Secretary Defense re-circulates Presidential Directives on
Protecting Fundamental Rights of Persons Arrested and/or Detained
Secretary, Ministry of Defense, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has
on 12 April 2007, re-circulated to the Commanders of the Army, Navy and
Air Force as well as the Inspector General of Police, directions on
protecting Fundamental Rights of Persons Arrested and/or Detained issued
by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Heads of Armed Forces and the
Police on 07 July 2006.
The re-circulated directive is accompanied by
instructions from the Secretary/Defense that the Service Commanders and
the IGP arrange for officers of their Forces to be fully informed about
the presidential directive and to ensure its full implementation.
The presidential directive of 07 July 2006, instructs
the Heads of the Armed Forces and the IGP on measures to be fulfilled to
enable the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) to exercise and
perform its powers, functions and duties and for the purpose of ensuring
that fundamental rights of persons arrested or detained are respected
and such persons are treated humanely.
The six clause directive provides :
1. That every member of the Armed Forces and Police
should assist the HRC by ensuring that human rights are respected.
2. That no person shall be arrested or detained under
any Emergency Regulation or the Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 48 of
1979 except in accordance with the law and proper procedure and by a
person who is authorised by law to make such an arrest or order such
detention.
3. That the person making the arrest or detention
should identify himself by name and rank, to the person or relative or
friend of the person to be arrested. The person to be arrested should be
informed of the reason for the arrest. All details of the arrest should
be documented in the manner specified by the Ministry of Defence. The
person being arrested should be allowed to make contact with family or
friends to inform them of his whereabouts.
4. That when a child under 18 years or a woman is
being arrested or detained, a person of their choice should be allowed
to accompany them to the place of questioning. As far as possible, any
such child or woman arrested or detained should be placed in the custody
of a Women's Unit of the Armed Forces or Police or in the custody of
another woman military or police officer.
5. That the person arrested or detained should be
allowed to make a statement in the language of his choice and then asked
to sign the statement. If he wishes to make a statement in his own
handwriting it should be permitted.
6. That members of the HRC or anyone authorised by it
must be given access to the arrested or detained person and should be
permitted to enter at any time, any place of detention, police station
or any other place in which such a person is confined. Further, the HRC
must be informed within 48 hours of any arrest or detention and the
place the person is being detained.
The respective Heads of the Security Forces and the
IGP have already commenced programmes of training for officers and other
ranks, to make them aware of these instructions and also augmented
processes to ensure that they are strictly adhered to.
Extensive human rights programmes are continuing to be
conducted by the Directorate of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of the
Sri Lanka Army, in association with the ICRC and the Institute of Human
Rights. ICRC cites the Humanitarian Law Training Programme as a model
for other military organisations around the world. This has been
reiterated by the National Commission on International Humanitarian Law.
Human rights cells of the Army have been also tasked with monitoring the
process of implementation and ensuring that any violations are reported.
Instructions have been issued for all violations within the Sri Lanka
Army to be reported to Army Headquarters.
Meanwhile the Police while enhancing the existing
human rights programmes within the Department, have taken steps to
introduce training programmes on a divisional basis in 43 SSP divisions.
A process of monitoring to ensure that the directives are complied with,
are also underway.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colombo
24 April 2007 |
