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Rajapaksa for careful study of Bhagwati panel report

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered a careful study of the observations and recommendations made in the Interim Report of the members of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) headed by Justice P.N. Bhagwati.

In its report made public on Monday, the IIGEP has raised several fundamental questions regarding the functioning of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) regarding the investigation of 16 specified human rights violation cases.

The CoI was constituted by Mr. Rajapaksa in November 2006 to investigate cases of violations. In February, he appointed the 11-member IIGEP to oversee the functioning of the Commission.

A presidential secretariat statement said the IIGEP report was received on June 4 and that "Any response necessary will follow such study".

Separately, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based think-tank welcomed the report and urged the authorities to ensure that such documents had been made public. The IIGEP in its statement noted, "The Commission and IIGEP [should] not be portrayed as a substitute for robust, effective measures including national and international human rights monitoring."

The CPA said the observation was an endorsement of the call made by local and international organisations for international human rights monitoring before the establishment of the CoI and the IIGEP was mooted and a rebuttal of the attempts by sections of the Government to portray the IIGEP as constituting such a mechanism.

Deteriorating situation

It said the CPA had continuously called on the State and other actors to address the deteriorating human rights situation, the reconstitution of the Constitution Council and the appointment of the independent commissions including the Human Rights Commission (HRC).

"The steady increase in grievous human rights violations throughout Sri Lanka coupled with delays and interference in inquiries attests to the prevailing culture of impunity. While CPA recognises the important contribution the CoI and IIGEP can make in investigating human rights abuses, it notes that increasing human rights violations in the country demonstrate that the constitution of the CoI and IIGEP has not inhibited human rights violations or served as a deterrent to them," said the CPA.

It said the high rate of abuses throughout the last six months profiles the continuing threats to human security in all parts of the country. "While welcoming the investigations into the 16 cases, CPA emphasises the need for these investigations to be independent and impartial and for there to be no undue interference in them by State and other actors. These issues are also flagged in the IIGEP statement. [The] CPA therefore urges the authorities to appoint an independent panel of counsel. Such a move would reinforce the standards of impartiality and neutrality required in investigations and inquiries of this nature and magnitude. [The] CPA further urges that efforts are made to facilitate and expedite the investigations of the COI."

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