September 02, 2013 - Sri Lanka on Sunday said the United Nations human rights chief
violated her mandate by making political statements during her recent visit that the
government was heading in an authoritarian direction. The Government Information
Department said in a statement that the judgment of the country's leadership is best
left to the Sri Lankan people to decide, rather than being ``caricatured by external
entities influenced by vested interests.'' U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
Navi Pillay on Saturday concluded a weeklong visit to assess Sri Lanka's rights situation
during which she visited the country's former civil war zone. She issued a hard-hitting
statement at the conclusion of her visit Saturday in which she said that democracy
was being undermined and the rule of law eroded in Sri Lanka, with the country increasingly
becoming an authoritarian state despite the end of a quarter-century insurgency by
ethnic Tamil rebels four years ago. She cited a move by the government three years
ago to abolish independent police, judiciary and human rights commissions and give
President Mahinda Rajapaksa the powers to appoint officials to these commissions.
She also said a much-criticized impeachment of the country's chief justice earlier
this year and ``apparent politicization of senior judicial appointments have shaken
confidence in the independence of the judiciary.'' Pillay said she heard allegations
of intrusive military involvement in civilian affairs, including education, agriculture
and tourism, in the former war zone; the military's acquisition of land from war victims
to build bases and even a holiday resort; and sexual harassment of women and girls.
Pillay said that after she visited the former war zone in predominantly Tamil areas
in the north and east of the Indian Ocean island nation she heard reports that some
of the civilians and rights activists who spoke to her were later questioned by the
military or police. The U.N. considers this ``an extremely serious matter,'' she
said. Pillay's visit followed a resolution in the U.N Human Rights Council in
March which called on Sri Lanka to investigate more alleged war crimes committed by
government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. The Tamil Tigers were fighting to create
an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils, claiming they faced discrimination
from the Sinhalese majority. A U.N. report has indicated that as many as 40,000 people
may have been killed in the final phase of the civil war. Pillay will report her findings
to the council at the end of this month.