{"id":161926,"date":"2016-05-08T01:50:15","date_gmt":"2016-05-07T20:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=161926"},"modified":"2016-05-08T02:03:16","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T20:33:16","slug":"sri-lankas-diversity-not-reflected-in-judiciary-ags-office-and-police-says-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankas-diversity-not-reflected-in-judiciary-ags-office-and-police-says-un\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka&#8217;s Diversity Not Reflected In Judiciary, AG&#8217;s Office And Police, Says UN"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=M\u00f3nica+Pinto&amp;x=8&amp;y=4\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">M\u00f3nica Pinto<\/span><\/a> has called for a more acceptable composition of Tamil speaking judges, and police in the country.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_161927\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankas-diversity-not-reflected-in-judiciary-ags-office-and-police-says-un\/special-rapporteur-on-the-independence-of-judges-and-lawyers-monica-pinto\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-161927\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-161927\" class=\"size-full wp-image-161927\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Special-Rapporteur-on-the-independence-of-judges-and-lawyers-M\u00f3nica-Pinto.jpg\" alt=\"Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers - M\u00f3nica Pinto\" width=\"200\" height=\"143\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-161927\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers &#8211; M\u00f3nica Pinto<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In her preliminary observations and recommendations at the conclusion of her official visit to Sri Lanka, Pinto said that while the society in Sri Lanka is predominantly Sinhalese, with important Tamil and Muslim minorities, which in the North and East of the country are in a majority position, the diversity of the population is not reflected in the composition of the judiciary, the Attorney General\u2019s office, or the police, or in the language in which proceedings are conducted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor instance, there are very few Tamil-speaking judges appointed at the highest levels of the judiciary \u2013 in fact, with the exception of the current Chief Justice, there are no Tamils in the superior courts (Supreme Court and Court of Appeal). Police forces, in charge of investigation and the first steps to initiate criminal proceedings, are also composed of a large majority of Sinhala-speaking people. There are also very few Tamil-speaking State counsels in the Attorney-General\u2019s office,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She therefore urged for diversity in recruitment of judges, state counsels, and police officers, while also emphasizing upon the need for qualified interpreters to be assigned to tribunals as a measure to guarantee due process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe police force also plays an important role in judicial criminal proceedings, for this reason they should be appropriately trained. The police force should incorporate members of the 8 different groups living in the country and speak all the languages of the country. Not only policemen should be able to communicate in Sinhalese and in Tamil, but they should be able to do so when recording the statement of detainees, so as to produce reliable pieces of evidence before the judges and to observe due process. As the police assumes the prosecutorial role before magistrate courts, its officers should be adequately trained to discharge this delicate function,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Pinto also urged the government to ensure that every person detained has access to a lawyer from the moment of the arrest and that every person is told about this right. \u201cThis right should be enshrined in the Constitution but pending an amendment, it should be embodied in national legislation and law enforcement agents should be entrusted with the duty to tell detainees about their rights,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Pinto noted that the frequent practice of confessions \u2013 especially in cases under the Prevention of Terrorism Act \u2013 and the plea bargain \u2013 which is not explicitly provided for in legislation in force -, if they are kept, should be coupled with some evidence supporting them, so that the judicial proceeding fulfills its function of shedding light to the facts. \u201cTruth is but one of the goals of the judicial process,\u201d she emphasized.<\/p>\n<p>According to her, the country\u2019s judicial proceedings are too long, and the time they involve affect especially people deprived of liberty. It amounts to a denial of justice. Cases are regularly postponed. Judges cannot afford the number of cases they have to deal with. The Criminal Investigations Department and the government Analyst Department are centralized in Colombo and conduct investigations for the whole justice system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCriminal prosecutors are overburdened. The backlog of Tribunals, in both civil and criminal matters, should be considered so as to be the object of some work plan to tackle the delays and to prevent their occurrence. Some elements to be taken care of are the increased capacities of the Mediation System Board, the increase in the number of judges and the establishment of some more courts in different parts of the country and some family courts, the clear cut difference in the prosecutorial services in the Attorney-General&#8217;s office so as to have a strong Prosecutor&#8217;s Office, and the implementation of an evaluation of performance plan,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sri Lankans need to be in a position to reach the courts and to have their cases timely adjudicated. 335 judges at all instances and in the whole country, a number given to us by the Judicial Service Commission, seem insufficient for a population of more than 20 million inhabitants. Further, the number of judges does not seem enough to deal with the variety and complexity of legal issues faced in Sri Lanka. Appointing more judges also needs to be accompanied by adequate facilities and resources, including building new court houses,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p><em>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/visiting-un-special-rapporteurs-share-their-preliminary-observations-and-recommendations\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to read Preliminary observations and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, M\u00f3nica Pinto<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":161927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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