Letter to H.E Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka
H.E Mahinda Rajapaksa
President of Sri Lanka
“Temple Trees”
15/5 Baladaksha Mawatha
Colombo 03
Sri Lanka
16 September 2014
Excellency,
I write to you on behalf of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) in relation to the international conference on Enhancing Human Rights and Security in the Asia Pacific, hosted by the University of Sydney in Bangkok on 15 – 17 September. The conference was organised to foster engagement and identify strategies to prevent the use of torture by state security forces. While the security forces of Sri Lanka and Nepal were the focus of the conference, civil society voices are necessary components in any dialogue on the prevention of torture and respite from the commission of human rights violations in these two countries.
For this reason, FORUM-ASIA was deeply concerned and disappointed to learn of the retraction of invitations to its partners by the organizer. This followed a threat from the Ministry of Defence to withdraw official participation should Sri Lankan civil society actors be allowed to participate.
FORUM-ASIA sees this as yet another example of the Sri Lankan authorities silencing the voice of human rights defenders whenever and wherever its human rights record comes under scrutiny. It is all the more disappointing that a supposedly democratic government has sought to restrict civil society space in an academic conference intended to bring about change. While we are fully cognisant of adverse reactions when a government’s human rights record is brought into question, it does not negate their avowed responsibilities to human rights and toward their citizens; on the contrary, it necessitates constructive engagement and an immediate resolution of cases where violations are alleged.
FORUM-ASIA has written an open letter to the organiser expressing disappointment at its decision to retract the invitations and succumbing to pressure from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence. However, FORUM-ASIA also feels it incumbent to share that disappointment and concern with the Sri Lankan authorities.
We stand in solidarity with those who were excluded from the conference and those who had withdrawn their participation in protest, as well as those participants who had openly voiced their concern at the exclusion of the concerned persons during the conference.
FORUM-ASIA calls on the Sri Lankan government to respect the rights of its citizens to express themselves and recognize the critical role of civil society organizations in raising the voice of victims of human rights violations at national and international platforms.
We call on Your Excellency to take the lead in this regard.
Yours Sincerely,
Evelyn Balais-Serrano
Executive Director
Click here to download the letter (PDF)
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Letter to Associate Professor Danielle Celermajer, Director Enhancing Human Rights and Security in the Asia Pacific, University of Sidney
Associate Professor Danielle Celermajer
Director
Enhancing Human Rights and Security
in the Asia Pacific
The University of Sydney
Camperdown
NSW 2006,
Australia
16 September 2014
Dear Professor Celermajer,
I write to you on behalf of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) in relation to the international conference on Enhancing Human Rights and Security in the Asia Pacific, hosted by the University of Sydney in Bangkok on 15 – 17 September, at which members and partners of FORUM-ASIA were invited to participate. FORUM-ASIA and its forty-seven members in sixteen countries across Asia were deeply disappointed to learn of the retraction of invitations to key Sri Lankan civil society actors, Right to Life and Rights Now, to participate at the conference, following pressure from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence. FORUM-ASIA understands that the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence had threatened to withdraw its participation from the conference if these civil society actors were allowed to participate.
As a membership-based organization established to promote unity amongst civil society organisations in the region and in the common defense of human rights, FORUM-ASIA stands in solidarity with those organisations that have been excluded or voluntarily withdrawn their participation in protest from the conference.
Civil society actors, and the representatives dis-invited in particular, have fought tirelessly to bring to light the rampant rights-violations in Sri Lanka, including the military’s use of torture both before, during and since the Army’s 2008-9 Northern offensive. As Human Rights Defenders, they have done so at great cost to their and their families’ personal safety and in a climate of fear and impunity, generated in no small part by the same security apparatus that had requested you dis-invite the participants. It is of great concern therefore, that the crucial and informed voice of Sri Lankan Civil Society has been silenced at an international gathering designed to foster dialogue on ways in which to prevent the use of torture by security forces. Arguably this has perpetuated the imbalance of power that the Sri Lankan government has sought to impose at every turn whenever and wherever its human rights record has come under scrutiny.
While I have no doubt that you were presented with a very difficult dilemma, as an academic institution of international standing, we would have hoped that you would not have succumbed to the pressure applied by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense and rather stood firm in your original decision to include the important and informed voice of Sri Lankan civil society actors. Given that the conference has already started, retracting your decision to dis-invite would not be viable. We would instead then ask that you publicly and in any documentation to follow, recognize that the participation of civil society actors from Sri Lanka was withdrawn following pressure by the Ministry of Defense to do so and acknowledge that other invitees withdrew their participation in protest. This at least would acknowledge the pressure brought to bear on you and the role that the Sri Lankan authorities had in the retraction of the invitations.
Yours Sincerely,
Evelyn Balais-Serrano
Executive Director
