Draft law ready for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation Commisison
A Truth, Unity and Reconciliation Commission will be empowered to probe alleged violations of the law, including human rights, during the separatist war from 1983 for 27 years.
The draft legislation, already gazetted, is due to come up for approval before Parliament early this year. The prime mover of this is President Ranil Wickremesinghe. He is now on a fourday visit to Jaffna but the proposed legislation, central to civilians there who are seeking accountability, has not figured. If they have been calling for accountability during the separatist war, those in the south have been told of reconciliation.
A highlight of the new legislation is to make it lawful for the Attorney General to institute criminal proceedings in a designated court of law. This is “in respect of any offence based on material collected during an investigation or inquiry.”
The members of the proposed Commission are to be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. One of them will be appointed as Chairperson of the Commission. The Commission will also have an “Information Officer” and a “designated officer” for the purpose of the Right to Information Act. Any person who intends to be appointed as a member of the Commission or wishes to nominate any other suitable person will be required to make an application to the Constitutional Council.
The mandate of the Commission includes:
The promotion of truth telling, national unity, peace, rule of law, co-existence, equality with tolerance and respect for diversity, and reconciliation among the people of Sri Lanka, by establishing a truthful, accurate, impartial, complete record of the alleged damage or harm caused to persons or property, loss of life or alleged violations of human rights.
• Helping restore the dignity of aggrieved persons by providing an opportunity for them to give an account of the alleged damage or harm caused to persons or property, loss of life or alleged violation of human rights, giving special attention to the experience of women, children, and persons with disability.
• Compiling a report providing as comprehensive an account of the activities, investigations, and recommendations of the Commission, including
• Investigating and making recommendations in respect of the allegations of damage or harm caused to persons or property or loss of life or alleged violation of human rights including:
• Acts of omissions resulting in the arbitrary deprivation of human life or any attempt thereto, extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and mass murders.
• Acts of torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.
• Sexual violence, abuse and exploitation of persons, with due regard to particular experiences of women, children, persons with disability, detainees and prisoners. Arbitrary or unlawful arrests or detentions.
• Fact-finding in respect of alleged corruption and intentional misuse of equipment and financial resources in relation to the conflict which took place in the Northern and Eastern provinces that contributed to the loss of life or grave risk of loss of life of persons, including members of the armed forces, the Police and civil defence personnel of Sri Lanka.
• Fact-finding in respect of the incidence of recruitment of children into armed groups connected with the conflict which took place in the Northern and Eastern provinces or its aftermath.
• Making findings in regard to those responsible for the commission of the alleged violations and abuses, including those who advised, planned, directed, commanded or ordered such atrocities.
The draft law empowers the Commission to raise funds from overseas. The Commission is also required to open bank accounts. It is also empowered to “seek technical assistance” from any person or institution or organisation in the interest of the advancement of the Commission’s work.”
The Commission, the draft law states, can make an application to a Magistrate having jurisdiction, for the issuance of a search warrant to enable the Police, “to search any premises suspected to contain material relevant to an investigation being conducted by the Commission. They are empowered to seize any object that is deemed necessary for an investigation. Magistrates with the relevant jurisdiction are also being empowered to excavate gravesites. Assistance from foreign countries is to be obtained under Mutual Legal Assistance programmes.
A Victim and Witness Protection Division will assist the Commission in developing and enforcing a system for aggrieved persons and witness protection. A preambular paragraph to the draft law notes that “a truth seeking mechanism, anchored in the right of all Sri Lankans to know the truth as an integral part of their right to an effective remedy, will contribute to the promotion of national unity, peace, rule of law, coexistence, equality with tolerance and respect for diversity and reconciliation among the people of Sri Lanka and non-recurrence of disharmony and violence for the well-being and security of all Sri Lankans including future generations.
It adds: “Respecting the fundamental rights and duties and implementing the directive principles of State policy enshrined in the Constitution being a primary objective of all organs of the Government of Sri Lanka, and having solemnly resolved to ratify the immutable republican principles of representative democracy and assuring all peoples’ freedom, equality, justice, fundamental human rights as the intangible heritage that guarantees the dignity and well being of succeeding generations of the people of Sri Lanka, and recognising that a national policy of truth seeking and the advancement of national policy of truth seeking and the advancement of national unity and reconciliation furthers the State’s assurance to all people of Sri Lanka freedom, equality, justice, fundamental human rights and the independence of the judiciary recognised under the Constitution.