AN AGENDA FOR CHANGE THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN SRI LANKA October 1994 © ARTICLE 19 ISBN 1 870798 57 0 CONTENTS Acknowledgements Acronyms 1. Introduction 1.1 ARTICLE 19's Visit to Sri Lanka 1.2 Freedom of Expression and Armed Opposition Groups 1.3 The New Government's Undertakings 2. Freedom of Expression and International Human Rights Law: Sri Lanka's Obligations Under the ICCPR 3. Constitutional and Legal Protection of Freedom of Expression 3.1 Constitutional Protection 3.2 Emergency Powers 3.3 Prevention of Terrorism Act 3.4 Parliament (Power and Privileges) Act 3.5 Press Council Law 3.6 Defamation 3.7 Sedition 3.8 The Official Secrets Act 4. Media Freedom 4.1 State Control of Broadcasting and Newspapers 4.2 Broadcasting of News by Privately-Owned Stations 4.3 Attacks and Threats Against Media Personnel 4.4 Use of Advertising and Other State Resources to Influence the Media 4.5 Reporting the Conflict in the North and East 5. Impunity - 1 - 5.1 Indemnity Laws 5.2 The Need for Impartial Investigation of "Disappearances" and Extrajudicial Killings 5.3 Protection of Witnesses 5.4 Further Means Used to Prevent Disclosure of the Truth 6. Conclusion NB This version of the report does not contain footnotes. For a full version contact [email protected] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research for this report was carried out during an investigative visit by ARTICLE 19 to Sri Lanka in July 1993. The mission team was led by Dr Frances D'Souza, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, and the other members were Brian Currin, National Director of Lawyers for Human Rights in South Africa, Charles Goddard of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association and Susan Hay, Sri Lanka Coordinator for ARTICLE 19. ARTICLE 19 wishes to express its deep gratitude to the very many organizations and individuals in Sri Lanka who helped in planning and implementing ARTICLE 19's visit and provided valuable assistance and advice in preparing this report. The report was compiled for ARTICLE 19 by Elizabeth Nissan, author and researcher on human rights in South Asia. ACRONYMS CRM Civil Rights Movement of Sri Lanka FMM Free Media Movement HRTF Human Rights Task Force ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam JVP Vanatha Vimukthi Peramuna PA People's Alliance UNP United National Party 1. INTRODUCTION Denial of the right to freedom of expression has been at the core of the political and social tragedy that has beset Sri Lanka for decades. Media freedom, the public's right to know and the individual's fundamental right to freely hold and express opinions have all been flagrantly trampled upon by successive governments. The consequences for Sri Lankan society have been both marked and severe, and their legacy will almost certainly be felt for many years to come. - 2 - Governments of Sri Lanka have used a wide range of methods — both formal and informal — to impose censorship. Many obstacles to freedom of expression exist in law. Emergency regulations, for example, have been used by governments to close newspapers, seal printing presses, imprison political opponents without charge or trial, and even to enable security forces to destroy evidence of possible extrajudicial executions. Other methods of censorship, however, are informal, arbitrary and concealed from the public. These informal methods have in recent years included widespread threats and attacks — sometimes lethal — upon journalists, other media workers and writers for expressing views or publishing material which the authorities preferred to repress. The right to peaceful protest has been repeatedly violated. There have been numerous instances in which violence and intimidation have been used, with the apparent backing of the government, to break up peaceful meetings, preventing people from expressing their opposition to government policies and actions, and to attack demonstrators and strikers, as well as journalists covering these events. The long running civil war in the north and east,1 which has cost tens of thousands of lives, owes its escalation in no small part to past government attempts to stifle any peaceful talk of Tamil autonomy or secession. The right to information - and, therefore, the right to truth and justice - has also been denied to many thousands of Sri Lankans, Sinhalese as well as Tamils, whose relatives were "disappeared" or brutally murdered by government forces and the "death squads" who operated under them, during the period of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) insurgency in the south and the ongoing conflict in the north and east. Insurgency groups too have been responsible for thousands of abductions, disappearances and murders. In the parts of the north and east under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), freedom of expression has been firmly denied, and those who would criticise or dissent against the rule of the Tigers must know that to do so is to put themselves at peril. But just as Sri Lanka's recent history has been marked by a lack of freedom of expression, and the violation of so many other related human rights, there have also been many examples of individual efforts to stand up for such rights. Some, like the broadcaster Richard de Zoysa, paid with their lives for speaking out against intolerance and human rights abuses; others endured threats and intimidation or sought refuge abroad. Nevertheless, despite the obstacles, the small but vibrant human rights movement has survived and kept alive the hope that Sri Lanka will one day be ruled by a government prepared to respect the rights of its people and to honour to the full its international obligations, as set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international human rights instruments. This human rights movement still has a crucial contribution to make towards the achievement of these objectives, and deserves all possible international support. Today, following the election victory of the People's Alliance (PA), led by Prime Minister Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka stands at a crossroads. The new government has taken office after an election campaign in which it promised to right many of the wrongs of the past, 1 In this report, the term "north and east" is used to refer to Northeastern Province, and "south" refers to all other parts of the island. - 3 - to work for conciliation and peace, and to build a better future on the foundation of respect for basic human rights. In particular, the new government, in its early utterances, has repeated undertakings made before the election about the steps it will take to end censorship and restore freedom of expression, recognising no doubt that without this freedom all other human rights are in jeopardy. ARTICLE 19 welcomes the priority that Prime Minister Kumaratunga's government appears to attach to restoring press freedom and the right to information. However, as noted above, the legacy of the past is a heavy one and the new government faces many obstacles as a result. In particular, the systematic censorship which permeated government institutions and led to a culture of self-censorship within Sri Lankan society will be difficult to eradicate. The government will need to demonstrate real strength of purpose and determination if it is to carry through successfully its programme to bring Sri Lanka to the position where it can be counted a full, open and flourishing democracy, one which pays due respect to the rights of all Sri Lankans. This report is intended as a constructive and effective contribution to the cause of freedom of expression in Sri Lanka. It sets out recommendations for reforms which ARTICLE 19 believe are vital if freedom of expression is to be allowed to flourish in Sri Lanka in the future. These recommendations address ARTICLE 19's main areas of concern in Sri Lanka in the years before the most recent general election, and particularly as investigated during its visit to Sri Lanka in July 1993. Many of these concerns are of a long-standing nature: denial of the right to freedom of expression is institutionalized in Sri Lanka in manifold ways, and substantial reforms are necessary. These recommendations are not exhaustive, but represent the most urgent steps needed to create a legal and institutional framework within which freedom of expression and information can be encouraged and fostered, and to ensure that there are checks on future governments to prevent the gross violations of the right to freedom of expression that Sri Lankans have experienced in recent years.2 1.1 ARTICLE 19's Visit to Sri Lanka ARTICLE 19, the International Centre Against Censorship, works impartially and systematically to identify and oppose censorship world-wide. It believes that freedom of expression and information is a fundamental human right without which all other rights, including the right to life, cannot be protected. ARTICLE 19 defends this right when it is threatened and opposes laws and practices which violate it. ARTICLE 19 visited Sri Lanka from 18 to 30 July 1993 to investigate the extent to which the 2 The recommendations do not address the full range of freedom of expression issues. For example, academic and artistic freedom and freedom of association, including trade union rights, are not covered here. In addition, the recommendations do not address the situation in the north and east of the island, the areas most deeply affected by the civil war between the secessionist LTTE and the government. ARTICLE 19 remains gravely concerned about the undermining of civil society in these areas and the degree to which, in the areas under its control, the LTTE denies people the right to freedom of expression. See, for example, Sri Lanka: Freedom of Expression Cases in the North (ARTICLE 19, 1992).