Repeated Emergency not the legitimate way to tackle crisis in Sri Lanka, says UN
While the organization has done nothing to help the island nation get out of the crisis, the experts associated to UN are standing as critic to the country"s policies when there are actual signs of revival.
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Colombo, Aug 9: UN human rights experts on Monday (Aug 8) condemned the extensive, prolonged and repeated use of state of emergency measures since Apr 2, 2022 by Sri Lankan authorities to crack down on 'peaceful protesters' and prevent them from voicing their grievances amidst an economic collapse in the country.
On Jul 15, former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned and left the country following months of mass protests in the capital Colombo and across the island nation. His successor President Ranil Wickremesinghe declared another state of emergency on Jul 17, 2022, vowing to take a tough line against trouble-makers. The Sri Lanka Parliament has since ratified an ordinance on Jul 27, 2022 extending the current state of emergency for another month, imposing a curfew, and granting broad and discretionary powers to security forces and the military.
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Such powers allow them to detain protesters and search private properties without judicial supervision. According to the UN, "We have raised our concerns to the Government on a number of occasions over the misuse of emergency measures, but to no avail. We condemn the recent and continued abuse of such measures to infringe on the legitimate exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression." Given the long-standing abuse of emergency powers in Sri Lanka, documented by United Nations human rights experts over many years, the experts raised particular concern about the impact of such powers on the exercise of a range of human rights, and reports of the targeting of vulnerable and minority groups under this state of emergency.
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The UN experts also highlighted that the procedural requirements to exercise the use of emergency powers under international law were not met. The experts said, "In the wake of an unprecedented economic crisis in which families sometimes have to choose between food and medicine, these repressive measures further close avenues for dialogue and maintain a political climate prone to an escalation of tensions." While the organization has done nothing to help the island nation get out of the crisis, the experts associated to UN are standing as critic to the country's policies when there are actual signs of revival.