Untitled - International Commission of Jurists

Before and after 1948 and even after Sri Lanka gained republican status, commissions
of inquiry were used for the purpose of inquiring into the conduct of persons holding
public office. Receipt or disposal of tenders received in respect of the grant of
leases 207 ; allegations of bribery and corruption among the members of the Colombo
Municipal Council 208 ; allegations of abuses in relation to or in connection with
relevant tenders for government contracts 209 ; conduct of a naval officer alleged to
have participated in smuggling liquor 210 ; alleged unlawful interception of telephone
messages 211 ; administration of categories of local authorities 212 ; among others, cover
a wide range of alleged errant public activities which were put under inquiry through
the appointment of such commissions of inquiry. Employing such commissions for
the purpose of inquiring into political incidents impacting on rights and later, into the
specific purpose of grave human rights abuses, including mass disappearances, are of
relatively recent origin.
The following analysis of commissions established to inquire into serious human
rights violations is divided into three parts. The first part relates to Commissions
appointed prior to 1994 to inquire into abuses committed either wholly or partly
during the same period in which they were established. These bodies were, namely,
the Sansoni Commission, the Kokkadicholai Commission, the Commission of Inquiry
into the Incident alleged to have occurred on the Palampiddi-Iranai Iluppaikulam-
Vavuniya Road on 03.05.1991 and the Presidential Commissions of Inquiry into the
Involuntary Removal of Persons (1991-1993).
Generally, these bodies were appointed for the purpose of investigating specific
incidents of human rights violations, rather than wide scale disappearances which
would be a feature of the Commissions grouped in the second stage. The one
exception to this rule was the 1991-1993 Presidential Commissions of Inquiry into the
Involuntary Removal of Persons, which, as will be discussed below, lacked the
necessary elements, including political will, to constitute an effective inquiry that
would lead to remedies.
The second part of the analysis relates to the key commissions appointed during the
post-1994 period to inquire into generalized patterns of enforced disappearances or
involuntary removals primarily during a previous political regime. These comprise the
three 1994 Disappearances Commissions and the 1998 All-Island Disappearances
Commission. Though not classic ‘truth commissions,’ the establishing of these
commissions reflected widely prevalent expectations of truth, healing and
reconciliation.
The creation of these commissions was identified with the impetus for reform that
swept the government of Chandrika Kumaratunge into power in 1994 on a political
platform aimed at negotiating a peace settlement and an emphatic rejection of the
207 Wickramasinghe v. Crossette Thambiyah, 29 CLW 69.
208 De Mel v. De Silva, [1949] 51 NLR 105 (Divisional Bench), on a question reserved by a single
Justice [1949] 51 NLR 282.
209 In Re Ratnagopal [1968] 70 NLR 409 and in appeal to the Privy Council, [1969] 72 NLR 145.
210 AG v. Chanmugam [1967] 71 NLR 78.
211 Dias v. Abeywardene [1966] 68 NLR 409.
212 Silva and others v. Siddique and others [1978-79] I Sri LR 166 and Mendis, Fowzie and others v.
Goonewardene, [1978-79] II Sri LR 322.
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