News
Top UN official flags ‘accountability deficit’ in Lanka
By MEERA SRINIVASAN
Accountability remains the “fundamental gap” in Sri Lanka’s attempts to deal with the past, a senior U.N. official has said while warning that “as long as impunity prevails, Sri Lanka will achieve neither genuine reconciliation nor sustainable peace.”
Referring to the Sri Lankan government’s plans to set up a Truth Commission, to probe allegations of war crimes and grave human rights violations during the country’s civil war, U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif noted that Sri Lanka has “witnessed too many ad hoc commissions” in the past that failed to ensure accountability.
“What is needed is a coherent plan that connects the different elements of truth, redress, memorialisation, accountability and creates the right enabling environment for a successful and sustainable transitional justice process,” she said, in an oral update to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday.
While it is fundamentally the Sri Lankan authorities’ responsibility to directly acknowledge past violations and undertake credible investigations and prosecutions the international community can – and should – play complementary roles in the process until the “accountability deficit” remains, Ms. Al-Nashif said, amid known resistance within Sri Lanka’s Sinhala-majority to any international participation.
Further, pointing to recent arrests of a stand-up comedian and a Tamil legislator, the U.N. official said the past months witnessed “the old reflex of using draconian laws to curtail opposition and control civic space, with a heavy-handed approach to protests far too often”.
While “encouraging” President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s dialogue with Tamil political parties, and “welcoming” his promise to stop land acquisition for archaeological, forestry or security purposes, the U.N. official underscored the need for new laws, policies and practices that will “make good on these promises and bring about tangible changes”.
Commenting on the island’s persisting economic crisis, the Deputy Chief of Human Rights observed that it continues to severely impact the “rights and well-being of many Sri Lankans”. Terming the International Monetary Fund’s $ 2.9 billion-support an “important first step”, she called for “robust safety nets and social protection measures”, in order to ensure that “the burden of reforms does not further compound inequalities.”
Referring to last year’s historic people’s uprising [Janatha Aragalaya] in the island nation, that ousted former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Ms. Al-Nashif noted that the “full potential for the historic transformation that would address long-standing challenges has yet to be realised.”
A discussion to review the progress of the housing project under which 4,700 houses are being constructed for the Malayagam community with Indian assistance was held this afternoon (24) at the Presidential Secretariat under the chairmanship of the Chief of Staff to the President, Prabath Chandrakeerthi.
Under this housing programme, 2,026 houses are to be provided to families identified by the National Building Research Institute (NBRI) as being at disaster risk. The remaining houses are expected to be allocated to eligible workers residing in the plantation sector.
Accordingly, the houses will be provided to Malayagam community families living on estates belonging to 22 Regional Plantation Companies, as well as estates under the State Plantations Corporation, Janawasama and Elkaduwa Plantations.
For the construction of each house, the Government of India has allocated Rs. 2.8 million, while the Government of Sri Lanka has contributed Rs. 400,000.
During the discussion, Chandrakeerthi instructed officials to ensure that the housing project is completed before the end of this year. He further directed that land identified for the construction of houses be released without delay and that the National Building Research Institute provide the necessary reports to identify suitable land for the project.
The housing project is being implemented jointly by the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, the National Housing Development Authority, the State Engineering Corporation and the Plantation Human Development Trust.
Among those present were Additional Secretary (Development) of the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, K. S. Wijayakeerthi; Director General (Engineering), N. D. N. Pushpakumara; Director General (Planning), W. A. K. S. Damayanthi; the Secretary General of the Planters’ Association; and officials from the National Housing Development Authority, the State Engineering Corporation, relevant institutions and plantation companies.
(PMD)
It has been reported that Attorney at Law Rakitha Rajapakshe, the son of former Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, has been arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) over alleged links with the underworld.
… alleges NPP trying to implement UPFA, UNP plan
Front-line Socialist Party (FSP) yesterday (24) alleged that the NPP government’s move to amalgamate the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) and the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), under a unified, tripartite governance framework, would be detrimental to the private sector workers.
Addressing the media at Melder Place, Nugegoda, FSP spokesman Duminda Nagamuwa said that the Cabinet of Ministers approved this proposal on 15 June.
Nagamuwa claimed that the NPP was trying to implement what President Mahinda Rajapaksa had sought to do, in 2011, causing the police to open fire on a group of the Export Processing Zone workers, protesting against the move to create a private pension scheme. A worker, identified as Roshen Chanaka, was shot by police on May 30, 2011, and he succumbed to his injuries.
Pointing out that the EPF and the ETF had been established for the benefit of private sector workers but with different objectives, Nagamuwa warned that amalgamation of the two funds could cause unnecessary complications.
The FSP spokesman said that Ravi Karunanayake, in his capacity as the Finance Minister of the Yahapalana government, in late November 2015 had declared their intention to amalgamate the ETF with the EPF.
FSP’s Pubudu Jayagoda told The Island that they expected all political parties, other than the NPP, to disclose their stand on the vital issue. Jayagoda urged the Opposition to take a stand on the vital issue .
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