10 May 2020, NIICE Commentary 4589
Dr. Gulbin Sultana
COVID-19 has affected around 215 Countries, areas or territories across the globe making it the largest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. United Nations(UN) has cautioned that given the rising ethno-nationalism, populism, authoritarianism and undermining of human rights in some countries, the COVID-19 crisis can be used as a ploy to adopt repressive measures for purposes unrelated to the pandemic. He, therefore, emphasized that human rights “must guide COVID-19 response”. In such a scenario, several UN bodies and International Human Rights groups urged Sri Lankan Government to respect the rights and sensitivities of the people in its response to the COVID-19 challenges.
COVID-19 Situation
First confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in a Chinese tourist on 27 January 2020 and second was on 11 March. The first death occurred 60 days after the first case was detected. As the community spread began , government adopted stringent preventive measures by declaring nationwide lock down from 20 March 2020 and thereby could maintain the number of confirmed cases reasonably low. As of 10 May, there are 847 confirmed cases with 9 deaths. Despite the increase in numbers, government decided to lift the nationwide curfew in the second week of May because the lockdown is worsening the state’s economy. Sri Lankan Government claims that the spread of COVID-19 has been brought under control. With the assistance of the intelligence agencies, Tri Forces and police, health authorities have identified 31 clusters for COVID-19 across the country of which only four remained active as of May 1..
Issues and Concerns
While the efforts of the frontline workers from the health services and security forces in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic are being acknowledged and appreciated, several concerns are raised by the media, civil society and opposition political parties on the effectiveness of government’s handling of the health crisis. It is argued that by ignoring rights and sentiments of people and undermining legal provisions, the President is complicating the crisis situation in the country. It is widely believed that he has used the pandemic as an opportune moment to fulfil his election pledges and political agenda. There has been a concern that enough tests are not being conducted and the confirmed cases might be under reported. However, authorities claims that by 5 May, 30000 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests were carried out and refutes about lack of testing. Similarly, concerns were also raised about the quality PCR testing kits imported from China. Moreover, Health Ministry of Sri Lanka clarified that all imported test kits were being used after their proper validation in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, around 311 naval personnel, who were involved in the COVID-19 awareness campaign were tested positive. It has been alleged that adequate PPEs were not provided to the frontline workers involved in the campaign.
Military-led Response
The responsibility to contain and management of pandemic has been delegated to the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 outbreak (NOCPCO) headed by Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva. Handing over responsibility to the military personnel instead of the existing Disaster Management Centre is an attempt to give priority to the military over civilian authority. After President Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power in 2019, there has been an attempt to bring the armed forces personnel to hold the key position in the country. There is a strong demand in Sri Lanka to bring the COVID-19 prevention under a civil authority. Justifying the ‘militarisation of COVID-19 responses’, government argues that challenging tasks like effective implementation of the nationwide lockdown, contact tracing, finishing off the dangerous clusters and efficient management of around 54 quarantine centres are possible due to the leadership role played by the Tri forces along with health authorities. Civil society and opposition political parties are, however, concerned about the undermining of rule of law. Reportedly medical experts of Sri Lanka are of the view that militarisation of the responses may be clinically efficient, but epidemiologically is an unsound approach.
Undermining Rights and Sensitivities of the People
Handing over the responsibility to manage the pandemic to Army Commander Shavendra Silva, who faces war crime allegation, raises concerns among the minority communities about the possible discrimination in the government’s effort to mitigate the challenges and has further convinced the minority communities that it can undermine the rights and sentiments of the people. Similarly, releasing prisoners held for pretty crimes is among one of the measures to prevent the spread of the virus but the release of a former sergeant who was convicted for murdering eight Tamil youths in 2008, raised disappointment and anger among the Tamil communities and right bodies. It is believed that while the Tamil communities are waiting for justice and accountability for the violation of human rights during the armed ethnic conflict, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is using the pandemic as an opportunity to release the army official convicted for a heinous crime and denying justice to the victims. Hence, pardoning a convicted sergeant using the pretext of COVID-19 is a severe blow to the reconciliation process and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned President’s move. Government of Sri Lanka has also been alleged to disrespect the rights of religious minorities in its fights against COVID-19. Government by issuing an order on March 31 made it mandatory to cremate all dead bodies infected with COVID-19 irrespective of their religious practice. Even though the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for the safe management of dead body allows for either burial or cremation, two dead bodies of Muslim COVID-19 patients were forcibly cremated against the wishes of the family members.
Failure of ‘Keep Politics Aside’
The dissolution of the eighth Parliament and the conduct of the next Parliamentary election is another issue of concern. Gotabaya Rajapaksa through a President’s proclamation dissolved the Parliament on 2 March 2020. As constitution makes it mandatory to convene a new Parliament within three months from the day of dissolution of the Parliament, election was scheduled for April 25 and the date for convening of the new Parliament was set on May 14. However, the election could not be conducted on scheduled date due to the pandemic. The opposition political parties and the civil society urged President to postpone the election till the situation get normal. Meanwhile, the President was urged to reconvene the dissolved Parliament and opposition political parties also pledged to provide cooperation in the reconvened Parliament to the government in its COVID-19 responses. President, however, refused to reconvene and decided to go ahead with the election which has been widely condemned; firstly, for endangering the lives of the people by conducting the election, and secondly, for leading the country towards constitutional crisis by ruling the country without parliament for more than three months. Many believe that using the pretext of health crisis, Gotabaya is trying to strengthen the executive Presidency. President, however, is of the opinion that no situation has arisen in the country as of now to reconvene the dissolved Parliament. According to him, opposition is trying to foil the ongoing efforts of the President to contain the COVID-19 by calling for reconvening of the Parliament and to fulfil their narrow political interests.
Conclusion
Years of ethnic conflict has disturbed the social fabric of Sri Lanka. There is complete distrust among the communities within the country. Post Eelam war, the country has witnessed majoritarianism, authoritarian rule and suppression of minority communities. Despite being a democratic, disregards for human rights have become common practice in Sri Lanka by the leaders in power. Partisan approach to the issues of national concerns often lead political and constitutional crisis in the country. COVID-19 is a common enemy of human being, but unfortunately, this common enemy too could not unite the political parties of Sri Lanka and convince them to lodge a united fight leaving their political interests aside.
