TIGblogs - Deane

A friend of mine likes to obsess about the article 14 of the Sri Lankan constitution, which according to him guarantees freedom of expression. Here's what Chapter 3, article 14 say,

(1) Every citizen is entitled to -
(a) the freedom of speech and expression including publication;
(b) the freedom of peaceful assembly;
(c) the freedom of association;
(d) the freedom to form and join a trade union;
(e) the freedom, either by himself or in association with others, and either in public or in private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice or teaching;
(f) the freedom by himself or in association with others to enjoy and promote his own culture and to use his own language;
(g) the freedom to engage by himself or in association with others in any lawful occupation, profession, trade, business or enterprise;
(h) the freedom of movement and of choosing his residence within Sri Lanka; and
(i) the freedom to return to Sri Lanka.

Sounds allright at first glance. But anyone who obsess with this must read article 15, which says:

5. (1) The exercise and operation of the fundamental rights declared and recognized by Articles 13 (5) and 13 (6) shall be subject only to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests of national security. For the purposes of this paragraph “law” includes regulations made under the law for the time being relating to public security.

(2) The exercise and operation of the fundamental right declared and recognized by Article 14(1) (a) shall be subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests of racial and religious harmony or in relation to parliamentary privilege, contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.

(3) The exercise and operation of the fundamental right declared and recognized by Article 14(1) (b) shall be subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests of racial and religious harmony.

(4) The exercise and operation of the fundamental right declared and recognized by Article 14(1) (c) shall be subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests, of racial and religious harmony or national economy.

(5) The exercise and operation of the fundamental right declared and recognized by Article 14 (1) (g) shall be subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests, of national economy or in relation to -

(a) the professional, technical, academic, financial and other qualifications necessary for practising any profession or carrying on any occupation, trade, business or enterprise, and the licensing and disciplinary control of the person entitled to such fundamental right, and
(b) the carrying on by the State, a State agency or a public corporation of any trade, business,, industry, service or enterprise whether to the exclusion, complete or partial, of citizens or otherwise.
(6) The exercise and operation of the fundamental right declared and recognized by Article 14 (1) (h) shall be subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests of national economy.

(7) The exercise and operation of all the fundamental rights declared and recognized by Articles 12, 13(1), 13(2) and 14 shall be subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests of national security, public order and the protection of public health or morality, or for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others, or of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a democratic society. For the purposes of this paragraph " law " includes regulations made under the law for the time being relating to public security.

(8) The exercise and operation of the fundamental rights declared and recognized by Articles 12 (1), 13 and 14 shall, in their application to the members of the Armed Forces, Police Force and other Forces charged with the maintenance of public order, be subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests of the proper discharge of their duties and the maintenance of discipline among them.

In other words you have total freedom of speech, expression and assembly except when they think it conflicts with national security, national economy, public order, health, morality, harmony, disciplinary control, general welfare, etc, etc..

Maybe they should have just said something like "you have all the freedom of expression you want, except when you don't". That would save space, paper and probably help mitigate global warming.

On a related note, take another look at how our right to free speech is worded in the Sri Lankan constitution,

(1) Every citizen is entitled to -
(a) the freedom of speech and expression..

and compare it with this,

American Constitution, Amendment 1- Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…

On the first, the emphasis is on the citizen, while the later puts it's emphasis on the government. The latter puts in writing what a constitution is meant for -- to put limits on what the government can do, and not, as is the case with Sri Lanka, put limits on what citizens can do.

At least The Sri Lankan constitution is forthcoming about it's socialism and like any good socialist document, assumes state-ownership of our lives and gives us licenses to live, under certain conditions. This is one more reason why we should have a fresh constitution. If you need another good reason, just go through the ~~damn~~ thing . It's really really badly written with tons of redundancies.

Harsh Gupta, who first did this comparison with the Indian constitution, puts the whole thing more succinctly than I do. Do read it here.