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A. Introduction On 9 December 2003, eight children gave evidence at a public hearing held in Colombo. The presiding panel consisted of two well-known lawyers and a torture victim. The purpose of this public hearing was to provide an opportunity for children and their families to express their grievances openly regarding torture. In previous months, many cases of children being tortured at Sri Lankan police stations have surfaced. This shocking phenomenon has not received the special attention it deserves; this hearing was an attempt to channel public attention towards this important problem. At the hearing, the victims themselves together with their families expressed their grievances. The forum also provided an opportunity to other individuals, institutions and groups to express their views. After a four-hour session, the panel gave its concluding observations, stating that all child victims were from poor families and were completely innocent. The police who had committed torture appeared to be acting on the instigation of influential persons. The victims were not treated as children by the police, but as criminals. The state agencies, including the National Human Rights Commission, have completely failed to provide any assistance to these children. The only assistance came from a number of committed civil society groups. The event was organised by Janasansadaya, People against Torture, Families of the Disappeared, Setik, Centre for Rule of Law and Home for the Victims of Torture, as well as several other associated organisations in collaboration with the Asian Human Rights Commission. B. The panel 
? ??????????????????????? A picture of the panel
The panelists were Sunil Cooray, a Senior Attorney, former president of the Vigil Lanka Movement and author of a text on administrative law in Sri Lanka; J.C. Weliamuna, a Senior Attorney and the Chairperson of the Sri Lankan Chapter of Transparency International; and Grissha De Silva, a hotel manager and a torture victim who was subjected to torture on mistaken identity.
C. The hearing
Listening to the evidence of the child victims of torture: The meeting hall was packed and the audience reacted strongly to the stories that were related by the child victims. Many mothers of the child victims also attended the hearing: ?lt;img height="207" src="/images/lesson32/4.jpg" width="252" /> ?lt;/p> | ?lt;img height="210" src="/images/lesson32/5.jpg" width="280" /> ?lt;/p> |
?lt;/p> Pictures of the children giving evidence:?lt;/i> ?lt;/p> ?lt;img height="210" src="/images/lesson32/6.jpg" width="280" /> ?lt;/p> | ?lt;img height="217" src="/images/lesson32/7.jpg" width="289" /> ?lt;/p> |
D. Concluding observations
Mr. J.C. Weliamuna, Senior Attorney at Law made the concluding observations after listenting to the victims, their mothers and also comments by the audience. The summary of the observations is as follows:
a) That all the victims were from poor families.
b) That it was clear that all the children who gave evidence were innocent young persons arrested without any reason.
c) Even after torture, the police could not find any evidence against these children.
d) At the time of committing torture, none of the policemen involved were wearing their uniforms.
e) The higher-ranking officers of the police are quite aware that their subordinate officers engage in torture but do not take any serious action to prevent such practices by these junior officers.
f) That there are third parties involved, including the wealthy, the Mudalali class, the politicians and the like who seek the help of the police to torture these persons. In return the police receive power, money and support from these groups who are capable of moving the police to engage in acts of torture.
g) The service rendered to the victims by the hospital authorities when they sought medical assistance is highly questionable. Those authorities failed to fulfil their professional obligations and often also failed to report the torture to the legal authorities. Instead, they appear to work hand in hand with the police.
h) The victims do not appear to trust state organizations such as the National Human Rights Commission and the National Police Commission. The National Human Rights Commission takes months (and sometimes years) before addressing and acting upon human rights cases. This being so, the Commission frequently advises the victims to take his or her case before the Supreme Court. This places the victims in a tight corner against the perpetrators. Additionally, the National Police Commission has failed to put into place the intended public complaint procedure for the entertaining of, inquiring into and the providing of redress for complaints against the police.
i) The people turn to NGOs and in all these instances it is the NGOs that have taken the initiative to protect the rights of these persons.
E. Media Coverage
This event was well reported in both the print and electronic media. The Sri Lankan radio gave wide coverage to this event on December 10, International Human Rights Day. The report from Daily News on December 11 is given below: | Human Rights record on fire by Chamikara Weerasinghe The performance of government law institutions working against human rights violations in the country and the level of commitment demonstrated by the Government in promoting human rights, came under fire by local Human Rights Organisations, who had gathered at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo for a meeting to review the country's human rights environment. The meeting was held to mark the World Human Rights Day on December 10. The participants comprised representatives from Transparency International and the National Human Rights Commission. The People Against Torture, Setik, Janasansadaya, the Centre for Rule of Law, Home for the Victims of Torture, and Families of the Disappeared had organised the event with the courtesy from Asian Human Rights Commission.
Transparency International Sri Lanka Director J.C. Weliamuna said that cases of human rights violations have rebounded on the poor victims instead of them being resolved before the Sri Lanka National Human Rights Commission. He said, "It takes months and sometimes years before a human rights case has been taken up by the Commission for action . The case being so the Commission very often informs the victims to take his or her case before the Supreme Courts, which put the poor victims in a tight corner against the perpetrators."
He said that police personnel were found as perpetrating most of the human rights-related crimes in the country that they have been charged with allegations of torture, abduction and illegal confinement. "The government has been unable to put in place the intended National Police Commission complaints procedure to address these conditions," he said.
Rev. Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando, Director of People Against Torture, said that the public are more inclined to seek the help of the NGOs to fight for their rights, rather than going to government institutions, as they do not trust them. "This is a serious situation that should change that calls for commitment on the part of the government," he said.
He complained that the government had downplayed with the real issue of human rights when it made its submissions to the Human Right Committee in Geneva in November this year. He said that representatives from Sri Lanka's Justice Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and Solicitor General's Department gave a different picture of the issue, by purposely refraining from committing themselves to expose its true proportions. "They went on explaining the Geneva Human Rights Committee about how they would establish more Human Right Commissions across the country to promote human rights instead of giving any account on the inefficiency of government legal institutions and corrupt governance."
Fr. Fernando said, however, the Commission did not believe them after investigating reports provided by non- governmental Human Rights Organisations on the true situation in the sphere of human rights in the country. He said they had taken a child - victim at their expenses to the Geneva forum on this occasion in order to highlight the point of human rights violations being violated in the hands of law-enforcement officials, and lack of commitment by the government to improve the system.
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F. Questions For Discussion - What do you think is the most important feature of such public hearings for the victims themselves?
- In your opinion, does the fact that these hearings have no legal authority affect their outcome?
- What is the link between a functioning judiciary and rule of law, democracy?
- Social action litigation in India, the Permanent People's Tribunal on the Right to Food and the Rule of Law in Asia, the National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation of Chile and this public hearing in Sri Lanka, are all attempts by civil society to take positive action against human rights violations. (For more information on these actions, refer to the articles attached at the end of this lesson series.) Discuss how similar actions can be implemented in your own country.?lt;/li>
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