Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
by Groundviews
on 10/31/2015
Many of us issuing this statement today played an active role in the January
08, 2015 Presidential Election campaign and the subsequent General
Election on 17 August. Ours was not a political involvement in the sense of
playing party politics but a principled political intervention to change the
culture of governance in this country. We had witnessed close to a decade
of increasing authoritarianism, the shrinking of democratic space and a
culture of violent suppression of dissent under the defeated Rajapaksa
regime. We intervened because we wanted to see tangible change. We
destination while this regime seems to have achieved the same in the
space of a few months.
We would like to remind the government that through its co-sponsored
resolution at the UNHCR it has made an international and highly visible
commitment to investigate historical human rights abuses in this country
and that all eyes are on Sri Lanka at the moment. Various government
representatives have been busy isaketing Sri Lankas good governance
brand globally at various international forums. In such a context, is this how
the government is attempting to prove its democratic credentials? If
students protesting about the restructuring of an academic program and
asking for more student welfare are treated in this way, what does that say
about how the government will treat those who pose a more significant
threat to it politically?
We, the undersigned, demand that the newly established National Police
Commission immediately conduct an investigation in to this incident while
appreciating the proactive action taken by the Human Rights Commission
which has stated that it would conduct an investigation. At the same time,
we stress the need to conduct these investigations impartially and make
their findings public and that police officers, and those who issued orders to
the police to act the way they did, are held publicly accountable. In
addition, we demand that the President and Prime Minister reveal their
stance on how the government plans to deal with dissent and public
protests in future and explain to Sri Lankan society how they plan to
prevent incidents like this from being repeated.
1. Prof.
2. Prof.
3. Prof.
4. Prof.