The Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka in a letter to President Maithripala Sirisena on religious and racial intolerance calls on the government to take meaningful action against such violent activities carried out in the country.
“The HRC is gravely concerned about the acts of violence and aggression targeting the Muslim community, which have aggravated in recent days. The Commission notes that previously similar conduct led to the violence at Aluthgama in June 2014, resulting in the loss of lives and destruction of property. We also do note that to date no meaningful action has been taken to make those responsible for instigating and perpetrating the Aluthgama violence accountable.” the letter read.
The Commission further draws attention to attacks on places of Christian religious worship in the recent past and hate speech conveyed through social media and at times through mainstream media.
“Such expressions of hate and violence targeting a specific community amount to crimes under the ICCPR Act, No 56 of 2007 and the Penal Code of Sri Lanka. It is necessary that the perpetrators of such acts are apprehended and dealt with according to law. Laws existing on the statute books without implementation have a corrosive impact on the Rule of Law.” HRC stated.
Hence the HRC reiterated the importance of the government taking swift actions to prevent acts of violence and spread of heat speech, since the government, by national laws and international human rights obligations, implements these essential laws in the best interest of the country. “Failure to do so will be a black mark on the human rights record of the country and will be another serious obstacle to the reconciliation process in our country, on which Your Excellency has placed much emphasis. In these circumstances the HRCSL requests Your Excellency to give urgent directions to Ministry of Law and Order and the Inspector General of Police to take action against the instigators and perpetrators of violence and hate speech.”