NGOs for an Effective Human Rights Council

Sri Lanka's Record of Abuses:

Sri Lanka Fails to Protect its Citizens’ Fundamental Human Rights

  • Extrajudicial Killings
  • State Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances
  • Arbitrary arrests and Detention
  • Torture
  • Forcible Returns of IDPs
  • Threats to Journalists and Media Restrictions
  • Recruitment of Child Soldiers
  • Safety of Humanitarian Workers
  • Culture of Impunity


 
Extrajudicial Killings:  
 
“Police and military investigations into the killing of Tamils [and] ddeaths in custody have too often been poorly handled and remarkably few convictions have resulted. . . . from November 2004 to October 2005 the police [fatally] shot at least 22 criminal suspects after taking them into custody. . . . in one of these cases had an internal police inquiry been opened.”
- Report of U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Philip Alston on his mission to Sri Lanka from 28 November to 6 December 2005” March 27, 2006. (UN Document: E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5)
 

“[D]uring 2006, witnesses in Mutur identified to the Magistrate most of the perpetrators of more than 20 incidents of murder and abduction. The Police in Mutur arrested no one.”
 

“[T] the army – assisted by pro-government Tamil paramilitaries – is also engaged in a deliberate policy of extrajudicial killings and abductions of Tamils considered part of LTTE’s civilian support network. Targeted assassinations have been particularly frequent in Jaffna and parts of the east, often victimising civilians with no connection to the LTTE.”
 

 
State Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances:  

“The Working Group is gravely concerned at the increase in reported cases of recent enforced disappearances in the country. . . . The Sri Lankan Army and the Criminal Investigation Department were allegedly responsible for a large number of these cases.”
-- “Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances” January 10, 2008. (UN Document: A/HRC/7/2)
 

“[T]he Government is not taking effective steps to bring rising numbers of disappearances under control. The path to achieving justice for the victims and their families is reportedly long and arduous, with delays and interferences by high officials in investigations and inquiries, as well as threats to witnesses and family members.”
--“Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances” January 10, 2008. (UN Document: A/HRC/7/2)
 

“[T]here has yet to be an adequate investigation or credible public accounting for the vast majority of [abductions and disappearances].”
-Address by Ms. Louise Arbour UN High commissioner for Human Rights on the occasion of the resumed 6th session of the human Rights council” December 11, 2007.
 

“Sri Lanka [is] among the countries with the highest number of new cases in the world.  
The victims are primarily young ethnic Tamil men who ‘disappear’—often after being picked up by government security forces in the country’s embattled north and east, but also in the capital Colombo.”
 

“As with killings, Tamils suffered disproportionately from abductions – 64.6%, compared with 3% Sinhalese and 3% Muslims. Men represented nearly 98% of all missing persons.”
- Law and Society Trust submission to the Presidential Commision of Inquiry, August 2007.
 

“Accounts from family members indicate that the police failed to take even the most basic investigative actions to search for the victim or identify the perpetrators. They did not visit the place of the abduction, did not question eyewitnesses, and did not follow the leads provided by the families.”
 

 
Arbitrary Arrests and Detention:  

“[Emergency Regulations] grant the security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention, allowing the authorities to hold a person without charge based on vaguely defined accusations for up to 12 months. Over the past 18 months, the Rajapaksa government has detained an undetermined number of people reaching into the hundreds”
 

“As the conflict intensifies and government forces are implicated in a longer list of abuses, from arbitrary arrests and ‘disappearances’ to war crimes, the government has displayed a clear unwillingness to hold accountable those responsible for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.”
 

“Although individual cases of killings and disappearances are reported almost daily in the media, no official Sri Lankan body has produced public reports of killings and disappearances.”
- Written statement submitted by Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a non-governmental organization in special consultative status, to the UN Human Rights Council, February 24, 2008
 

“They just took him away—I kept asking where they were taking him, but they said they would inquire and bring him back. When they left, I followed them. They took him to a place not far from where we live. There was a house there, and for a while they kept him there; he was just standing near the wall and I could see him. The military then chased me away, and I don’t know where they took him from there.”
 

“I asked where they were taking him again and he  
showed me the pistol again and then they took him away. . . . It all happened in front of my eyes—I stood with the kids some 10 meters away. I ran there, screaming, ‘Where are you taking him. Please, let him go!’ In response, one of the soldiers unfastened a strap from his gun and lashed me, saying, ‘Go away, he is not here; if you lost your husband, go and ask the police.’”
 

 
Forcible Returns of IDPs:  

“Violence, coercion and intimidation from the State were constant companions of the refugees from the time they reached the government-controlled area. . . . ordered to get into buses without notice, they were beaten by the security forces, parted from children who were at school, and told that if they remained their huts would be bombed or if caught on the road in Batticaloa with a Trincomalee ID, they face an uncertain future.”
 

"Sri Lanka [is] among the countries with the worst displacement situations around the world. . . . On May 14, 2007, the military began to resettle some 90,000 internally displaced people in Batticaloa District to their home villages. With their houses and crops looted they have had to face tough food and livelihood challenges. International aid organizations as well as United Nations bodies have voiced concern about the government forcing IDPs to return to areas ravaged by fighting. Pressuring displaced persons to return to their homes conflicts with UN-recognized principles and is contradictory to the Sri Lankan government’s repeated promises not to enforce resettlement.”
– Written Statement submitted by the Society for Threatened Peoples to the U.N. Human Rights Council, February 20, 2008. (UN Document: A.HRC/7/NGO/54)
 

“[P]rotection of the displaced persons in Batticaloa cannot be guaranteed. The armed Karuna group, a proxy force of the government that broke away from the LTTE in March 2004, has been seen in and around various camps situated in government controlled areas. It has threatened and sometimes used violence against displaced people and the local population, as well as against NGOs. Numerous abductions of IDPs by the Karuna Group were also reported.”
– Written Statement submitted by the Society for Threatened Peoples to the U.N. Human Rights Council, February 20, 2008. (UN Document: A.HRC/7/NGO/54)
 

 
Torture:  

“The Special Rapporteur was shocked at the brutality of some of the torture measures applied to persons suspected of being LTTE members, such as burnings with soldering irons and suspension by thumbs.”
--“Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak,” February 26, 2008. (UN Document: A/HRC/7/3/Add.6)
 

“[T]orture is widely practised in Sri Lanka. . . . torture has become a routine practice in the context of counter-terrorism operations, both by the police and the armed forces.”
--“Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak,” February 26, 2008. (UN Document: A/HRC/7/3/Add.6)
 

“There is a nationwide pattern of custodial torture in Sri . . . . The vast majority of custodial deaths in Sri Lanka are caused not by rogue police but by ordinary officers taking part in an established routine.”
--“Report f the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, on his mission to Sri Lanka from November 28 to December 6, 2005. (UN Document: E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5)
 

“[C]ontinued well-documented allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment as well as disappearances, mainly committed by the State’s police forces . . . . are not investigated promptly and impartially by the State party’s competent authorities.”
– “Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture” December 15, 2005. (UN Document: CAT/C/LKA/CO/2)
 

 
Media Restrictions:  

“[J]ournalists and media workers in Sri Lanka are daily confronting grave threats to the safety of themselves and their families. . . . the failure of Sri Lanka’s security personnel to act to prevent threats and attacks on journalists and media workers and to bring those responsible to account indicates that the State has relinquished its role as keeper of the peace.”
 

“Journalists, editors, and publishers are now regular targets of intimidation and violent attacks by various groups. Since January 2006 at least seven have been murdered. Numerous other journalists have been abducted, physically attacked, threatened or forced into exile.”
- “The war on the media”, The Sunday Leader, 22 April 2007.
 

“In April 2007 Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse is alleged to have threatened the editor of the independent newspaper The Daily Mirror after it published articles seen as critical of TMVP activities. Rajapakse is reported to have said the stories had angered the Karuna faction and could provoke a violent response, in which case the editor should not expect any security from the government. The Emergency Regulations have been used to detain journalists and newspaper operators.”
--“Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Crisis,” ICG report June 2007. . . based on “The war on the media”, The Sunday Leader, 22 April 2007.
 

“[S]enior members of Sri Lanka’s Government and security personnel have made inflammatory comments condemning journalists as traitors, implicitly allowing for the incitement of violence against journalists and media institutions. . . . Government Minister Mervyn Silva is allegedly linked to continuing threats and attacks against people who witnessed or reported on an incident at the office of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) in late December.”
 

“Eleven Sri Lankan journalists and other media practitioners have been killed by various parties to the conflict since August 2005. To date, no one has been convicted for any of the killings. Tamil journalists work under severe threat from both the LTTE and government forces.”
 

“Tamil journalists, especially in the north and east, have been frequently subject to intimidation and harassment by the security forces and armed groups. Since the beginning of 2006 over two dozen Tamil media workers have been abducted, threatened, assaulted or killed.”
 

 
Child Soldiers:  

“There has been no evidence to date that any measures have been instituted by the police or the security forces to secure the release of the children abducted, recruited and used by the TMVP/Karuna faction despite clear knowledge of the same by the police or the security forces.”
--“Report of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka” December 21, 2007. (UN Document: S/2007/758)
 

“Grave concern was also expressed about the development of a recent but increasing pattern of abduction and recruitment of children in the eastern region by the Karuna faction. . . . [and] about the fact that the Karuna faction had abducted children in areas considered to be Government controlled, raising questions about the complicity of certain elements of the security forces.”
-- “Conclusions of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka” June 13, 2007. (UN Document: S/AC.51/2007/9)
 

“[The mission] found strong and credible evidence that certain elements of the government security forces are supporting and sometimes participating in the abductions and forced recruitment of children by the Karuna faction.”
 

“The Sri Lankan government is also violating international law by facilitating child recruitment by the Karuna. . . . The abductions of the Karuna group have taken place in areas of strict government control, with myriad military and police checkpoints. No armed group could engage in such largescale abductions and forced recruitment, training abductees in established camps, without government knowledge and at least tacit support. The police do not investigate the cases that parents report. The Sri Lankan government knows about the abductions and has not intervened.”
- Written statement* submitted by Society for Threatened Peoples, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status to the UN HRC, February 25, 2008. (UN Document: A/HRC/7/NGO/54)
 

 
Safety of Humanitarian Workers:  

“In the 24 month period between January 2006 – December 2007, there has been a killing or enforced disappearance of at least one person engaged in humanitarian service in every month, except March and October 2006.”
 

“Since 2006, numerous people engaged in humanitarian work have been killed and subjected to enforced disappearances. Many more individuals and organizations have been subjected to threats and attacks. Restrictions have been created which make it difficult or, in some cases, impossible to access civilians needing protection and assistance. . . . While some incidents such as the killing of 17 ACF staff in August 2006 in Mutur received public attention, many incidents received hardly any coverage in local and international media. . . . there has not been a single prosecution or conviction in any of the incidents.”
 

 
Culture of Impunity:  

“[T]ake the missing [persons] list. Some have gone on their honeymoon without the knowledge of their household is considered missing. Parents have lodged complaints that their children have disappeared but in fact, we have found, they have gone abroad.… These disappearance lists are all figures. One needs to deeply probe into each and every disappearance. I do not say we have no incidents of disappearances and human rights violations, but I must categorically state that the government is not involved at all.”
–Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in an interview to Asian Tribune, October 4, 2007.
 

“in the context of the armed conflict and of the emergency measures taken against terrorism, the weakness of the rule of law and prevalence of impunity is alarming”
 

“[C]ontinued well-documented allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment as well as disappearances, mainly committed by the State’s police forces . . . . are not investigated promptly and impartially by the State party’s competent authorities.”
-- Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture” December 15, 2005. (UN Document: CAT/C/LKA/CO/2)
 

“[I] it is an enduring scandal that there have been virtually no convictions of government officials for killing Tamils, and many Tamils doubt that the rule of law will protect their lives.”
-- “The interim report on the worldwide situation in regard to extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions submitted by Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur” September 5, 2006. (UN Document: A/61/311)
 

“The criminal justice system — police investigations, prosecutions, and trials — has utterly failed to provide accountability. Indeed, it is an enduring scandal that convictions of government officials for killing Tamils are virtually non-existent. . . . The time has come for the establishment of a full-fledged international human rights monitoring mission.”
- “Statement by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, to the UN Human Rights Council” September 19, 2006.
 

“[T]here is a growing culture of impunity for perpetrators of enforceddisappearance . . . with delays and interferences by high officials in investigations and inquiries, as well as threats to witnesses and family members.”
- “Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances” January 10, 2008. (UN Document: A/HRC/7/2)
 
“There has been no evidence to date that any measures have been instituted by,the police or the security forces to secure the release of the children abducted, recruited and used by the TMVP/Karuna faction despite clear knowledge of the same by the police or the security forces.”
- “Report of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka” December 21, 2007. (UN Document: S/2007/758)
 

“The failure to effectively prosecute government violence is a deeply-felt problem in Sri Lanka. The paucity of cases in which a government official - such as a soldier or police officer - has been convicted for the killing of a Tamil is an example. Few of my interlocutors could name any such case.”
- “Report of the Special Rapporteur, Philip Alston on his mission to Sri Lanka from 28 November to 6 December 2005” March 27, 2006. (UN Document: E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5)
 

“[W]e have uncovered information that reveals that the 17 aid workers were killed by at least one member of the Muslim Home Guard (Jehangir) and two police constables (Susantha and Nilantha) in the presence of the Sri Lankan Naval Special Forces. . . . The Police are more involved in perverting the evidence and silencing witnesses than in any real investigation.”
- “Unfinished Business of the Five Students and ACF Cases– A Time to call the Bluff” Report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) Sri Lanka UTHR(J) April 1, 2008
 

“The country has learnt to be comfortable with grave crimes going unpunished one after another, with the certainty that even graver ones would follow. The answer to the question why Sri Lanka is steeped in recurrent gross crimes, especially against the minorities, that go unchecked is not far to seek. . . . For years the State has gone on denying, obfuscating, abusing detractors, intimidating or killing witnesses and making matters progressively worse.”
- “Unfinished Business of the Five Students and ACF Cases– A Time to call the Bluff” Report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) Sri Lanka UTHR(J) April 1, 2008
 

“Many of the killings and disappearances, particularly around Colombo and Jaffna, have occurred in high security zones with heavy military presence; in Jaffna, many of these violations have occurred during military-imposed curfew times. In such cases, the involvement or complicity of security forces seems unavoidable.”
-Written statement submitted by Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a non-governmental organization in special consultative status, to the UN Human Rights Council, February 24, 2008.
 

“The police are accused not only of a failure to act, but of active obstruction of justice in order to cover up the role of government forces in right violations”
 

“There is no doubt that TMVP forces are operating openly, extensively, and illegally in the Eastern province and in Colombo and that elements in the government are either facilitating their work or refusing to prevent it.”