I have been reading so many articles for and against the death
penalty being re-activated in Sri Lanka. I have also come across people who
think that those who are against it may be out of their minds. For the life of me I cannot see why a person
who is against sentencing people to death can be out of their minds.
The conversation and debate around re-introducing the death
penalty has been triggered by the terrible rape and murder of a 5 year old
child, Seya Sadewmini. I am shocked by
the brutal way her life was taken away from her. Though I have read about
thousands of atrocities committed towards humans, women, men and children
especially in the area of gender based violence, I can never prepare myself for
the sadness and disgust that I feel when I read about stories like hers.
My question though is, how does taking the life of an
alleged perpetrator change that? How does it reduce the possibility of this
happening to another child? It is still a moot point whether the death penalty
has any significant impact on reducing crime.
Actually let me correct what I was trying to ask. My biggest
question is how do we as humans or as Buddhists (as Sri Lanka is supposedly a
Buddhist country) cry out for another person’s death? Hasn’t our country seen
enough dehumanization? We had the LTTE who killed people in the vilest ways, we
had our own government at varying stages allowing the massacre of Tamils in
1983, massacring youth from the South as well as thousands of Tamils trapped in
the No Fire Zone during the last stages of the war. We also had the JVP who
took the lives of thousands without a shred of conscience in the 90’s. And then
we had the Budu Bala Sena riot in Aluthgama leading to the taking of lives of
four innocent people. These are instances I have heard about in Sri Lanka during
my lifetime on this planet.
Hasn’t our country
seen enough dehumanization? Shouldn’t it stop with our generation?
A few years ago I was chilled to the bone when I saw Nicholas Kristoff interviewing an 8 year old
Buddhist child in Myanmar. He asked him what he would do if he saw another
Rohingya child his age. Without any hesitation the child said, “I will kill him”.
I thought to myself as I saw that video, what have we done to our children for
them to feel so much hate that taking another child’s life means nothing.
Is this the legacy we wish to leave for the next generation?
For them to see killing as a way of dealing with anything ranging from
ethnicity, religion to crimes committed by others?
Don’t we just become as inhuman as those who commit these
terrible acts against other humans?
The answer to reducing such crimes against women, children,
transgendered people and men starts with each individual as well as in all
pathways leading to the criminal system.
We are all to blame for not only Seya’s death, but Vidhya’s,
Jerusha’s[i]
and many others. How many of us instead of holding the men who committed these
crimes accountable, question first of “what these girls or children were
wearing” or “why were they traveling alone” or “how could a parent or guardian
allow a child to travel along that road alone?”. If Vidhya had been wearing a short skirt instead
of a school uniform would the public have reacted differently? How many of us have seen our male friends talk
about women as sexual objects or worse still join in with their eve teasing or
other harmful behaviours without stopping them or questioning them? How many of
you men and young people have sat comfortably in your seats and “liked” or “retweeted”
posts on such violence or just signed
petitions and felt good about yourself without in so much as joining us on the
streets when we protest or committing to constructively ending GBV? I have
encountered a few men who do support our protests against GBV but feel a little
awkward if their colleagues or peers would get to know about it. How many of us
have called men who do stand up actively to end GBV “wimps” or “not manly”?. It is only in the past few months we have seen
members of the public, other than GBV activists coming forward openly against
these atrocities.
A recent study conducted in Sri Lanka showed that almost all
men who perpetrate rape face absolutely no consequences, either from their
families, friends or the legal system[ii].
Instead of holding rapists accountable we lament about how a girl or woman’s
honor has been violated! We shame the victim or survivor! Seya or Vidhya never “asked
for it”! We have seen the statistics which state that so many children face
sexual abuse on a daily basis and the perpetrators are either family members or
people known to them. We need to empower children to be able to speak out when
they feel something wrong is going on in their worlds. Instead what we do is
discredit them and tell them that “that person would NEVER do something like
that!”. If it is a boy we tell them “to be a man” or “don’t take this seriously
as we also went through the same thing” so they will not complain or stand up
for themselves.
WE INDIVIDUALLY AND IMPLICITLY SUPPORT GBV.
This court system we are hoping will be able to sentence the
right men to death have released so many alleged perpetrators either through
suspended sentences or acquittals, especially in cases of statutory rape (in
instances of forced sex with a minor). In Kesara’s case the judge gave bail to
four men who raped a disabled person repeatedly over a period of four months at
Green Cabin. In Saranya’s case no DNA
testing was done despite her body being exhumed. In Jerusha’s case we found the
Kilinochchi police using unspeakable amounts of violence on her mother and
family. Transgendered people or homosexuals have experienced very high levels
of violence at the hands of the police as they use the archaic criminalization
of homosexuality in our laws to intimidate and exploit them[iii].
If Marital rape was illegal in Sri Lanka there would be many husbands facing
the gallows! These are the many shortcomings in our judicial process. These are
also the same institutions and law enforcement agencies we are hoping will
enforce fair judgement on other people. Our state and judicial apparatus has a
lot of reviewing to do of it’s own processes before they sound the death knell
on others.
What our country
needs is an attitude of zero tolerance towards violence. And after an honest reflection and change of harmful attitudes you hold, a practice of
calling out people who perpetrate violence and hold them accountable, not the
baying for another person’s blood. We also need to get actively involved in ensuring our current systems leave no loopholes for offenders.
The human conscience is a sacred thing. Tainting it is easy-trying
to keep it pure is the greatest challenge of our human race. But keeping it
that way will only help out collective consciousness and the human race. Taking
another person’s life or even harming it will never bring those lives back. If
at all it will de-humanize you. Shall we actually try to be Buddhists instead
of raising that identity when a person wears clothes with the image of Lord
Buddha on them? Shall we actually practice what he preached and break this
cycle of violence?
Hasn’t our country
seen enough dehumanization? Shouldn’t it stop with our generation?
[ii] de
Mel, N., P. Peiris and S. Gomez (2013). Broadening Gender: Why Masculinities
Matter—Attitudes,
Practices and Gender-Based Violence in Four Districts
in Sri Lanka. Colombo: CARE Sri Lanka
[iii]Nichols, A, (2010) Dance Ponnaya, Dance! Police Abuses Against Transgender Sex Workers in Sri Lanka, Feminist Criminology, 5(2), 195-222. Can be accessed: http://fcx.sagepub.com/content/5/2/195.abstract
[iii]Nichols, A, (2010) Dance Ponnaya, Dance! Police Abuses Against Transgender Sex Workers in Sri Lanka, Feminist Criminology, 5(2), 195-222. Can be accessed: http://fcx.sagepub.com/content/5/2/195.abstract
