FOMENTO DE LA CAPACIDAD Y NECESIDADES DE ASISTENCIA TÉCNICA

99. El Gobierno de Sri Lanka busca el apoyo de sus socios internacionales en las esferas siguientes:

- La asistencia en la creación de capacidad nacional en materia de presentación de informes ante los órganos de tratados, el seguimiento de las observaciones finales y las

recomendaciones de los procedimientos y mecanismos especiales de las Naciones Unidas, en particular la vigilancia nacional de la aplicación de los instrumentos internacionales de derechos humanos;

- La continuación de las actividades educativas y de formación en derechos humanos y derecho internacional humanitario dirigidas a miembros de la policía y las fuerzas armadas;

- El mejoramiento de la capacitación lingüística, con la elaboración de simulaciones y escenificaciones (al igual que en el caso de la capacitación en derechos humanos);

- La capacitación dirigida a determinados servicios especializados de la policía, como el Departamento de Investigación Criminal y la Dependencia Especial de Investigación, en técnicas de investigación, en particular investigación forense, y en el uso de métodos tecnológicos modernos;

- El mejoramiento de la gestión de los casos y procedimientos de seguimiento en todo el proceso de justicia penal prestando una atención especial a las prisiones;

- El apoyo técnico en la creación de una Dirección de Enlace Civil y Militar;

- El apoyo técnico y la asistencia en la confección de un mapa nacional de iniciativas protección y promoción de los derechos humanos, así como de las principales lagunas y zonas que precisan atención; ésta será la base del Plan de Acción Nacional (PAN);

- La asistencia en la formulación del PAN: ejemplos comparativos, asistencia técnica;

- La asistencia para el examen nacional y la puesta en marcha de una reforma legislativa teniendo presentes la normas establecidas y materializadas en los derechos fundamentales y las obligaciones internacionales en la esfera de los derechos humanos;

- La asistencia para el fortalecimiento de la capacidad nacional para proteger y promover los derechos humanos, en particular el apoyo a la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Sri Lanka y el Ministerio de Gestión de Desastres y Derechos Humanos;

- El apoyo a la Fiscalía General del Estado para acabar con los atrasos de casos relacionados con violaciones graves de los derechos humanos, en particular las desapariciones involuntarias o forzosas.

Notas

1 Decision 6/102, Follow–up to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1; adopted by the Council on 20 September 2007.

2 196 of whom are elected on the basis of District Proportional Representation and 29 in a National List declared elected on the basis of National PR.

3 In the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution (Chapter VI), the State has the responsibility to establish a democratic, socialist society the objective of which includes the full realization of the fundamental rights and

freedoms of all persons.

4 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Convention on the Rights of the Child; International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

5 See Annex A – Analysis of conformity of Sri Lankan law with key international instruments on human rights to which Sri Lanka is a State Party.

6 Human Rights Commission Act No. 21 of 1996.

7 The Attorney-General’s Department has full functional independence and autonomy but for purposes of administration is nominally under the purview of the Ministry of Justice.

8 This unique mechanism was created in consultation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

9 See http://www.police.lk/divisions/hr.asp.

10 Preamble to the 1978 Constitution.

11 Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict (2000); Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography (2000); Optional Protocol to ICCPR, concerning individual petition (1966); Optional Protocol to CEDAW, concerning individual complaints and inquiry procedures (1999); Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948); Slavery Convention (1926 as amended in 1955); Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (1949); United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000); the United Nations Anti-Corruption Convention (2003) as well as a number of ILO instruments dealing with labour rights.

12 Act No. 4 of 2006.

13 The GOSL invited the United Nations Working Group on Disapearances to undertake missions in 1991, 1992 and 1999 and United Nations Committee Against Torture in 2000. In 2005, the Special Raporteur on extra- judicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief visited Sri Lanka.

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for children and armed conflict undertook a visit to Sri Lanka on the invitation of the GOSL in 2006.

14 The present configuration in Parliament does not make for expeditious passage of a constitutional amendment which requires a two-thirds majority and, in some instances, a national referendum for enactment. It is likely that, in this case, any extensive amendments will require both approval of Parliament and the people at a referendum.

15 The ICESCR requires States Parties to undertake steps “to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized” in the Covenant (Article 2(1)). Further, Article 23 enumerates the ways in which the rights of the Covenant can be realized, i.e. by the “conclusion of conventions, the adoption of recommendations, the furnishing of technical assistance and the holding of regional meetings and technical meetings, for the purpose of consultation and study organized in conjunction with the Governments concerned.”

16 Based on purchasing power parity.

17 In light of increasing trends in the occurrence of natural disasters, the Government has given due consideration to adopting mitigation measures to minimize the damage caused by such calamities in future. A separate Ministry was established in 2006 for the purpose of disaster management. A ten year roadmap for disaster mitigation was prepared including 109 projects identifying key areas for intervention.

18 A reference was recently made by the President, invoking the consultative jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 129 of the Constitution seeking the opinion of the Court as to the status of justiciability of the ICCPR rights in the Constitution and other local legislation consequent to the enactment of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, No. 56 of 2007. The GoSL’s position is that these rights are all expressly incorporated in law or are otherwise made enforceable. The Supreme Court’s report is awaited at the time of writing.

19 See paragraph 8 supra.

20 However, Article 13 (4) contains the provision that “No person shall be punished with death or imprisonment except by order of a competent court, made in accordance with procedure established by law.” The Supreme Court in its determinations in the cases of Sriyani Silva (wife of deceased Jagath Kumara) v. Iddamalgoda, Officer in Charge, Police Station Payagala and others (2003) and Rani Fernando (wife of deceased Hewage Lal) v. Officer in Charge, Police Station, Seeduwa and others (2004), recognized the right to life, as a right falling within the scope of existing fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. Thus in instances of lacuna in domestic legislation, the courts have been proactive in recognizing broad international human rights, in keeping with Sri Lanka’s obligations under international law.

21 See Annex A for a comprehensive analysis.

22 Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act, No. 22 of 1994.

23 Professor Nowak referred to cases of relatively recent origin. To date there are approximately 79 indictments forwarded over a longer period and prosecutions have been launched against approximately 115 members of the armed services and police.

24 Pursuant to the Government’s policy of viewing acts of abduction, disappearance and extra-judicial killings as well as wrongful confinement with utmost concern, and ensuring that there are no allegations of impunity, the Attorney-General has, between 2004 and the present, forwarded over 200 indictments to the High Court in respect of

approximately 600 members of the armed services and police. The commission of these offences were disclosed and the prosecutions arose out of the inquiries of Presidential Commissions of Inquiry inquiring into acts of disappearance, abductions, wrongful confinement and extrajudicial executions which took place prior to 2004.

25 These measures include 1) issuance of Government certification based on the relevant Commission of Inquiry that the person in question was determined as missing; 2) based on the Commission’s recommendation, that compensation was paid to the next-of-kin; and 3) the issuance of a death certificate notwithstanding the absence of a body under special legal provisions so that matters relating to inheritance, marriage and disposal of estates could be commenced under the appropriate private law. Upon completion of this procedure the Working Group will communicate the information to the complainant who will be given 6 months to respond. If no response is received, the matter will be considered closed.

In addition, the Government was requested to inform the Working Group if any perpetrators were identified in relation to any of these cases and, if prosecutions were initiated, the details thereof.

26 Other factors include the need to establish bona fides of allegations in the context of the LTTE adopting a practice of pressuring persons to make false complaints against the Government. Investigations have revealed that, in some cases, persons allegedly abducted have gone overseas or are residing in uncleared areas. An officer of the Child Protection Authority was detained in the Vanni when he attempted to make inquiries relating to child abductions. In another case 10 of 48 children said to have been abducted/recruited by armed groups were found to have returned home or left Sri Lanka.

27 See paragraph 20 supra.

28 Penal Code (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 1995.

29 Relevant changes have also been made in the Penal Code stipulating that any person who engages or recruits a child for armed conflict shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 30 years.

30 203,841 documented workers as of 2006 and an unverifiable number of undocumented workers.

31 Several senior United Nations officials visited Sri Lanka and made recommendations on improving the human right situations of the respective areas of their mandates. Ms Asma Jahangir, United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Professor Phillip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Professor Manfred Nowak Special Rapporteur on Torture, Ms Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Mr Walter Kaelin Special Representative of United Nations Secretary General on the human rights of IDPs have visited Sri Lanka during the past two and a half years.

32 The Constitutional Council is a multi-partisan mechanism created by the 17^th Amendment to the Constitution (2001) that, inter alia, makes recommendations of persons to be appointed to the HRCSL. Such recommendations are made to the President who then appoints the members of the Commission. The second Constitutional Council has not been functioning since 2005 due to lack of consensus among minority parties in Parliament relating to their nominee.

In 2006, the President directly appointed the members of the HRCSL due to the non-functioning of the Constitutional Council.

33 The Motion also proposes the consideration, by the Select Committee, of the implications of the introduction of post-enactment judicial review of legislation.

34 Singarasa v. The Attorney General (S.C. Spl(LA) No. 182/99 - SCM 15.09.2006).

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