Bring IOM chief to justice

Our continuing sense of outrage over the death of 21-year-old radio journalist, Rukshani Prasadini in a road accident featuring a car driven by the chief of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Christopher Gascon, compels us to raise the issue of whether justice is being truly meted out in this tragedy.

What is provoking exasperation and protest is the fact that the IOM chief has slipped out of the country subsequent to the accident, apparently claiming diplomatic immunity. In other words, if one enjoys diplomatic status in this country, one could wriggle out of a charge of even manslaughter or murder by citing diplomatic immunity.

If the provision of diplomatic immunity could be so abused it would be futile to speak of the need to sustain the Rule of Law. These are the reasons why a good part of our polity is aghast at the ease with which the IOM chief seems to have slipped past the local justice system.

We are given to understand that the file relating to this case is currently before the Attorney General. We request that every avenue be explored to bring the IOM chief before the law. We join every right thinking person in this country in demanding that justice be meted out fully to Rukshani Prasadini.

What has compounded public exasperation and outrage in this case is the IOM head's seeming indifference to the magnitude of the harm his actions have caused.

It is only a prosecution by due process which could establish the culpability or otherwise of Gascon for the tragedy which befell Prasadini but the IOM chief's devious conduct only strengthens the allegations and suspicions against him.

For, if he was not culpable of any offence, the IOM head would have remained in the country and made himself available for questioning by the law enforcement authorities. We believe that Gascon should not only have stayed on but of his own accord provided assistance and succour to Prasadini's next of kin until the legal process was initiated against him and completed.

Accordingly, we call on the IOM to ensure that their chief is brought back to Sri Lanka to answer the charges against him. They cannot evade this responsibility. Besides, if the IOM has the interests of their chief at heart it would advise the latter to come back to Sri Lanka and clear his name, if he is not guilty of having committed any grave offence.

In short, the IOM chief should conduct himself in an accountable manner. There is no getting away for this crucial need.

Legal opinion in Sri Lanka should from now on seek to take-up with the international community the need to rectify any loopholes or limitations in International Law pertaining to diplomatic immunity. The use of diplomatic immunity should be subjected to strict limitations and curbs. This much is clear.

Certainly, one cannot commit a grave offence and seek to escape the consequences by citing diplomatic immunity. This would amount to eroding the foundational pillars of justice.

By raising these issues we do not intend to call for a kind of retributive justice. Vengeance, in short, is not our motive. However, our concern for preserving the Rule of Law is one reason. Another reason is our concern that justice be meted out to the victim of the offence. Yet another reason is our demand that accountable behaviour be enforced on everyone who steps on our soil and comes under the purview of the local law and order system.

The INGO community in particular should not run away with the belief that it could play ducks and drakes with the local justice system. We have come a long way from colonial times. Sri Lanka is not a subject country and should be treated by everyone as such.

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