Sri Lanka’s next president must put human rights at the heart of their policies, Amnesty International said today.
Ahead of November 16 presidential election, the human rights organization Amnesty International called on candidates to prioritize key human rights issues, including commitments on transitional justice made in the aftermath of the decades-long internal conflict.
Amnesty International also calls on the candidates for elections to if elected commit to repealing repressive laws, protecting civic space, abolishing the death penalty and protecting human rights including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
But Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the current frontrunner and previously served as Sri Lanka’s defense secretary under his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Mahinda’s decade-long tenure ended in 2015 was characterized by brazen nepotism, with the four Rajapaksa brothers controlling many government ministries and about 80% of total public spending.
And by steadily expanding presidential powers, Mahinda created a quasi-dictatorship known for human-rights abuses and accused of war crimes.
Under this back ground, SLPP candidate Gotabya Rajapaksa has already used the Easter Terror bombings to fan the flame of Sinhalese nationalism.
He has promised his supporters that, if elected, he will strengthen the intelligence services and reintroduce surveillance of citizens, in order to crush Islamist extremism.
The prospect of an alleged war criminal still planning to use extrajudicial methods becoming president has terrified minority groups, the media, and civil-liberties advocates, political analysts said.
A Gotabaya presidency would block already-delayed justice to victims of his brother’s regime, deepen ethnic and religious fault lines, and help China gain strategic supremacy in the Indo-Pacific. Sri Lankan democracy appears more vulnerable than ever, they warned.
(LI)