By Asela Kuruluwansha
KANDY, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s new political leadership cannot distance itself from the country’s unresolved human rights record simply because the abuses occurred under previous governments, Tamil lawmaker Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said, warning that international scrutiny would persist until the underlying issues were addressed.
Changes in the presidency, Cabinet or governing party do not erase the state’s responsibility to confront past violations or act on international human rights recommendations, Mr. Rasamanickam said.
“The government should not think that it can avoid the issue without addressing human rights concerns,” he told reporters after a seminar organised by the Open Parliament Caucus at the Golden Crown Hotel in Kandy.
His remarks come as Sri Lanka once again faces scrutiny in Geneva over accountability for past human rights violations, including those associated with the country’s long civil war.
Mr. Rasamanickam acknowledged that many of the violations at the centre of that scrutiny predated the current government. But, he said, responsibility for addressing them now rests with those in power.
“The past violations of human rights did not occur under this government,” he said. “But the present government must understand that unless firm decisions are taken regarding those past violations, the international human rights body will continue to raise these issues.”
He also rejected the idea that international scrutiny of Sri Lanka’s human rights record was primarily a Tamil concern.
“It is not something confined to one ethnic community or one group of people,” he said, arguing that the questions raised internationally concern human rights across the country.
Mr. Rasamanickam also spoke about the erosion of public confidence in Parliament, particularly among younger Sri Lankans, tracing much of that disillusionment to the mass protest movement that erupted during the country’s economic and political crisis.
“During that period, people said they did not want any of the 225 members of Parliament,” he said. “Confidence in the parliamentary system had particularly deteriorated among young people.”
As a co-chair of the Open Parliament Caucus, Mr. Rasamanickam said he was working to narrow that divide. The caucus has held discussions with young people in Gampaha, Batticaloa and Kandy and plans similar meetings in other districts.
But public forums alone would not be enough, he said. The caucus also hopes to bring youth groups into parliamentary select committees and consultative committees, giving them a more direct role in the legislative process.
Separately, Mr. Rasamanickam rejected suggestions that the arrest of Namal Rajapaksa, a lawmaker and national organiser of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, amounted to political persecution.
“The arrest of Namal Rajapaksa cannot be described as political persecution,” he said.
