Human Rights Commission highly recommends that IMF observations contain in this report regarding this issue should be carefully studied and urgently implemented. Creating of an independent prosecutor’s office separate from the Attorney Generals department should become a major political demand in the country if Sri Lanka is to find its way out of this economic crisis. 

A popular poem exhibited in some banners even in front of the Colombo public library in the nineteen eighties had already raised this issue poignantly. The translation of this verse is as follows;

Oh, Attorney General, oh, Attorney General

Criminals are raping girls

Committing murder and suppressing justice 

Why do we need a Lord of the law

When the country has no law?

Click here to read the IMF report.  The relevant potion relating to issue of prosecution is at the page 129 of the report.

We are also reproducing an article relating to the difficulties involved in prosecuting crimes in Sri Lanka.

The Inability to Prosecute

By Basil Fernando

The central question that has been discussed over several decades now and which, particularly since the 2019 Easter Sunday massacre, has become perhaps the most central question regarding the nature of the Sri Lankan State is the issue of it’s will and the capacity to prosecute crimes. 

The unwillingness to prosecute

The issue about the unwillingness to prosecute is now taken for granted. It is known to everyone that there are literally thousands of crimes, most of which are extremely serious crimes, regarding which the State has clearly shown that it has no will to prosecute. The case of the Easter Sunday crimes highlights the issue. However, it is not the only issue that reminds of a State that very openly and blatantly refuses to prosecute large numbers of extremely grave crimes

Why does the State refuse to investigate serious crimes? The reasons for such a failure may be of two kinds. The first of these two categories comes from the top and the other from the bottom. Those that come from the top generally arise from political grounds. Prosecuting crimes may have a very disturbing effect to a political system where the abuse of power may have become very much a part of the political culture. In fact, the working of the political and administrative system may depend on the room that is available for those at the top to commit acts which are in fact crimes. Such a system will not be able to function if these crimes are to be prosecuted. A further reason is that if such crimes are to be prosecuted, overwhelming numbers of persons holding high posts may be threatened with the possibility of going to jail. Hence, people need to be protected from being held responsible for the crimes that they have committed. What is more, if such prosecution is to take place, political alliances that keep a Government afloat may collapse.

The second category that objects to prosecutions may arise from the bottom. That is from those who carried out illegal orders and committed acts which count. The whole institutional culture may have undergone a transformation for the worse and lost the resistance against following illegal orders or commands. If crimes committed by them are to be prosecuted, the whoâ€s who of the institution may face a profound challenge.

The incapacity to prosecute

Much more worrying than the unwillingness to prosecute, is the question as to whether the Sri Lankan State has the capacity to prosecute. This is much more important than the very important first issue, which is about the will to prosecute. Whether the State has the capacity to prosecute has received very little attention and one may even say, no attention at all. While there are many who for many years have seriously worked towards demanding prosecutions into serious crimes, whether those crimes are directly affecting them, or whether their interest on these prosecutions is of a general nature, if there is no real capacity to prosecute, those demands will never be realised. 

Criticising the absence of will to prosecute may be an opportune political move. It is quite a legitimate political demand to prosecute crimes and particularly those crimes which have had an enormous impact on the “mind and the soul” of the society as a whole.

However, the issue is not merely one of legitimacy but whether the goal itself is realisable. If it is not realisable within a given context, then, that issue also must receive central attention if the ultimate demand for prosecuting is to succeed at all.

How then is one to assess whether in real life today, the Sri Lankan State has the capacity to prosecute all serious crimes? What criteria are to be used in the assessment of the prevailing situation, to come to an understanding about the possibility of prosecuting these crimes in terms of the “capacity of the State”? However, we suggest the following criteria to be applied in time to assess this problem.

• First of all, one needs to assess whether the Sri Lankan State, as it exists today, accepts the obligation to prosecute all crimes. 
• The next issue will depend on the answers to the first issue, because if the State, as it is in the present structural form, does not absent the obligation to prosecute all crimes, then, it will follow that such a State will not create the necessary structural framework which is essential to the very serious task of prosecuting crimes. If the State does not accept the obligation of prosecuting crimes, then, it cannot be accepted that the State will provide the necessary political and social backing for the institutions which are dealing with the prosecution of crimes to function as they should. A prosecution is like every other task of the State. It requires State institutions.  State institutions mean the laws which grant the mandate and lay down all the basic rules that anyone working under those institutions are bound by in dealing with the task of prosecuting crimes. It further requires that human and material resources should be provided to those institutions to carry out those obligations which are imposed on them by the law, and which they are bound to omit. It is not possible to obey in carrying out these obligations unless there are officers who have all the capacities to carry out these obligations and who are not constrained by any higher orders or authorities which could prevent them from carrying out their legitimate duties. This means the required levels of education, training, and the required levels of morality and integrity needed in carrying out these obligations. Added to all these in particular in modern times is the technological requirements that are necessary for the efficient functioning of such institutions and for the officers who work for such Institutions. Making necessary judgements involving professional work require the ways of gathering data and the assessment of the data, which are all functions in modern times, which are highly sophisticated and require the necessary equipment and the know-how to deal with these matters.

Prosecuting basically can be divided into two functions. One is the investigative function and the other is the function of the direct prosecuting work. The investigative function requires the permissive legality which allows independent investigative functions, which belong to a highly specialised category of work, about which there is enormous knowledge in the world today. Investigating is such a highly skilled task and of course, it has the same needs of human and material needs as mentioned above. However, all that becomes possible only when there is a permissiveness which recognises this as a fundamental function of the State about which no exceptions can be allowed.

Investigations among other things also require the maintenance of legally required secrecy so that the matters investigated could be pursued to the very end without being interfered by those who may be adversely affected by such investigations. In other words, criminals who may be subjected to investigations should not be allowed in anyway to be in a position to interfere with these investigations and to act in any manner, disruptive or destroying or disturbing the process of such investigations. Therefore, the investigators should not be subjected to any other control than those required by their own professional conduct. The diverging of the secrets should be a “criminal offence”. On the other hand, every attempt to interfere, to disturb such secrecy and prevent the investigations leading to just and fair conclusions, also belong to the same category of criminal activities.

The maintenance of evidence, that is the protection of evidence, and the protection of witnesses is a further function if the prosecuting is to happen in the manner required as a part of a serious function of a State.

# # #

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) works towards the radical rethinking and fundamental redesigning of justice institutions in order to protect and promote human rights in Asia. Established in 1984, the Hong Kong based organisation is a Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, 2014. 

Read this Statement online

The post SRI LANKA: IMF observations on an Independent Prosecution office for Sri Lanka appeared first on Asia Commune.

The post Sri Lanka – Muslim MPs betray MMDA Reforms appeared first on Asia Commune.

The post Sri Lanka – Statement by Civil Society on Proposed Truth-Telling Mechanism! appeared first on Asia Commune.

Leon Trotsky. The independence of Ukraine and sectarian confusion-ism. July 30, 1939

The world’s media, Pentagon officials, and the US military announce that Russian military forces are massing up to 175,000 soldiers on the Ukraine border. The global communication chains fueled by the State Department raise the specter of World War III. What is happening in Ukraine? Is Putin preparing to invade it? Is this going to unleash World War III between Russia and NATO?

The whole campaign about “Impending World War III” is not new. What imperialism, Putin, the Stalinists, and the imperialist media intend with this campaign, is to hide from the eyes of the masses of the world the extraordinary revolutionary process that the people of Ukraine have been carrying out in their struggle for independence. , and for national self-determination for 8 years now. A fight that has the sympathy of millions in all the former republics of the USSR, and we must support it with all our might.

This revolutionary process is moving Europe because it takes place in a very rich country, the largest in Europe after Russia, which has the same population as France in the heart of European imperialism. The struggle of the Ukrainian people has infected the peoples that make up the Russian Federation, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan, and together with the people of Russia, is putting Putin’s reactionary capitalist dictatorship on the ropes.

“Inter-imperialist” war or counter-revolutionary war?

The charlatans in the pay of imperialism pretend to show the reality of a prospect of war between Russia and NATO, an “inter-imperialist war” like the First World War of 1914. But the reality is very different. What there is is an attack by the Russian armed forces against the people of Ukraine. Putin’s army at the service of the millionaire capitalist oligarchy, permanently attacks a people that is fighting for its self-determination and independence.

For eight years there has been an aggression by Putin against Ukraine that began with the attack on the Crimean peninsula and Donbass, and has caused 14,000 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians dead, in addition to more than 1.9 million displaced Ukrainians. But if Putin’s troops enter Ukraine, this may be Putin’s Vietnam. Thousands of Ukrainians train every weekend, workers, students, peasants, etc., preparing for an eventual invasion of Russia.

Putin’s generals and 170,000 soldiers will meet 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers grouped in scattered units of soldiers, reservists and civilians who will attack their positions, and communications. An invasion by Putin would have to face a popular resistance that, in addition to the thousands of Ukrainian volunteers, will be reinforced by Russian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, and Latvian fighters, who hate Putin and will join the Ukrainian troops to end his sinister dictatorship.

NATO’s presence in Ukraine is practically symbolic: NATO has 4,000 US soldiers in Ukraine, and 150 military advisers. This is the product of the fact that Ukraine does not belong to NATO, nor to the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) led by Russia, also made up of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

In other words, we are not facing any “inter-imperialist war” in the events that are taking place on the Ukrainian border. We are in a counterrevolutionary war, a confrontation between the revolution and the world counterrevolution that influences the course of events in Europe, and the global revolution. This is how the Trotskyist revolutionary Nahuel Moreno explained it: “From the postwar period (1945)… A stage in the character of wars is closed and a new one is opened. The stage of inter-imperialist wars is closed and in the stage of the counterrevolutionary wars” (1)

The Ukrainian Revolution: The struggle against the ex-Stalinist oligarchy begins

The Stalinist groups around the world who describe Ukraine as a fascist-dominated state do so in an attempt to make Putin, his corrupt, rotten, and reactionary capitalist regime appear progressive. But nothing is further from reality than Ukraine being a state dominated by fascists, it is exactly the opposite: Since 2016 Ukraine has been experiencing a revolutionary process, a bourgeois democratic regime in crisis, and a crisis of all the parties that defend the interests of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie, a process that spreads to all the republics of the former USSR.

After the fall of the former USSR, both Russia and the former republics that made up the former USSR became governed by former Stalinist officials, former members of the KGB, the Armed Forces or the espionage services that privatized, gave away, and they handed over all the wealth of those nations to imperialism, and joined the imperialist corporations to enrich themselves. The Yeltsins, the Putins, the Yanusoviches, the Lukashenkos, the Nazarbayevs, went overnight from Communist Party officials to bourgeois oligarchs and millionaire capitalists.

The new capitalism of the former Stalinist oligarchs meant corruption, mafias, injustice, and social inequality, which caused millions of people to sink into poverty in all the republics of the former USSR. In Ukraine the crisis reached even higher levels than other former Soviet republics: The average salary in Ukraine was 2 to 2.5 times lower than in Russia and Belarus, and much lower than in the EU. Economic growth froze, industry fell, causing widespread poverty to advance.

The oligarchs established legislation that exempted them from paying taxes, allowing them to enrich themselves obscenely by exporting tens of billions of dollars worth of minerals, metals, ammonia, wheat and sunflowers, stashing the profits in tax havens. Meanwhile, the crisis worsened, and the national, regional and municipal governments began to have problems paying salaries.

Many oligarchs also withheld the salaries owed to state employees to speculate with these masses of money. Not paying salaries became a common practice for governments, and the budget practically stopped allocating funds to social programs. The situation was aggravated by the rise in gas prices, and the corrupt Party of Regions that led the country controlled by ex-Stalinist oligarch Victor Yanukovych, was not capable of proposing a plan beyond the businesses controlled by the sons of he.

Euromaidan explodes: the ex-Stalinist oligarchy falls

Between the years 2007, 2008 the sharp peak of the global crisis of capitalism broke out, and the crisis in Ukraine worsened. Soon popular discontent detonated a rise of the masses that forced Yanukovych, pressured by the rise, to propose a way out of the crisis, which he promised would come through an agreement with the European Union. It was signed on March 30, 2012, and Yanukovych urged the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, to pass laws so that Ukraine could comply with EU requirements.

On September 25, 2013, Volodymyr Rybak, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, said that the legislative body would pass all necessary laws, but on November 21, 2013, a decree of the Government of Ukraine suspended preparations for the signing of the agreement on association. Yanukovych attended the EU summit on November 28-29, but the deal was not signed.

In the months of January and February 2016, the opposition leaders called for mobilizations repudiating the decision of the Yanukovych government not to sign with the EU, and the country exploded. Millions took to the streets throughout the country, the mobilization quickly surpassed the initial slogans and overwhelmed its capitalist leaders to raise democratic and economic demands: work and decent wages, health, education, against the oligarchs and finally, Yanukovych to go.

Independence Square in Kiev became a dual and popular power where decisions were made, amidst barricades and popular weapons. On February 21 Yanukovic and the opposition, under the patronage of the EU and the presence of German, French and Polish foreign ministers, signed an agreement for Yanukovych to continue and elections were called in December. The pact was applauded by the United States and Russia. Opposition leaders went to announce it in the square, but 200,000 people rejected the agreement in Plaza Independencia, shouting “traitors!”

The next day the police disappeared from the streets of Kiev and Yanukovych fled. One hundred police officers apologized on their knees to the protesters in Plaza Maidán. Yanukovych’s fall was a revolutionary triumph that opened the stage of struggle against the Stalinist oligarchies in Ukraine and in the other republics of the former USSR. The triumph of the Ukrainian revolution brought profound changes in the country’s political regime.

The Party of the Regions, which governed for almost 20 years, left power, and an average abstention rate of 40% occurred in all the elections that were called from 2016 to today, showing the crisis and wear of bourgeois democracy in Ukraine. The last elected president Volodymyr Zelensky, who beat the old regime parties in 2019, suffered a beating in the 2020 elections, where he lost in all the main cities of the country. But the most important change was the shock wave that the triumph of the revolution caused in Russia, and all the republics under its rule.

The revolution in Ukraine spread like an oil stain, first in 2020 the “Sneaker Revolution” broke out in Belarus against the Government of Aleksandr Lukashenko, the president of Belarus in the midst of elections in which Lukashenko was seeking a sixth term in The charge. The following year the mobilizations began in Russia against Putin, and this year 2022 began with the uprising of the people of Kazakhstan that had to be put down with Russian troops.

For an Independent Ukraine! Out of NATO! Down with Putin!

We completely reject the intervention of NATO forces, and the sectors of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie that propose unity with NATO. Ukraine has every right to defend its territory from any aggression, but anyone who proposes to place that defense under the wing of the Pentagon, or NATO is only leading that struggle to defeat. We Marxists support with all our might the struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence and national self-determination.

We also reject the “Summits” , and negotiations between the imperialist government of Biden and Putin. These summits seek to stop and divert the revolution of the Ukrainian people, and their struggle for national liberation. The right of the Ukrainian people must be in your own hands! Out with the diplomats of the State Department, the military of the Pentagon, and the intrigues of the Kremlin, on the rights of the people of Ukraine!

We follow the path that Vladimir Lenin proposed in his presentation of the struggle for the rights of the oppressed nations as part of the struggle for socialism: “… the main practical task, both of the Russian proletariat and of the proletariat of every other nation: the task of daily agitation and propaganda against all kinds of state-type national privileges, for the right, the equal right of all nations… because only in this way can we defend the interests of democracy and the union, based on equality of rights of all proletarians of all nations” (2)

We are for the national self-determination of Ukraine, against the historical oppression that its people have suffered from Russia, and other nations. To the Stalinists who argue that the Ukrainian struggle is “reactionary” because it is “nationalist,” this is how Lenin responds:“To accuse the supporters of freedom of self-determination, that is, of the freedom to separate, of promoting separatism is just as foolish and hypocritical as accusing the supporters of freedom of divorce of promoting the breakdown of family ties. Just as in bourgeois society the freedom of divorce is contested by the defenders of privilege and venality, on which bourgeois marriage is based, so in the capitalist state deny the freedom of self-determination, that is, of separation from nations it does not mean anything other than defending the privileges of the dominant nation and the administrative police procedures to the detriment of the democratic ones” (3)

Lenin combated the privileges of the oppressive nations, and denounced the leaders and political currents that do not defend the right to national self-determination, even if they call themselves “Marxists” : “The real class significance of liberal hostility to the principle of political self-determination of nations is one, and only one: national-liberalism, safeguarding the state privileges of the Russian bourgeoisie. And all these opportunists among the Marxists of Russia, who just now … have attacked the right of nations to self-determination…in reality they simply lag behind national-liberalism, they corrupt the working class with national-liberal ideas”. (4)

The slogans that we raise in the Ukrainian struggle are the same as those formulated by Lenin: “Complete equality of rights of nations; right of self-determination of nations; fusion of the workers of all nations; such is the national program that teaches the workers Marxism, taught by the experience of the whole world and the experience of Russia”. (5)

This struggle is the starting point of the socialist revolution, because the decrepit and decadent Ukrainian bourgeoisie is incapable of carrying out the slightest democratic task, it is the workers and the people with their permanent struggle, who will break the chains of oppression of the Putin’s dictatorship and the Great Russian oligarchy.

This is how Leon Trotsky explained it: ” Ukraine is especially rich in experiences of false paths of struggle to achieve national emancipation… only political corpses can continue to place hope in any fraction of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie as the leader of the national struggle for emancipation. Only the Ukrainian proletariat is capable not only of carrying out this essentially revolutionary task, but also of taking the initiative for its solution The proletariat and only the proletariat can rally around itself the peasant masses and the genuinely revolutionary national intelligentsia ” (6)

From La Marx International we unconditionally support the struggle of the people of Ukraine for their independence and national self-determination, we promote the revolutionary struggle demanding the end of all interference by NATO and the imperialist powers, fighting for the defeat of the Russian troops, and the unity of the peoples of the East and the world for the fall of the reactionary capitalist dictatorship of Putin. This is the path to continue promoting the world struggle against capitalism, and for Global Socialism.

Notes

(1) Nahuel Moreno. “Transition Program Update” . 1980

(2), (3), (4) and (5) Vladimir Lenin ” The right of nations to self-determination” May 1914

(6) León Trotsky. “The Ukrainian Question” April 22, 1939

Republished From: https://www.revolucion.org.es/en/for-an-independient-ukraine-out-of-nato-down-with-putin/

The post For an Independent Ukraine! Out of NATO! Down with Putin! appeared first on Asia Commune.

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: Best of Laws and the Worst of Law Enforcement – The IMF and the IGP

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility has approved a fund to assist Sri Lanka at this time of terrible economic crisis. While there are many things to talk about that issue, we wish at the very beginning to highlight what we think is the most important issue that should be brought to the notice of the people on this matter. 

The IMF has strongly recommended, in fact, has made it one of its key demands, that the corruption in the country has to be brought under control or to eliminate it as a condition of this loan. 

That is quite understandable, because otherwise, this money will also land where other monies have landed in the past, to benefit most ‘individuals’, rather than the country. The IMF recommends that for this purpose of the elimination of corruption, very comprehensive laws should be passed in Sri Lanka regarding the elimination of corruption. 

However, at the very start, we wish to highlight that the mere passing of a law as the IMF suggests is wholly inadequate to deal with this objective of the elimination of corruption in Sri Lanka. Sometimes, the experts from Western countries may think that once a law is passed, it will get automatically implemented. 

That is not the case in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has had a very developed system of law, and at the same time, it has also in recent times brought in some very progressive international laws under the pressure of international agencies. However, the problem in Sri Lanka is that while the law exists, the law is not enforced.  The Executive can be very comfortable in passing any legislation, if they have the adequate majority to do that in the Parliament, because that will remain just in a book and nothing else will happen. 

Examples are many.  For example, Sri Lanka, passed the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel. Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act, No. 22 of 1994, which is one of the most remarkably developed laws when compared with international laws. Similar laws have been passed in other matters, like children’s rights, women’s rights, and even on issues like poverty alleviation and many other matters. 

They are all good looking laws, which are, as you know, never touched and never implemented.  The reason is that Sri Lanka’s crisis is essentially a crisis of law enforcement, not the lack of laws. Law enforcement is understood more like the use of violence and you know, direct punishments, rather than the enforcement of the law, through a proper system of a functioning policing system. 

The Policing system has been seriously criticised even by the Supreme Court (SC), including in a very recent case where the SC said that “the Sri Lankan Police has ceased to be a professional force.” It was referring to a case of ‘extra-judicial killings’, and the Court noted that it is a very frequent practice, despite many reminders by even the SC, and the Police authorities including the Inspector General of Police (IGP), having done almost nothing to improve this situation.  In fact, the situation is deteriorating. If you ask the Police, unofficially, they will say, ‘this is not due to their fault, it is because of external forces, particularly politicians who interfere with their work, and that if they in fact do serious work, they get punished.” 

And, there are glaring examples of very ‘credible work’, done by some very competent investigators, into some very serious crimes and the result has been that they have been taken out of their jobs, while some had to flee from the country, and others had to remain, go to even jail for some time, and now await trials which are kept on being postponed, the latter which is also a way of punishment in Sri Lanka.  To put a ‘faults case’, and then keep on postponing for years and years so that the officer loses his/her job during that time, while his/her family and himself/herself, suffer for many years for nothing is the norm. And, that is a way that the law enforcement officers serious about their jobs are being treated. 

The obstacles to investigations into allegations of corruption maybe summed up as follows:

The failures in the investigations into corruption in its various forms, are due to many factors. Some important factors are as follows: 

1. A lack of a clear policy of the State to require strict investigations into all complaints regarding crimes related to corruption. In fact, the existing policy is to discourage such investigations on the basis of many considerations which favour those who engage in such crimes. 

2. The lack of trained Police investigators into crimes in general, but most specifically, into crimes relating to financial and other forms of corruption.  Investigations into crimes other than those committed by those who are called ordinary criminals has been very rare, as a result of which, the experience processed by the law enforcement agencies into such corruption is very limited. Thus, without a considerable effort to improve the quality of the investigations into corruption related crimes, it is very unlikely that the IMF recommendations on this matter will be practically put into effect. 

3. The resources that are needed for investigations into financial and other crimes are also not available to the investigation agencies. The development in this area of more technologically based investigations has been very negligible. Besides, such investigations require equipment in order to conduct such inquiries thoroughly and also to preserve evidence, and this is hardly available to the investigating agencies. 

4. Perhaps the most disheartening aspect on this matter is the absence of protection for independent and committed investigators. There are highly publicised cases of such investigators being punished without any basis and some having had to flee the country as a result of serious death threats. Thus, the professional environment that is needed for the proper performance of their functions is virtually absent.

5. Direct political interferences into investigations into crimes related to corruption.  The laws relating to interference or the obstruction of justice is hardly being enforced. 

6. There are public attacks, directly or indirectly led by the Executive on oversight mechanisms such as the Auditor General’s Department, the Judiciary itself and other agencies such as the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka which have the legal obligations to oversee the prevention of corruption.

7. There are heavy attacks on the media which seriously pursue information relating to corruption and constantly call for investigations. This has created a very serious setback to the work of the media. Meanwhile, cultivating a politically biased section of the media which pursues the critics and creates baseless propaganda campaigns against those who are demanding investigations into corruption is also a negative factor. 

8. The cultivation of underground elements to engage in physical attacks and even make death threats and sometimes commit extra-judicial killings against those who make complaints of corruption or those who in various ways engage in anti-corruption work also creates a climate of fear affecting proper investigations into allegations of corruption. 

So, there is a glaring problem of the collapse of the system of law enforcement.  And, a test can be seen within the coming days, concerning who will be selected for the IGP position. Will it be a person committed to reforming the policing system, to enforce the rule of law strictly and bring it to the respectable institution that it once was? Or, will it be another self serving officer who will serve ‘political masters’?  Now, that is the kind of issue that the IMF loan will be faced with soon. 

It is not only in the policing that there is a problem, as in other law enforcement agencies for example like the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, they face the same problem.  In countries where there is successful law enforcement regarding corruption, one of the first steps is to eliminate all police officers from the ‘investigative functions’ in the Commission. The Commission develops its own ‘professional staff’, as investigators, who will work independently for the Commission.  Like for example, the Independent Commission Against Corruption in Hong Kong, one of the most effective corruption control agencies. 

Now, will the Government and will the Executive, be willing to enforce that kind of a system in order to ensure that corruption is eliminated.  The IMF will be able to find the answer very soon. 

It is time for the people, the Parliament, and also the IMF itself, to examine this question now itself.  ‘What is the capacity of Sri Lanka to enforce good law enforcement related laws once they are passed’?. 

The enforcement aspect should be addressed within the law itself and of course, the resources should be made available for effective implementation. Otherwise, very soon, it will be discovered that the recommendations that were given by the IMF on this occasion, have not borne any fruit, in the same way that the earlier pronouncement about corruption elimination has also borne no fruit.

# # #

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) works towards the radical rethinking and fundamental redesigning of justice institutions in order to protect and promote human rights in Asia. Established in 1984, the Hong Kong based organisation is a Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, 2014. 

Read this Statement online

The post SRI LANKA: Best of Laws and the Worst of Law Enforcement – The IMF and the IGP appeared first on Asia Commune.

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: The proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill amounts to a parallel Constitution and a Criminal Procedure Code

Three major ‘strategies’ have been used in this draft bill on anti-terrorism 2023.which create very great confusion about the meaning of the contents of the proposed law and its implications.

Three ‘strategies’

The first of these strategies is not to define the meaning of terrorism. The meaning of the key word of this document is thus kept wake so that many different and contradictory interpretations can be given in a way that could be quiet detrimental to the basic legal notions held as fundaments in Sri Lankan legal system, thus creating unresolvable contradictions and confusions on the operation of law and legal procedure in Sri Lanka. Such confusion could lead to dangerous repercussions for, individuals, groups, organizations and to the nation as a whole. Fundamental principles relating to governance, rule of law and human rights could be exposed to great danger by creating such a confusion.

The second strategy is to blur or even to erase the distension between the laws relating to anti-terrorism and the criminal law.  Deciding whether any act or omission is crime in terms of the penal code or similar statutes or which create offenses  or whether that amounts to a crime under anti-terrorism law is left to be decided by authorities without a guiding a legal criteria to make a clear distention. Thus any interested party may twist what may amount to an allegation of crime into an accusation of commission of an act of terrorism. This way interpretation can easily depend on political factors and not on clear criteria based on law.

This same applies also to the criminal procedure. Whether an investigation into a particular allegation into a crime will be done according to the criminal procedure code or by other methods proposed by this bill an anti-terrorism could be done entirely subjectively. The result will be disastrous on the administration of justice in Sri Lanka.

The third is to peruse what amounts to a repeal, alteration or a fundamental change of the constitution, under the guise of an ordinary act of parliament and their by virtually displace many of the core principles on which constitution has been based. If this bill succeeds the anti-terrorism 2023 will virtually displace many of the fundamental aspects of the letter and the esprit of the liberal democratic tradition of constitutionalism in Sri Lanka.

The Bill entitled Anti-Terrorism has been gazetted on the 17th of March, 2023.  This Bill, though it is presented as a proposed Act to be passed in the Parliament, in fact amounts to the amendment of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in terms of Chapter 12. The basic structure and conceptual framework of the newly proposed Bill on Anti-Terrorism amounts to an implied repeal or altering or adding or a consequential amendment which has been described in Article 82(1) of the Constitution. Article 82(2) of the Constitution states that “No Bill for the repeal of the Constitution shall be placed on the Order Paper of the Parliament unless the Bill contains provisions replacing the Constitution and is described in the long title thereof as being an Act for the repeal and replacement of the Constitution”.

Although the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill of 2023, does not mention that the purpose is for the replacing of the Constitution and nor does its’ long title express any direct intention to repeal and to replace the Constitution, the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill amounts to however a fundamental alteration and change of the very substance of the conceptual framework as well as the structural framework of the 1978 Constitution.

While a more detailed analysis can be provided, for the time being, the nature of the proposed Bill and how it amounts to a fundamental alteration, change and amendment to the Constitution, can be summed up in the following manner.

The Constitution of Sri Lanka is based on the ‘fundamental notion of the sovereignty of the people’. Article 3 of the Constitution states that “in the Republic of Sri Lanka, sovereignty is in the people and its’ inalienable sovereignty includes the powers of the Government, fundamental rights, and the franchise.” Thereafter, in Articles 4(a), 4(b) and 4(c), the manner in which the sovereignty of the people is exercised through the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary are enshrined, and added to that in Articles 4(d) and 4(e) is that the fundamental rights and the franchise are an integral part of the notion of sovereignty that is embedded in the Sri Lankan Constitution. 

The proposed Anti-Terrorism Law is aimed as an alteration of this position in a most fundamental way. 

First of all, by many provisions spread through the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill, the President directly acquires powers of control over the life of the people on matters relating to exercise of their sovereignty, and on the exercise of the Constitutional organs recognised in the Constitution, such as the Parliament and the Judiciary, exercising their functions as a part of the exercisesof the sovereign power of the people, thus, virtually paving the way to attack the right of franchise and also the fundamental rights of the people. 

Under Article 35(1), “While any person holds office as the President, no proceedings shall be instituted or continued against him/her in any court or tribunal in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by him/her either in his/her official or private capacity.”

Throughout the proposed Bill on Anti-Terrorism, large of numbers of functions which are presently exercised by various Ministries, organs of the State and other officers, are being taken by the President, directly under his/her control.  This implies that on any matters that may arise, by way of commission or omission, which at present would give rise to the right of the citizen to seek the redress of courts, are to be taken away. Thus, on very vital matters which involve arrest, detention, investigation, and many other matters, the citizens will lose the right to take up these matters before a court of law. Therefore, the legality and illegality of any of these actions will be an irrelevant matter.

This is a most fundamental violation of not only the Sri Lankan Constitution but of any constitution in a republic that claims to be based on liberal democracy.  Thus, the Sri Lankan citizens will heavily lose the protection that they have under a liberal democratic framework of governance once this Bill becomes the law. 

Thus, the enlargement of the powers of the President, achieved by means of this proposed Bill, will bring to an end the operation of the 1978 Constitution and many of its provisions automatically. There will be an alteration of the Constitution in the most fundamental manner. 

Associated with this is the issue that Sri Lanka’s Constitution is rooted in the foundational notion of the ‘rule of law’.  The very fact of an existence of a constitutional Government means that the supremacy of the law and the rule of law are taken for granted as the foundation of governance in such a country. As one of the principal thinkers of the American Constitution, Thomas Paine stated, “in the United Kingdom ,the King is the law, but in the United States, the law is the king.” 

What this Anti-Terrorism Bill does is to fundamentally change that position and to make the President the law and the law to become an unimportant factor in dealing with many of the matters in Sri Lanka which have been brought under an overall umbrella called ‘Anti-Terrorism’. Holding or not holding elections, the right of peaceful protests, the right of peaceful assembly, the legitimate right of the freedom of the press and the basic rights relating to illegal arrest and illegal detention which are most fundamental to the idea of protection and the freedom of the individual will be lost if this proposed Bill comes into effect.

By implication, this will diminish even further the role of the Parliament. All matters which are mentioned as activities around Anti-Terrorism, will be done outside the scope of the Parliament and all the oversight functions of the Parliament on these matters, will be done by agencies which are directly controlled by the President and which are outside the control of the Parliament.  The virtual declarations of ‘emergency powers’ which were earlier under the control of the Parliament, by way of various procedures of monitoring the situation, will be completely lost if this Bill is passed.

Besides this, ‘new creatures’ have been created which in the future will exercise functions which the Constitution has given only to the Judiciary. These are the functions relating to the arrest and detention of persons and also investigations into various offences. The granting of powers to an officer not less than a person holding the rank of a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), amounts to the handing over of the powers of arrest and detention, entirely to the hands of a Police officer.  The Constitution does not allow any Police officer to hold any position involving the exercise of judicial power. A DIG having the right to make detention orders for various period of time will be exercising a power that is held most sacred within any democracy and within any country that holds the rule of law as a foundational principle. All the provisions which give a DIG or persons above the DIG rank, these powers, will directly contravene fundamental provisions of the sovereignty of the people as expressed in Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution.

Besides that, a parallel form of criminal procedure is introduced through this Anti-Terrorism Law. All criminal investigations in Sri Lanka have to be conducted within the framework of the Criminal Procedure Code and through the various powers given to various ranks of officers recognised by the Criminal Procedure Code. 

The present proposed Anti-Terrorism Law completely ignores Sri Lanka’s established Criminal Procedure Code and attempts to establish a parallel Criminal Procedure system when it comes to the Anti-Terrorism Law. Thus, there shall be two kinds of Criminal Procedures established in Sri Lanka. One which follows the Criminal Procedure Code with all the powers for all those who conduct their duties and all the protection for the citizens. Under the new Anti-Terrorism Law, all such powers will be taken away from the authorised officers, whose powers are derived from the Criminal Procedure Code and be handed over to other officers selected for that purpose, either by the President himself/herself or by the President through the Inspector General of Police. 

Besides this, many of the new agencies that are mentioned and also the new powers that have been mentioned have not been defined with any precision and without any ambiguity as required in a law. The ambiguities that are left could be utilised by any person in order to interpret this Anti-Terrorism Law in any manner that they like and therefore, all kinds of abuse will result particularly given the fact of the overall law enforcement failures and weaknesses that exist within the country. 

This new proposed Law also paves the way for the possible organising of extra-judicial killings and also the possibility of the recurrence of enforced disappearances. Once people are kept in places which are outside the normal places of detention, that is the prisons, they lose the protection that they have within the prisons, and they could be subjected to various kinds of exercises which may end up in extra-judicial killings. The practice of extra-judicial killings that is happening, even within the restricted atmosphere as it exists now, have already come under severe criticism by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court.  This situation will worsen when there are no ‘fixed safeguards’ for the protection of the people who are kept under such detention as proposed in the proposed Anti-Terrorism Law.

These also pave the way for the heavy increase of bribery and corruption within the Police. When the Police has the powers to hold people under detention for long periods, as it is proposed in this new Bill, opportunities will open up for various Police Officers of various ranks to exploit the situation for financial gains.  We have seen the example of 11 children who were abducted and kept under detention in a Navy camp and later disappeared.  It is known that they were kidnapped for the purpose of seeking ransom.  These kinds of practices will reemerge in a large scale given the kind of record that Sri Lanka has particularly within the last 40 years or so. 

Above all, Anti-Terrorism will be soon recognised more like a ‘political instrument’ for controlling those who represent dissent, those who represent various Opposition political parties, trade unions, medical associations such as the associations of doctors, and of other professions, journalists, academic associations, and all those who normally exercise their fundamental freedoms. 

Once the Anti-Terrorism Law operates, it will have a major blow on the human rights related provisions of Sri Lanka.  The defense by those who violate fundamental rights in the future will be that their actions or their omissions which amount to offences were a result of their legitimate anti-terrorism activities and therefore, they will enjoy immunity from any kind of legal action.

The result of all these is that the Parliament and the Judiciary will be seriously weakened, people will lose their right of sovereignty to exercise their franchise, their right to express opinions, and to participate in legitimate peaceful protests and to live a normal life.  The result will be a culture of enormous fear which was a part of Sri Lankan life not long ago. In the 1980s in the South and almost about 30 years continuously in the North and the South, reminds one of a ‘nightmare nation’ where people had to live in fear and their life was threatened. 

Another consequence of all this will be the increase of crime.  The Police preoccupied with the so-called new political function of anti-terrorism will have hardly any other time to deal with normal law and order related functions.  Many times, the senior persons in the defense establishment have claimed that within the last 40 years or so, the Police function suffered a great deal because of having to deal with ‘security functions.’  Now, it will become even worse and life in Sri Lanka will be even further insecure due to the so-called Anti-Terrorism Bill.

# # #

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) works towards the radical rethinking and fundamental redesigning of justice institutions in order to protect and promote human rights in Asia. Established in 1984, the Hong Kong based organisation is a Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, 2014. 

Read this Statement online

The post <strong>SRI LANKA: The proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill amounts to a parallel Constitution and a Criminal Procedure Code</strong> appeared first on Asia Commune.

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: The criteria for the selection of the new Inspector General of Police

The debate on who should be the next Inspector General of Police (IGP) is part of the public debate these days. The focus of this debate is more on who should be the ‘person†rather than what is the expectation from the new IGP in terms of the challenges faced on the one hand concerning the rule of law system in Sri Lanka, and on the other, in terms of the challenges faced by the Police Department.  Perhaps, also a relevant factor is how can the Police Department meet the challenges of playing an effective role in the administration of justice in Sri Lanka, as the Police Department is one of the core partners of the project of the administration of justice.

The Constitutional Council should set the criteria for the selection

The Constitutional Council will have the duty of doing the final selection of the person who would play, either for the good or for the bad, a vital role in the future of this all important Department, for several years to come. It is not an exaggeration to say that in the recent past, the performance of those who held this post has been one of disappointment. Some have even been subjected to punishments by the highest Court in Sri Lanka. Therefore, there should be a clear difference at this time and at least a beginning should be marked of an attempt to recover the institutionâ€s ability to perform its fundamental duty of the enforcement of law, the providing of security and above all, the protection of the people. 

Having such objectives in mind, we suggest that the Constitutional Council will develop its own criteria for the assessment of the candidates whose names will be submitted to the Council. As a matter of public interest, we suggest that this criterion should also include the following. 

A firm commitment to uphold the rule of law

That the person who is selected to this post has a thorough understanding of the philosophy of the rule of law as a foundational principle of Sri Lankaâ€s legal system. That the notion and the principles associated with this all important principle, are familiar to the candidate and that the candidate is firmly committed to the upholding of this principle at all costs. This can be judged by the performance of the candidate in terms of his/her past experiences. 

The will and the capacity to end extrajudicial killings 

The Supreme Court in Sri Lanka, on several occasions, has seriously criticised the issue of ‘extra-judicial killingsâ€, that has been taking place in various Police stations, at various times. There is a public allegation that ‘extra-judicial killings†are being used as a tactic for many purposes, and this matter came into scrutiny in a recent case before the Supreme Court when the Supreme Court, expressing its serious concern on this matter, went on to even state “that Sri Lankaâ€s Police has ceased to be a professional force.” This is an extremely serious criticism and also public concern too has been expressed on this matter in the Parliament, in the media and almost everywhere in the country. Thus, it would be one of the major tasks of the new IGP, not merely to be making statements condemning this practice, but to examine thoroughly, the causes which have made this possible and to take firm actions in order to ensure that this practice is stopped forthwith. This will be one of the major tests of the performance of the new IGP which will be tested within a very short time by the people of the country. 

The dealing with the inefficiency of the police system

The inefficiency of the policing system is a further concern for over a long period of time. The major reasons for this may not only be the problems that exist within the policing system, but also other factors which have arisen outside the policing system. For example, the obtaining of adequate funding for the proper running of the Department, is one of the major challenges faced by the Department. While a large part of the national Budget is allocated to the security sector, the funding allocated to the Police does not match with the numerous duties that are imposed on the Department. Thus, resolving this problem in a firm manner with the support of the public, will be made a challenge for the new IGP.

The Will and the capacity to assert the independence of the police system

The most serious criticism against the policing system is that it has become subservient to ‘outside mastersâ€, particularly to ‘politiciansâ€. This maybe a result of the governance processes which went wrong for several decades. However, for whatever the reason, there is a serious loss of confidence in the Department, mainly due to the perception that this institution, which is a ‘monolithic institution†which should be run from top down, on the principle of command responsibility, is not in fact functioning in this manner. Outside forces undermine the internal command structure, and those in charge of the internal command structure, have given into these ‘interferencesâ€. Therefore, finding ways to overcome this problem will be perhaps the most important ‘political challenge†that the IGP will have to face. For that very purpose, the person selected should be a type of person who would be able and willing to meet with this overall challenge to the institution. 

Protecting Human Rights

One of the major challenges for the policing system at present times, is to respect human rights. Many of the cases which are coming by way of ‘fundamental rights†applications and also decisions of Court, and also other criticisms, centre round the issue of the violation of human rights by the policing system. The issue of illegal arrests, illegal detentions, and torture, and also, the finding of fault in reports in court, the unprincipled and illegal applications on the prolonging of bail, are among the ‘criticisms†which are made constantly. Some of these allegations of illegal arrest and illegal detention, and similar problems, may be rooted in the problem earlier discussed, which is the politicisation of the system. However, it may also be due to incompetence and the lack of ‘organisational development†within the policing system itself.  Therefore, a comprehensive study on these matters and an immediate action plan of countering these practices are needed for the health of the organisation. And also, for the well-being of the Police staff themselves, who are unnecessarily exposed to bad practices, as these practices have not been reviewed and changed from time to time. 

Resurrecting the police investigative capacity

The further serious concern is the investigative capacity of the policing system and its various branches. In recent years, the failures in the investigative aspect have become all too glairing. A vast number of clients are either not investigated or such probes have not been completed, and often, there is also criticism that for extraneous reasons, some of these investigations have been suppressed. Many well-known cases are often cited as examples of these failures. When the investigative capacity of Police stations is judged from the point of view of the past, it becomes quite clear that some decades ago, there was considerable development of the capacity of the policing system to deal with crimes at the local level, while crimes which often end up in the Criminal Investigations Department are crimes of a serious nature. In all these instances, in the past, the policing system has shown considerable integrity and capacity, in dealing with these problems within a very reasonable period of time. This tradition has been lost and therefore, the causes of the loss need to be examined, understood and remedied. 

Providing the department with a better communication and digital capacity

We are living in a vastly changed ‘communication worldâ€. The internet facilities, information technology, and digital facilities, all are today a part of the administration of any institution. However, the Sri Lankan policing system remains backward from the point of view of digitalisation and the adaptation to information technology for its work, and that is a part of the reason for its many problems. A quick plan for the improvement of the technological aspect at all levels from the local Police station, up to the various relationships in the area Headquarters, as well as for the central leadership of the policing system, is needed for the whole ‘system†to develop technologically, so that the workings will be much more orderly, information will be very much more preserved and not tampered with, and also efficiency will be improved.  This central aspect, if approached quickly with the help of the experts in the field, could contribute a great deal towards solving the earlier problems which are also affected by this ‘backward system†that exists at present.

Improvement of staff technical skills

This will mean the improvement of the technological skills of the staff of the Police at all levels. Beginning at the very top level and particularly at the levels of Officers-In-Charge, Assistant Superintendents of Police and the like. Communication skills development should be given priority. The testing of the capacities of persons in these matters can be exercised through the help of experts in this field. Once this skill training is introduced, it will soon catch up and enter into the ‘mainstreamâ€, of the system, and the system will also be able to exercise this function with other branches of governance, particularly with the branches of the administration of justice, better and more efficiently and also with greater accountability.

Modernize police training at all levels

Another ‘major problem†that the next IGP will have to face is to completely revise and change the Police training methodologies within the Department.  Short training programmes have clearly shown to have no effect in creating a kind of Police force that can be the respect of the people and also to perform their duties with a ‘sense of dignity†and also with professional pride. This would mean that dividing various types of trainings depends on which branches they were from and giving special trainings for ‘special tasks†and if necessary, providing the training abroad, so that experiences from other countries could be brought into the experience of the Sri Lankan policing system, are all matters that need very urgent consideration. 

Moral and ethical development of the police

The moral and ethical development of the Police is a very serious need within the policing system. The use of language among each other by the officers, higher-ups and the lower ranks, should reflect the respect that exists within the Department and particularly the basic notion of equality which is at the heart of the constitutional system of Sri Lanka. The same applies to dealing with the public, where drastic changes are needed in the use of language and in behavioural patterns, where politeness, courtesy, and respect for each other should dominate these relationships. The population of the country has improved greatly from the point of view of their education, and they expect a higher level of moral and ethical behaviour from all institutions and of course, particularly the institution that deals with the protection of the people which is the policing system. 

These are some of the matters that could be included in the criteria for the selection of an IGP.  This clearly shows that the person who comes into the job should carry a certain vision for achieving changes in an institution that desperately is in need of changes. That is not just an institutional need, it is a need of the country. The stability of the country will depend very much on the stable functioning of the policing system that is able to do its functions at all levels, particularly at a time when a massive economic crisis has hit the country and the levels of challenge to law and order have become more severe than ever.  The requirement today is for a well-functioning system that could win back the confidence of the people. As poverty increases, there is likely to be an increase in thefts, robberies, simply because of dire need. Under these circumstances, developing strategies on not only of dealing with crime but also social problems like assistance to people who are faced with malnutrition, by providing various types of services so that the other authorities who are dealing with these matters are able to deliver their services more efficiently, should be a part of the training on the outlook of the Police officers regarding social concerns.  The helpful approach to those who are in need, like to those who are old, and also the people with various disabilities, must be inculcated into the policing system, so that people will begin to see a changed approach to dealing with social stability and law and order. 

In short, the person needed as the IGP at these crucial times is a visionary leader with integrity and courage.

# # #

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) works towards the radical rethinking and fundamental redesigning of justice institutions in order to protect and promote human rights in Asia. Established in 1984, the Hong Kong based organisation is a Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, 2014. 

Read this Statement online

The post <strong>SRI LANKA: The criteria for the selection of the new Inspector General of Police</strong> appeared first on Asia Commune.

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: A statement on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023

The International Women’s Day is observed on March 8th to acknowledge the tremendous work done by the feminist movements worldwide. This year’s (2023) theme, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”, highlights the role of innovative technology in promoting gender equality and meeting the health and developmental needs of women and girls.

Innovation and technology have the potential to empower women and girls and help realise their sexual and reproductive health related rights. Women and girls are increasingly using mobile phones, and the internet and digital platforms, to share and access information on sexual and reproductive health, including menstrual health, and family planning. They are also increasingly using social media platforms to express themselves.

Today, all Nepalese must remember women’s rights leader Yogmaya Neupane who successfully campaigned to abolish the Sati (self immolation forced on Hindu widows to end their lives by placing themselves on their husbands’ funeral pyres) practice in Nepal by revolting against the country’s practice of feudal patriarchy. The practice was brought to an end in 1920 by Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana. It became a milestone in Nepal’s women’s rights movement. In the years to come and until now, the women’s movement of Nepal has been a collective effort of social and political campaigns aimed at achieving a better and equitable society.

While the women in Nepal have the constitutional right to vote, own property, and make decisions about their reproductive health, the rising cases of recurring domestic violence to sexual violence including the alarming growth of rape cases and the widely accepted fact that almost half of the country’s women have experienced either physical or mental violence and have become victims of sexual assaults in their lives in Nepal are alarming issues that need to be addressed by the Government of Nepal. 

Many women and girls are still subjected to domestic and sexual violence. Many factors come into play, but the lack of literacy, poverty and the lack of awareness about their rights are pertinent aspects that need to be addressed by the Government of Nepal. It must discuss and address these root causes at the policy making level, and ensure that women and girls representing all communities from across the country have equal and easy access to digital resources and equipment and the necessary literacy, skills and resources, ultimately promoting gender equality and meeting the developmental needs of women and girls. 

According to a column written by the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal Sushila Karki, times are changing, and the rules governing gender equality are evolving. However, she poses some unanswered questions: Do women in Nepal today have access to freedom as guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws? To what extent is freedom restricted in relation to women’s rights? What context proves that gender equality is practiced among Nepalese women in the society? The Asian Human Rights Commission would like to reiterate these questions.

World renowned feminist, activist and journalist Gloria Steinem rightly states, “The story of the women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.” So let us celebrate the International Women’s Day by bridging the digital gender divide and by embracing equity.  

# # #

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) works towards the radical rethinking and fundamental redesigning of justice institutions in order to protect and promote human rights in Asia. Established in 1984, the Hong Kong based organisation is a Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, 2014. 

Read this Statement online

The post <strong>SRI LANKA: A statement on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023</strong> appeared first on Asia Commune.

The post End ethnic cleansing in Palestine – South Africa must act now! appeared first on Asia Commune.

As members of the Social Work Action Network-International to express our concern about
the recent removal of Professor Alan Dettlaff from his post as Dean of the Graduate College
of Social Work, at the University of Huston.
SWAN-I is a network of social workers and social work organisations from across the globe
committed to social work for social justice. Our international network draws together
nationally based groups of social work researchers, educators and practitioners campaigning
for a more just world.
Professor Dettlaff is a leading scholar and political activist whose work on racial justice and
the abolitionist perspective has inspired social work academics, students and practitioners
all over the world.
At a time when our global profession confronts legacies of colonialism and oppression and
explores its own histories of complicity and resistance, the abolitionist perspective and
movement provide a crucial theoretical and practice-based tool for analysis and praxis.
In this global debate, conversations about abolitionist practice are both necessary and
important. Professor Dettlaff, through the co-creation of spaces for critical discussion and
research, has demonstrated that social work should be aware of the needs and voices of
communities and social workers must be prepared to speak truth to power.
SWAN-I stands in solidarity with Professor Dettlaff and all University of Houston staff and
students who share the perspective that all injustices that individuals and communities face
in this world are rooted in the colonial past and current socioeconomic and political
inequalities and related social problems that must be addressed collectively and politically.
It is for these reasons that we express our concern about Prof Dettlaff’s dismissal and we
ask the senior leadership of the University of Huston to reconsider its decision to remove
Professor Dettlaff from the Dean role and ensure that the Graduate College of Social Work
remains a global hub for research and learning about the abolitionist and radical social work
perspectives.

– rory –

The post Letter in Support of Alan Dettlaff appeared first on Asia Commune.