THE ALTERNATIVE PEOPLE’S FORUM AND DUTY TO PERFORM --Jehan Perera

The government is leaving nothing to chance where it concerns the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It has invested heavily in CHOGM both in term of its political and financial capital. The government expects the international perspective on Sri Lanka, its economic potential and peaceful climate, to undergo a drastic transformation for the better. A government spokesperson was reported by the media as saying that no public demonstrations would be permitted during the period of the Summit. The closure of all universities in the country over the next week can be attributed to this concern. It is difficult to understand why else universities that are far from the CHOGM events should be closed.

Another example over the high level of concern about the possibility of disruptions during the CHOGM events was the investigations that took place into an alleged and alternative People’s Forum event to be held in Galle. Since 1991, it has been the practice for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be accompanied by a Commonwealth People’s Forum that brings civil society leaders from across the Commonwealth to share their experiences with one another. On this occasion the People’s Forum is to be held in Hikkaduwa. At least 400 participants drawn in approximately equal numbers from foreign countries and Sri Lanka are expected to attend this official event, which is to be ceremonially opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In the run-up to CHOGM, government intelligence sleuths questioned civil society leaders whether they were planning a huge counter People’s Forum in Galle to be a rival to the official event. So far no such event appears to have been planned. However, an alternative People’s Forum did place in Colombo, and not in Galle, on Thursday, three days prior to the official event in Hikkaduwa, which is scheduled for Sunday. This alternative event was not meant to rival the official Commonwealth People’s Forum or to disrupt it. Nevertheless, the government appears to have taken the event seriously. The state radio conducted an interview programme with life threatening comments against the organizers of the alternative event. Such a level of impunity indicated approval from the top.

It is unfortunate that the manner in which the government dealt with the alternative People’s Forum has provided ample evidence for the disregard of Commonwealth Values in the host country, which has formed the basis of the world wide protests against it being held in Sri Lanka. The Role of Civil Society is one of the 16 paragraphs of the Commonwealth Charter which has also been signed by Sri Lanka. It states, “We recognise the important role that civil society plays in our communities and countries as partners in promoting and supporting Commonwealth values and principles, including the freedom of association and peaceful assembly, and in achieving development goals.”

The draft memorandum that was presented for discussion at the alternative People’s Forum in Colombo stated that the Sri Lankan government “is in violation of a host of international covenants and instruments on human rights to which is a signatory, including the Commonwealth Charter and the preceding declarations of the Commonwealth on which the Charter is based.” It has been unfortunate that instead of there being a strengthening of civil society work in partnership with the government, there has been a weakening of it in Sri Lanka over the past few years. There has been a constriction of the space for many civil society activities in Sri Lanka due to the appearance of government mistrust of these organizations which appears set to continue.

More than 300 activists from all parts of the country attended the alternative People’s Forum. This constitutes a larger and more authentic representation of Sri Lankan civil society than will be permitted to take place in the official People’s Forum in Hikkaduwa, which has been dogged by obstacles placed in the path of those seeking to attend it. One has been the need to get security clearance in order to get accreditation. The other is the high cost of registration which is Rs 15,800 and is well out of reach of many civil society activists or their organizations, and which is in addition to having to find accommodation and meals on their own over the four days of the event in a location that primarily caters to foreign tourists.

At the alternative event in Colombo, there was a strong representation of participants from the former war zones of the North and East and also from the much neglected Plantation sector which remains the poorest and most underserved in Sri Lanka. Those who spoke on the occasion representing the problems of the North and East, did so with much feeling and emotion. They spoke of their continuing poverty, of their missing loved ones whom they hope are still alive, of lands they have lost and about developments taking place over which they have no control. They appreciated the alternative People’s Forum that had given them a forum to air their longstanding grievances.

There was also the voice from the Plantations, from the people who continue to work on the tea estates even today for which they were brought down from India by the British over 150 years ago and who continue to remain the poorest and most neglected in Sri Lanka. They too bemoaned their inability to take up these issues at the official People’s Forum to which they would have no access due to registration and fee paying problems. They feared that there would be no one to take up their issues on their behalf. The Sri Lankan civil society members who have chosen to attend the official Commonwealth People’s Forum in Hikkaduwa, and have had the resources to afford it, will have a duty to represent these unrepresented groups.