The Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, though I sounded a little too angry, I hope the Hon. Leader of the House would not take it very personal. In fact, this has affected me because I am a Member of Parliament who has been in this House for 30 years without a break and I have five Members of Parliament under my purview. Last time, the JVP had just three Members, but I, as a Party Leader with so many years of experience, have been denied my place in the Parliamentary Business Committee because of this rule the Hon. Leader of the House is insisting on. I am only asking the Hon. Prime Minister and the Hon. Leader of the House, because you are the leader of this Chamber, to reconsider that. We all are there to critique you in a very responsible manner and the space in the Parliamentary Business Committee for Party Leaders should not be denied in this fashion; this is not a good example. I hope the Hon. Leader of the House would not take it very personal and would resolve this issue without much difficulty and causing unnecessary harassment to us, Party Leaders in this House.

¶ 02 Having said that, may I now come to a very important statement made by the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs because it is the first time that this Government has placed its policies and programmes before the international community. Particularly, I refer to the Statement made by the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs before the Human Rights Commission. I would like to say that the decision of the Government to dispatch a Ministerial delegation to Geneva to engage with the Human Rights Council, its membership and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights must be welcomed. What is more positive is, unlike the abrasive and ill-considered statements made by the previous Governments in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024, the statement made by the Hon. Minister Vijitha Herath has refrained from directly reiterating Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from HRC processes and in particular, its Resolutions. Rather, it spoke about engaging with the Council and taking actions to make progress in the human rights arena supplemented by technical assistance, upon request, from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. So that, I am praising; it is a good thing to engage with the Human Rights Council unlike the previous Government, which disengaged and refused to abide by the Human Rights Council’s directives or requirements. It is not a very strict procedure. There is a way in which the Human Rights Council functions: there are periodic peer reviews by other nations interested in maintaining human rights standards in this country.

¶ 03 When your party was being seriously impacted by actions of State terror, of course, you all took up arms to achieve your political objectives. But what happened then? There were serious actions taken and several thousands were killed. Those days, when the Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Hon. Vasudeva Nanayakkara were going to the UN Human Rights Commission—you know that history—to appear against the murderous actions by the then UNP administration, they were detained; their documents were confiscated. There were human rights cases filed in the Supreme Court. So, engaging with the UN Human Rights Council is very important, and this Government is doing the right thing.

¶ 04 I would like to critique some of the areas as well. It does not need to be overstated that dedication to constructive dialogue and cooperation with the international community is a must for any government, certainly a must for a country still reeling from the aftermath of economic instability. To impress the human rights community with the recent efforts towards reconciliation, including infrastructure development in the Northern Province, consideration of recruitment of Tamil‑speaking youth to join the police service and the Budgetary Proposal to make significant financial allocations for upgrading libraries, including the historical Jaffna Library are all symbolic actions, Hon. Prime Minister. You have to go beyond symbolism. These are things that previous governments, too, talked about, but, in action, you have to prove that you are not going to be partial in your attitude and that you would try to be inclusive in your approach. That has to be proven by your conduct, not just by these symbolic actions.

¶ 05 The Government has often declared that efforts would continue towards a people‑led and people‑centric national transformation under the President’s stewardship. There are significant deviations from promises made in the Manifesto as well as in the speeches of Government leaders during and after the elections. It would do well not to play the words “people‑led” and “people‑centred” in the context of envisaged national transformation too much in the international arena since, in the absence of definitive and well‑meaning action, they may risk falling into the category of the much‑discredited “home‑grown solution.” That was the term used by the previous administrations. They used to say, “We will solve the human rights issues with our own home‑grown solutions.” I can see this Government, too, is slowly moving towards certain attitudes. Some elements in the bureaucracy and the establishment are trying to misdirect you, give you wrong advice to use nationalistic, high‑sounding words and be very patriotic. In the name of patriotism, sometimes, genuine reconciliation is denied. Please do not go down that path. You have taken the right decision to abide by the UN Human Rights Council’s recommendations and to engage with them. But, in engaging with them, you have to be more realistic.

¶ 06 The Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his Geneva Statement, has mentioned the importance of strengthening domestic institutions such as the Office on Missing Persons, Office for Reparations, Office for National Unity and Reconciliation as well as establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. But it is important to clarify to the victim community and other stakeholders, most importantly to this august Assembly, what practical and meaningful measures are being envisaged or initiated to establish sound policy and legal frameworks that could lead to strengthening these institutions. Much more has to be shared about the truth and reconciliation mechanism the Government has showed renewed interest in.