UN Resident Rep addresses Justice Ministry Consultative Committee

Govt. efforts to transform Criminal Justice system appreciated

UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Ms. Hanaa Singer-Hamdy has appreciated the ongoing efforts by the Justice Ministry to transform the Criminal Justice System.

Addressing the Justice Ministry Consultative Committee recently the UN official has said that the community based correction system can avoid exposing offenders to the conditions of the prison which can sometimes be violent and unsafe creating a cycle of coming in and going out of prison.

Earlier, Justice Minister M.U.M Ali Sabry, PC directed the “Draft – Report on Community based Correction System in Sri Lanka” to be circulated among all Parliamentarians and to obtain their suggestions and observations for the purpose of being further developed. He further instructed to obtain public views regarding the report. The instructions were issued on Thursday (7) as the initial step towards the transformation of the Criminal Justice System in Sri Lanka.

Hanaa Singer-Hamdy and Robert Juhkam, Resident Representative of UNDP were also in attendance at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Justice chaired by Minister Sabry.

The Justice Minister was of the view that there was no point of sending people behind bars without reforming them and therefore, community-based correction system would be a more effective method. Accordingly, possibilities of correcting those who were sentenced for less than two years within the community without imprisoning them was taken into consideration.

The discussion on Community based correction was set in motion following the presentation by the Assistant Secretary General of Parliament and former Justice Official. Tikiri K. Jayathilake. The Assistant Secretary General addressing the committee, said that Criminal Law and the notion of justice were entwined and it was important to extricate an individual into society as a responsible citizen rather than labelling them as criminals.

He said that the said objective could be done by the Ministerial Consultative Committee via two tiers. One being the political tier inclusive of the political leadership in stirring towards the requisite reforms. The second tier included officials and professionals representing various fields contributing their expertise towards the creation and development of relevant reforms.

The Assistant Secretary General of Parliament also emphasised that suggestions of Members of Parliament and various stakeholders were imperative in order to develop that system.

Members of Parliament Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Sagara Kariyawasam, Madhura Withanage, Diana Gamage, Gamini Waleboda, S. Kajendran, Ajith Rajapakse, and Akila Ellawala marked their presence at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Justice chaired by Minister of Justice Ali Sabry.