Feudal Forces: Democratic Nations - Police Accountability in

A key principle of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law EnforcementOfficials 29 is that senior officers are held responsible for foreseeable unlawful use of force orfirearms by junior officers, where the senior officers failed to take action. This places asignificant responsibility on supervisory ranks to oversee the actions and decisions of policeunder their command, especially where force may be used; and requires clear managerialaccountability in police establishments.While countries like India and Sri Lanka have developed their own Codes or Guidelines forethical conduct of officers and use of force, these are not a part of the police legislation. Thepolice do not respect these rules in practice, and there is no system to ensure their domesticcompliance. In fact, setting a rather unfortunate precedent in 2006, the Supreme Court ofSri Lanka undermined the entire international human rights protection regime. Sri Lanka hasratified the ICCPR and its first optional protocol that allows the treaty body to take upindividual cases and give recommendations to the state. Yet, the Supreme Court observedthat neither the international conventions ratified by the government nor the directions of themonitoring bodies were binding on the country. “It [ICCPR] does not have internal effect andthe rights under the ICCPR are not rights under the law of Sri Lanka”. The court further heldthat individuals “cannot seek to ‘vindicate and enforce’ their rights through the HumanRights Committee at Geneva, which is not reposed with judicial power” under the Constitutionof Sri Lanka. 30 This decision is at absolute odds with accepted international law.POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY IN SOUTH ASIA :: 21