Centre for Policy Alternatives

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 21 December, 2016

Saama Vimarshee – December 2016

The Saama Vimarshee magazine for the month of December 2016.

Download the Sinhala version here.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 9 December, 2016

Sri Lanka: A review for Human Rights Day 2016

Human Rights Day (December 10th) gives us an opportunity to reflect on the successes and more importantly, the failures in addressing human rights-related issues in Sri Lanka, and to hopefully use this evaluation as a guideline for the years ahead.

This is not an exhaustive overview but provides an insight into issues that have been addressed over the course of 2016 and how much still needs to be done towards realising greater promotion of human rights for all Sri Lankan citizens.

The passage of legislation for the establishment of the Office of Missing Persons, the Right to Information Act, the Counter-terrorism Act that is said to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act, Militarisation of land in the North and East, better rights for plantation sector workers, displacement as a result of urban development in Colombo, language rights, hate speech, the abuse of power by law enforcement authorities, the need for constitutional reform – we take these issues into consideration and provide a non-exhaustive review of how Sri Lanka has fared in terms of human rights across the last year.

The article can be accessed here and is also embedded below.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 1 December, 2016

Living it down: Life after relocation in Colombo’s high rises

1 December 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka: ‘Living it down: Life after relocation in Colombo’s high rises’ is a new report by CPA based on findings of a survey conducted with 1222 households in Colombo forcibly relocated by the Rajapaksa regime. The findings of this survey question many narratives created around the working class poor of Colombo living in “underserved settlements”. That the affected communities live in slums and shanties, in unhygienic, unsanitary flood prone environments surrounded by drug dealers are narratives that serve the purpose of a Government looking to “liberate” commercially valuable property in Colombo by relocating communities to high-rise complexes built by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) in the North of Colombo since 2010.

This survey builds on CPA’s work since 2013 on evictions in Colombo under the previous regime. The three complexes selected for this survey were Mihindusenpura, Sirisara Uyana and Methsara Uyana, all located in Dematagoda (Colombo North). The three complexes were selected because residents were moved there prior to November 2014 which meant that they had been living in the buildings for more than one and half years.

The findings of this survey raises many concerns about the future of those living in the UDA high-rise complexes and demands a complete review of the URP. In less than three years of occupation, we see a considerable deterioration in the quality of life, income mismatch leading to debt, high expression of desire to move, disconnect with the built environment.

Unfortunately, even under the yahapalanaya Government and new management of the UDA we see no concrete effort on the part of the UDA to address the critical issues arising from the URP, whether they be related to the buildings, resident issues or even the provision of documents and information residents are entitled to, in their language of preference. The yahapalanaya government is continuing the URP activities, with another 15,000 – 20,000 apartments being built at present. It is therefore crucial to learn from the lessons and experiences of those already relocated to ensure that communities relocated in the months to come will be spared the negative experiences of the families already living in the high-rise apartments.

While those living in the three survey sites were relocated under a militarised UDA and faced harassment, intimidation and threats in the relocation process, the current Government must not assume that those relocated in the future will fair better. The very involuntary nature of the relocations, the lack of consultation and entitlements to the affected communities will deeply affect them post relocation, even in the absence of military involvement. There are a lot of changes that needs to take place in the URP process and the Government must seriously reconsider high-rise apartment complexes as their solution to providing better living conditions for the working class poor. It is also long overdue for this Government to deliver on their promise to legislate the National Involuntary Resettlement Policy.

Policy makers and the UDA must move away from an approach that views people, especially the working class poor, as impediments to adding social and economic value to the city to one that acknowledges them not only as partners but, in keeping with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, as sovereign.

Download the full report here.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 28 November, 2016

Audited accounts: December 2015

Audited accounts from December 2-15. Click here to download full PDF.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 15 November, 2016

CPA Statement on Recent Events Endangering Ethnic Harmony and Reconciliation

15 November 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is deeply concerned by a spate of recent events with ominous portents for ethnic and religious harmony and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. These include the murder of two university students in Jaffna, the seeming exploitation by others of the disabled soldiers’ protest outside the Presidential Secretariat, the increasing use of hate speech against minorities by some members of the Buddhist clergy and by other protest groups, and by widespread anti-minority hate speech in social media. We are extremely concerned at the appearance of signs that, yet again, legal reforms aimed at improving our democracy and governance are being undermined by the forces of chauvinism and intolerance.

We find the deplorable language used by some Buddhist monks in particular – underpinned by unquestionably violent and un-Buddhist sentiments – that have been widely circulating on social media to be especially disturbing and shocking. This very small minority of violence-prone and foulmouthed monks are not only profaning a religion of peace, but also disgracing the memory of such champions of civility and reconciliation as the late Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera, an architect and inspirer of the reforms now taking place. Moreover, many monks are actively involved in peace and reconciliation efforts at the community level, which work, due to its unsensational nature, does not attract mainstream or social media attention.

In many if not all of these incidents, there appears to be an element of orchestration, of deeper political agendas aimed at reversing the country’s current path towards peace, reconciliation, and reform, and especially where members of the clergy have been involved, police and civil servants have succumbed to the culture of deference rather than restore order. This poisonous atmosphere of ethnic and religious hatred is compounded by suspicion and rumours of collusion and political machinations, and most regrettably, by the appearance of indifference or at least a lack of capacity on the part of state institutions to enforce the rule of law without fear or favour.

Even if such rumours are without foundation, the allowance of any space for a perception of government impotence, indifference, or weakness to take root would only embolden those who wish to propagate hatred and division. Without the will or capacity to implement strengthened powers and institutional independence, there will be no point to the reforms, especially in relation to law enforcement, introduced by the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution only last year.

While it is true that small acts of disruption and discord gain disproportionate attention today in the age of social media, this is nevertheless a remarkable reversal of the national mood of goodwill and cooperation last year when Sri Lankans of all communities came together to mandate a change of government and a process of post-war reforms. These disturbing events occur at a time when we are still less than halfway through the political and constitutional reforms that were popularly mandated. They imperil the establishment of the necessary foundations of reconciliation, justice, and good governance – which are the bedrock of our future peace, prosperity, and happiness – and threaten to take us back to a dark and rancorous era from which we were at last emerging.

Both the President and the Prime Minister have an obligation to provide strong and principled leadership against these invidious forces, to restate their commitment to the democratic values of pluralism and tolerance on which they were elected, and ensure that police and civil servants are given the confidence to enforce the law in the face of intimidation and threats of violence. We are reminded again of the fact that legal and institutional reforms are meaningless without the reform of political culture and practices, and in this regard, strong leadership by political leaders is indispensable. We hope too that religious and social leaders, as well as citizens, would publicly register their strong displeasure at the unacceptable behaviour of these disruptive individuals and groups.

Unless these incidents, and those who perpetrate them notwithstanding their social status, are dealt with firmly but fairly and with due regard to the seriousness of the real threat they pose to the democratic way of life, they have the potential to spiral out of control. No sensible Sri Lankan – the decisive majority of whom voted for reform and reconciliation not once but twice only a year ago – wishes our country to return to the past of conflict and enmity. The clear desire of all our peoples for a better quality of democratic governance, and the ongoing process of reforms to sustain it, cannot and must not be dissipated due to complacency and weakness in the face of intimidation by the purveyors of hate and harm.

Download PDF of this statement here. Read it in Tamil here. Read it in Sinhala here.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 5 November, 2016

CPA Working Papers on Constitutional Reform: Number 10

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is pleased to publish its CPA Working Papers on Constitutional Reform No.10 on Devolution under the Thirteenth Amendment: Extent, Limits, and Avenues for Reform by Dr Asanga Welikala.

The paper is premised on the fact that, as the Constitutional Assembly addresses the issue of further devolution in the new constitution, there is still very little objective knowledge about the existing framework devolution that has been practiced under the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1987) for nearly thirty years. Taking note of serious problems with the Thirteenth Amendment model, which need to be addressed, the paper is aimed at outlining the experience of devolution under the Thirteenth Amendment, in the hope that so understood, both its strengths and weaknesses can be borne in mind when what would hopefully be a better, fairer, and more durable model of multilevel government is designed for Sri Lanka.

Download the paper here.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 5 November, 2016

CPA Working Papers on Constitutional Reform: Number 8 and 9

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is pleased to publish two further papers in the CPA Working Papers on Constitutional Reform series.

Working Paper No.8, Civil and Political Rights in the Sri Lankan Constitution and Law: Making the New Constitution in Compliance with the ICCPR by Rohan Edrisinha and Asanga Welikala is a detailed and critical examination of the compliance of current Sri Lankan constitutional law with the primary instrument of Sri Lanka’s international obligations with regard to civil and political rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The paper’s extensive audit of the Sri Lankan law points to the concrete areas, both substantive and procedural, in which the makers of the new constitution should focus their attention if it is to reflect a body of civil and political rights that is consistent with basic international standards. Political expectations of democratisation generated by the 2015 elections also demand that the new constitution should afford the fullest and firmest protection to these core rights, including the addition of the fundamental rights to life and human dignity, privacy, and property, without which neither democracy nor good governance is achievable.

Working Paper No.9, A Rights-based Approach to Limitation Clauses in the Sri Lankan Constitution by Gehan Gunatilleke discusses the crucial question of how to design the framework of limitations and derogations in the future constitutional bill of rights. Placed within a clear theoretical context, and drawing upon principles of comparative and international human rights law, the paper critically examines the current restrictions regime before presenting a fresh approach to designing and interpreting limitation clauses, rooted in the concept of the ‘rights and freedoms of others.’

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