Foreign ministry in deliberate attempt to mislead the public
The foreign ministry has posted on their official website the English language text of the US sponsored draft resolution on Sri Lanka which has been tabled before the UN Human Rights Council along with a Sinhala translation thereof. The Sinhala reading public will obviously be dependent on the Sinhala translation to form an opinion about this draft resolution. The Sinhala translation provided by the foreign ministry will also be made use of by the media in conveying to the public the contents of this contentious UNHRC resolution.
In this regard, The Island has uncovered a deliberate attempt to mislead the Sinhala reading public by distorting the wording of two of the most important operational paragraphs in this resolution. Operational paragraphs 6 & 8 of the draft resolution that is now before the UNHRC goes as follows:
6. Welcomes the government’s recognition that accountability is essential to uphold the rule of law and build confidence in the people of all communities of Sri Lanka in the justice system, takes note with appreciation of the Government of Sri Lanka’s proposal to establish a Judicial Mechanism with a Special Counsel to investigate allegations of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, as applicable; and affirms that a credible justice process should include independent judicial and prosecutorial institutions led by individuals known for integrity and impartiality; and further affirms in this regard the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism, including the Special Counsel’s office, of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers, and authorized prosecutors and investigators;
8. Encourages the Government of Sri Lanka to introduce effective security sector reforms as part of its transitional justice process that will help enhance the reputation and professionalism of the military and include ensuring that no scope exists for retention in or recruitment into the security forces of anyone credibly implicated through a fair administrative process in serious crimes involving human rights violations or abuses or violations of international humanitarian law including members of the security and intelligence units; and increasing training and incentives focused on the promotion and protection of human rights of all Sri Lankans;
The Sinhala translations of these two operational paragraphs that appear on the foreign ministry website are reproduced herewith for comparison. If readers look at the last four lines of English original of operational paragraph 6, they will see that what is envisaged is the ‘participation’ of foreign judges, lawyers, prosecutors and investigators in the judicial mechanism that is to be set up. But the Sinhala version, the ‘participation’ of foreign judges, lawyers, prosecutors and investigators in the Sri Lankan judicial mechanism is said to be in the form of an ‘advisory office’ (upadeshaka karyalayak). The actual resolution before the UNHRC does not refer to any upadeshaka karyalaya. While the majority of the Sinhala public will find the participation of foreign judges, lawyers, prosecutors and investigators in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism to be obnoxious, it can be made more palatable by saying that these foreigners will only be ‘advising’ the judicial mechanism.
Similarly in operational paragraph 8 reproduced above, it will be seen that what the USA and other sponsors of the resolution are ‘encouraging’ the government to do is to ensure through a ‘fair administrative process’ that no one ‘credibly implicated’ in violations of human rights or humanitarian law is either recruited or retained in the armed forces. This in other words is to tell the government of Sri Lanka to remove through an administrative vetting process individuals in the armed forces against whom there is insufficient evidence to go through a judicial process.
But when you read the Sinhala version of this same operational paragraph 8 put out by the foreign ministry, you see the phrase “sampradayika adhikarana kriyawaliye kotasak lesa”. The Sinhala version gives the impression to the reader that members of the military were to be removed through ‘traditional judicial processes’ in Sri Lanka. The original English version of operational paragraph 8 says nothing about any judicial process even though the Sinhala version says that the removal of members of the armed forces will take place only through a ‘sadharana adhikarana kriyawaliyaka prathipalayak lesa.” Such distortion of the original will not enable the Sinhala reading public to form an informed opinion about this draft resolution.
The foreign ministry has deliberately misled the Sinhala reading public by distorting and ‘sugar coating’ the more unpalatable operational paragraphs of the draft resolution that is now before the UNHRC. In putting out this deliberately distorted Sinhala translation, the foreign ministry has also wilfully misled the mass media that makes use of this translation in the belief that it is an authentic version of the original.
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