{"id":171530,"date":"2016-12-13T06:03:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T00:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=171530"},"modified":"2016-12-20T15:32:32","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T10:02:32","slug":"the-role-of-civil-society-in-sri-lankas-universal-periodic-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-role-of-civil-society-in-sri-lankas-universal-periodic-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Role Of Civil Society In Sri Lanka\u2019s Universal Periodic Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kirsty Anantharajah<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Kirsty<\/a>

Kirsty Anantharajah<\/p><\/div>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s game playing at the\u00a0Universal Periodic Review<\/a>\u00a0(UPR) during its first two reviews in 2008 and 2012 tested the ability of this human rights mechanism to achieve its aims and maintain the integrity of its\u00a0principles<\/a>, including objectivity and transparency. This post explores how the proactive participation of civil society pushed back against the\u00a0rights ritualism<\/em>\u00a0displayed by the Sri Lankan state at the UPR.<\/a>[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

These analyses are particularly relevant to the Sri Lankan state, which is approaching its third review next year: Sri Lanka will be facing the UPR with a new government at its helm. Reflections on Sri Lanka\u2019s previous two reviews must also communicate to Sri Lankan civil society its crucial role in human rights regulation through the UPR.<\/p>\n

Narrating history<\/strong><\/p>\n

In both its reviews, Sri Lanka attempted to gloss over and conceal aspects of the nation\u2019s recent experience of civil war, an ongoing rule of law crisis, and its peoples\u2019 experience of human rights violations. The contributions of civil society through stakeholder submissions to the UPR provided a much needed alternative perspective.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s first review occurred in the temporal landscape of civil war that raged from 1983-2009 between Sri Lankan forces and the Tamil militant group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE).<\/p>\n

In its\u00a0national report<\/a>, Sri Lanka discussed constitutional and legislative measures facilitating racial equality, however, it avoided detailing the human rights situation on the ground. The\u00a0stakeholder submissions<\/a>\u00a0stepped into this void, and laid the foundations for a more transparent review. According to the\u00a0stakeholders<\/a>, this temporal landscape was characterised by violence and discriminatory practices that targeted the nation\u2019s ethnic Tamil minority. An increasingly endemic culture of \u2018disappearances,\u2019 torture and extra-judicial killings combined with growing state impunity\u00a0marked the human rights situation<\/a>during this period. Sri Lanka\u2019s first UPR cycle occurred in the later stages of this conflict. In\u00a0its submission,<\/a>\u00a0a stakeholder expressed its fears, cautioning worse times ahead for Sri Lankan peoples:<\/p>\n

\u2026violations are likely to escalate further given [the] government\u2019s failure to address impunity, increasing political interference of the government in the judiciary and other organs of the state, repression of dissent and ever more excessive powers to the security forces.<\/em><\/p>\n

These concerns came to fruition during the final offensive of the civil war. This began only months after Sri Lanka\u2019s initial review and concluded in May 2009. According\u00a0to many stakeholders<\/a>, this short period saw over 40 000 civilian deaths, and grave breaches of human rights law, humanitarian law and international law. A\u00a0stakeholder\u2019s submission<\/a>reflects the indiscriminant nature of the military offensive: \u2018it made no difference between combatants and civilians.\u2019 Another\u00a0key feature<\/a>\u00a0of this offensive was \u2018the repeated military action against Tamil people in the \u201cno fire zones\u201d established by the Government.\u2019<\/p>\n

Referring to this same offensive in its\u00a0second national report<\/a>, Sri Lanka congratulated itself for its victory over the LTTE. The final offensive was termed a \u2018humanitarian operation,\u2019 and the state detailed the \u2018human rights focus\u2019 of this military offensive. The report declared that \u2018the humanitarian operation ensured for the people of the North and East their right to live in dignity and restored democratic freedoms. Sri Lanka blandly asserted that it had maintained a \u2018zero civilian casualty policy.\u2019<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s second review occurred in the aftermath of its civil war.\u00a0Submissions to Sri Lanka\u2019s second review<\/a>\u00a0noted a continuing deterioration of human rights following the war. Torture and sexual violence against women by Sri Lanka\u2019s security forces occurred against a backdrop of state impunity; enforced disappearances persisted; freedom of speech and human rights defenders were under serious attack; and discriminatory practices continued.<\/p>\n

In its second report<\/a>, Sri Lanka declared that the state had \u2018achieved peace and social tranquillity\u2019. In response to the\u00a0international community\u2019s concerns about disappearances perpetrated by the state<\/a>, Sri Lanka declared: \u2018the Police report a relatively good rate of success in tracing missing persons.\u2019<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka maintained a consistently self-congratulatory narrative in its provision of information to the UPR, and it was predominantly the UN and civil society organisations that provided the mechanism with a counter-narrative and information capable of shining a light into the\u00a0\u2018darkest corners of the world.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Follow up<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ongoing monitoring of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka by civil society highlighted the state\u2019s inflated or false declarations of achievement.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s practice of demonstrating human rights progress by gesturing towards its complex bureaucracy and various special administrative bodies in its reports was\u00a0confronted<\/a>\u00a0by civil society:<\/p>\n

the standard response of the Government in the face of criticism of human rights abuses has been the creation of a multiplicity of ad hoc institutions, committees and commissions of inquiry, which\u2026have done nothing to deter violations.<\/em><\/p>\n

As a further example, Sri Lanka\u2019s\u00a0second national report<\/a>\u00a0made claims of successful de-militarisation:<\/p>\n

with the\u2026gradual restoration of normality, the strength of the military in the North has been reduced considerably. The present strength in the Jaffna Peninsula is approximately 15,000\u2026 The military is no longer involved in civil administration in the North and East.<\/em><\/p>\n

These proclamations were directly contradicted in the\u00a0stakeholders\u2019 report<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[the] Northern province of Sri Lanka was under intense militarization\u2026in the Jaffna peninsula, there are some 40,000 army personnel, a ratio of approximately 1:11 of military personnel to civilians. The situation in Vanni is much worse with the ratio reportedly being 1:3. The military has been given key civilian administrative positions, including the Governors of the Northern and Eastern Provinces.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Truth telling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s adherence to a self-congratulatory narrative that was littered with jargon and falsities challenged the UPR\u2019s principles of transparency and objectivity. But several instances of \u2018truth telling\u2019 by NGOs provided powerful support for these principles. Sri Lanka\u2019s review highlights the ability of the UPR to empower and give voice to civil society, even in situations where its voice is not encouraged domestically.<\/a>[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n

The truth telling facilitated by civil society at the UPR somewhat countered the ritualistic participation of the Sri Lankan state. By comparison with the cynicism behind ritualistic engagement, truth telling can be a powerful public ritual with \u2018the potential to curb the scourge of impunity, restore dignity to survivors, and contribute to the elusive possibility that such crimes will never happen again.\u2019<\/a>[iii]<\/a>\u00a0This role of truth telling is endorsed by survivors of the violence in Sri Lanka. A resounding theme in the\u00a0testimonies of victims<\/a>\u00a0of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka is the desire to have their experienced recognised: \u2018I want the UN to know \u2026 what I have gone through.\u2019<\/p>\n

One powerful moment of truth telling occurred during the\u00a0plenary session<\/a>\u00a0following Sri Lanka\u2019s second review. Dr Manoharan, a Sri Lankan citizen, was given the opportunity by Amnesty International to address the UPR and the Sri Lankan delegation. He gave an account of the brutal extra-judicial killing of his son and his friends in Trincomalee.<\/a>[iv]<\/a>\u00a0Dr Manoharan was visibly emotional; his loss of composure provided voice to other accounts of indignity and suffering experienced by many Sri Lankans. He was able to address his account to not only the international community but also to high-ranking state officials: this is not a situation that could have conceivably occurred domestically. Dr Manoharan\u2019s personal account invigorated the UPR\u2019s rituals and formalities, highlighting the importance of truth telling in human rights forums.<\/p>\n

The civil society push back against Sri Lanka\u2019s game playing at the UPR demonstrates that this mechanism has the potential to facilitate truth telling. This should instill a level of optimism in early assessments of the capacity of the UPR to promote transparency and objectivity.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a>[i]<\/a>\u00a0For a discussion of \u2018rights ritualism\u2019, see Hilary Charlesworth, \u2018Swimming to Cambodia: Justice and Ritual in Human Rights after Conflict\u2019,\u00a0Australian Yearbook of International Law<\/em>, Vol. 29 (2011), 1-16, and Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking, \u2018Introduction: The Regulatory Power of the Universal Periodic Review\u2019 in Charlesworth and Larking (eds),\u00a0Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review: Rituals and Ritualism<\/em>, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014, 1-21.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[ii]<\/a>\u00a0The UPR has\u00a0exposed a culture of intimidation and violence against human rights defenders, journalists, etc.: Human Rights Council,\u00a0Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Sri Lanka,\u00a0<\/em>8th<\/sup>\u00a0sess., UN Doc. A\/HRC\/8\/46 (5 June 2008)<\/p>\n

<\/a>[iii]<\/a>\u00a0Nicola Henry, \u2018The Impossibility of Bearing Witness: Wartime Rape and the Promise of Justice\u2019 (2010) 16\u00a0Violence Against Women\u00a0<\/em>1098, 1098.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[iv]<\/a>\u00a0UN Web TV,\u00a0Consideration of Sri Lanka UPR Report 38th Meeting 22nd Regular Session Human Rights Council\u00a0<\/em><Http:\/\/webtv.un.org\/search\/consideration-of-sri-lanka-upr-report-38th-meeting-22nd-regular-session-human-rights-council\/2227262871001?term=sri%20lanka><\/p>\n

*Kirsty Anantharajah –\u00a0<\/strong>Centre for International Governance and Justice,\u00a0Australian National University.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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