Rajiva Wijesinha: Reform, Rights and Good Governance, Colombo: S. Godage and brothers, 2015, ISBN 978-955-30-6555-1 … selling at Rs 1750 and $22.50 (without postage)
ABSTRACT: This book brings together articles on governance issues written in the last few years. The main theme is the need for structural change, to ensure fulfilment of governmental and social responsibilities. Though there is stress now on corrective action, the greater need is for understanding of the root causes of abuse so these can be addressed, and abuse at least limited. The long second section of the book is based on the series entitled Sri Lanka Rights Watch which began in the Daily News in 2012. It arose from the author’s appointment to convene the Task Force to implement the National Human Rights Action Plan, which he had been instrumental in drafting when there was a dedicated Ministry for Human Rights under Mahinda Samarasinghe.
The articles describe the commitment of most government agencies to change, but also record the difficulties of progress in the absence of proper coordinating mechanisms. The author in the end resigned from the position in despair, urging the President to establish a Ministry with specific responsibilities, as had contributed previously to more effective action and better liaison with relevant national and international mechanisms.
Amongst themes taken up regularly in the articles are entrenching protection mechanisms for women and children, promoting equitable education, establishing clearcut policies with regard to land rights, expediting judicial reform to reduce wasteful and corruptive remanding, ensuring work norms for judicial officers, and introducing greater accountability to the communities on behalf of whom administrators are intended to function.
The systemic changes to promote effective government were taken up in two sets of columns in 2015, in ‘Ceylon Today’ and ‘The Island’. As the only member on the government side to urge reforms publicly in the preceding couple of years, the author was enthusiastic about the changes brought about by the January Presidential election. He believed passionately in the manifesto that he had helped to draft but, as it turned out, political expediency trumped principle after the election, and hardly any of the promises extended were fulfilled.
The articles indicate the very simple steps that could have been taken to entrench accountability and ensure transparency. Measures to divorce executive action from electoral advantage, to entrench local consultation systems, to ensure responses to public concerns through mandatory response mechanisms, to increase professional input into government, are amongst the various themes taken up in these essays. In particular the writer stresses the need to strengthen Parliament, and indicates the simple steps that might have been taken to amend Standing Orders. But there was little interest amongst politicians who had benefited from existing deficiencies to introduce change.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
A Reform Agenda
- Financial Abuse and Methods of Controlling it
- Reducing the Power of the Executive
- A Foreign Policy based on formal structures and concepts
- Administrative Reforms to make government more responsive to local needs
- School Education
- School Administration and Resources
- Business Development
- Environmental Protection
- The Electoral System the Government Promised
- An independent public sector
- A Cabinet determined on a scientific basis
- Strengthening Parliament and avoiding unnecessary bodies
- Ensuring Continuity
- Consensus with regard to Foreign Relations
- Education for Employment and Reconciliation
- The reasons the Reform Agenda has failed
- Ignoring Parliament
- Subterfuge to strengthen an Executive Prime Minister
- Undermining Reforms
- The failure to consult
- Fiscal Reform by stealth
- Service Delivery in Divisions
- The Presidential Manifesto and Education
- Freedom of Information
- Local Consultation and Empowerment
- Holistic Student Centred Education
Sri Lanka Rights Watch
| 1. The Welfare of Prisoners
2. Ensuring sensible judicial activism: the problem about suspended sentences for rape 3. Developing Community Structures 4. Promoting the Rights and the Welfare of Children 5. Strengthening the Human Rights Commission 6. Cooperation of the Human Rights Commission with other state agencies 7. Developing psychosocial support systems 8. Police Training 9. The Laws’ and Other Delays 10. Local Directives and Reporting 11. The Girl Guide initiative about Violence against Women and Children 12. Labour and Migrant Workers 13. The Displaced and Land Issues 14. Acting on Recommendations accepted at the Universal Periodic Review 15. The question of torture 16. Preparing for the Universal Periodic Review 17. Better Prisons, Fewer Prisoners 18. The Rights of Labour 19. Educational Reform 20. The role of the Police in Coordination 21. Protecting Suspects 22. Involving Civil Society 23. The Right to Information 24. Dealing with Disappearances 25. Former Combatants 26. Land Issues 27. The Laws’ Delays 28. Awareness as to the Rights of Women 29. Problems of Women in the North 30. Preventing languishing in jail 31. The police as a positive social force 32. Trafficking 33. Preventing Domestic Violence 34. The care of children 35. The Right to Higher Education 36. Promoting women in politics 37. Affirming the Right to Education 38. Why officials face too much undue influence 39. Saving Women from Houses of Detention 40. Prison visiting 41. Saving Children from Neglect 42. The LLRC and Human Rights Action Plans 43. The Bill of Rights 44. International issues in the LLRC Action Plan 45. Consultations to finalize legislation to protect children 46. The LLRC and the Detained 47. The Rights of Elders 48. The Right to a fair trial 49. Registering and Remembering the Disappeared 50. Clarifying statistics as to Rehabilitation 51. Detainees, Prisons and the ICRC 52. Overcrowding in Prisons: Causes, Remedies 53. Detainees under the PTA and Emergency Regulations 54. Systematizing Units for Women and Children at Divisional Secretariats 55. The Right to Development 56. Inclusivity and Participatory Budgeting 57. Guidelines and Independence for the Judiciary 58. Moving from patronage to equity in social services 59. Reducing overcrowding in prisons 60. Bringing government closer to the people 61. The need for precision 62. The principles behind Electoral Reform 63. Transparency with regard to Law 64. Deploying Resources more effectively 65. Settling land problems swiftly 66. Streamlining administrative procedures 67. Restoring and Acquiring Land 68. Reforming the Judiciary in a civilized manner 69. The Universal Periodic Review and its aftermath 70. Strengthening the rights of people, not politicians 71. How the discourse on Human Rights is perverted 72. Functioning with precision in English 73. Legal clarity with regard to empowerment 74. Eastern Muslim problems 75. Guarding against Gender Based Violence 76. Promoting Action on Human Rights 77. Youth perspectives on bringing government closer to the people 78. Other areas for Action to promote Human Rights 79. The messiness of Multiple Ministries 80. The diffidence of the Legislature regarding the Judiciary 81. Principles for Educational Progress 82. Why hypocrisy about war crimes weakens the argument for Human Rights 83. Improving effectiveness through coordination 84. Structures to deal with disappearances 85. Carrying out Plans in the Nation Building process 86. Dealing with the High Commissioner for Human Rights 87. Facilitating Coordination in the Courts 88. Action and Information 89. Overcoming inadequacies without inflicting them on others 90. Police structures and professionalism 91. Coordination of LLRC Actions 92. Banging heads on brick walls 93. The Resonance of Richard de Zoysa’s death 94. Promoting Language Rights as well as the Right to Development 95. Legislation and multiple perspectives 96. Answering allegations intelligently 97. Ensuring conformity to National Language Policies 98. Dealing with general allegations of war crimes 99. Promoting successful initiatives 100. The Institute of Human Rights and its concern for the neglected 101. Registering the contributions of courageous Tamils 102. Civil Rights and sincerity Good Governance1. Stopping Jobs for the Boys 2. Reducing corruption 3. Accountability and the central role of the public 4. Dealing with Violence 5. Continuity 6. A Responsive Judiciary 7. Guarding the Guardians 8. A Responsible Media 9. Ministerial Perks 10. Appointments to public positions 11. Collegiality 12. A Code of Conduct 13. The suitability of Members of Parliament for their roles 14. Responsiveness and Mechanisms for Follow Up 15. Covering up aberrations 16. Implications of the Bond Disaster for Good Governance, as explained by a former Deputy Governor 17. Abdicating Governance 18. The need for professional Civil Servants 19. The problem of pervasive corruption 20. Confusion between Executive and Legislature 21. Making laws and regulations accessible 22. Rent Seeking through multiplying government bodies 23. Governance and Development 24. Governance and Internal Security 25. Dispute Resolution without Confrontation
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