SB dreams of civic rights

by Jayantha Sri Nissanka

Civic rights for S. B. Dissanayake who walked to freedom on Friday appears to be a distant dream. Sometime it may not happen till 2010.

UN Human Rights Committee decision that may favour Dissanayake following his appeal to have the civic rights restored will have no effect on the Sri Lankan judicial system since such laws are not incorporated in our statutes.

Dissanayake lost his civic rights after being convicted on charges of contempt of court on December 7, 2004. He complained to the UN Human Rights Committee against the judgement.

Though Sri Lanka has ratified to adopt the Human Right Committee rulings in 1997, such rulings do not have legal binding on the Sri Lankan judicial system, a Colombo University senior lecturer of the Faculty of Law told the Sunday Observer.

Dissanayake is expected to receive the Committee ruling in April on the deprivation of his civic rights.

Earlier, too, on four occasions, such as Victor Ivan, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardane, LTTE operative Nallaratnam Singarasa and Tony Fernando received decisions in their favour.

However, they could not seek redress from the Supreme Court as we have not incorporated international laws and covenants into the Sri Lankan judicial system though we have ratified hundreds of international covenants, he explained.

Although Committee rulings do not have direct binding on Sri Lankan Judiciary, Sri Lanka as a state is directly bound by the ruling of the Committee as we have ratified it. Sri Lanka has to respond to the Committee about the decisions before a stipulated period of time, he said.

If Sri Lanka does not implement the suggestions in the Committee decisions, it will have a stigma on the human rights record of Sri Lanka and the decision will be recorded and published worldwide, the lecturer said.
