Impunity in north, east, south and west

Sunday January 15, 2012
By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

The continuing failure of Sri Lanka's institutions of justice is well demonstrated in the most recent Views of the Geneva based United Nations Human Rights Committee (UN Committee) calling upon the Sri Lankan State to effectively investigate and prosecute the murderers of a small time businessman in Negombo after he, his wife and their two children had been repeatedly intimidated and threatened by police officers whom they had angered. The Committee was responding to an Individual Communication filed by the deceased's wife Pathmini Peiris.

Shrewd foreign affairs policy at one time

It is necessary first to give some background to this discussion. Under the shrewd direction of then Foreign Affairs Minister the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lanka was a frontrunner in the South Asian subcontinent in acceding to the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the late 1990's. This was a deliberate policy decision meant to signal to the world that Sri Lanka had nothing to hide and that constructive criticism, if it is for the betterment of its own citizens, would be gladly accepted.

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