The 2017 country report on human rights released by the United States on April 20, notes several positives under Sirisena regime. At the same time, it points out that Buddhist nationalist monks reportedly instigated attacks on Muslims and their property. “Military and police harassed civilians with impunity, and impunity for crimes committed during and since the armed conflict continued”, says the report.
Unlawful killings, torture, sexual abuse, arbitrary arrest, lengthy detention, lack of property restitution by the military; and surveillance and harassment of civil society activists and journalist are amongst the most significant human rights issues in Sri Lanka, says the US Country Report on Human Rights – 2017.
Government discrimination toward and security forces harassment of Tamils and non-denominational Christian groups persisted, the report says and adds that the military and police harassed civilians with impunity. Impunity for crimes committed during and since the armed conflict continued.
The report notes with approval that the government has taken steps to investigate, prosecute, and punish some officials who committed human rights abuses. President Sirisena signed a gazette legally establishing the Office of Missing Persons.
- While on arbitrary or unlawful killings, the US report cites some case studies to highlight the gravity of the human rights abuse by police or other government functionaries.
- On October 22, two plainclothes members of the Police Special Task Force shot and killed a 24-year-old man on a motorcycle in Ariyalai in the Jaffna District.
- On November 3, the Criminal Investigation Division arrested the two officers, who remained incarcerated pending trial at year’s end.
Police continued to investigate the October 2016 case in which police shot and killed two Jaffna University students after they failed to obey orders to stop their motorbike at a checkpoint. The following day, authorities arrested five police officers in connection with the shooting. On September 14, the Jaffna High Court released the five police officers on bail after 11 months of incarceration.
The investigation moved ahead for the 2009 killing of prominent journalist and politician Lasantha Wickrematunge, chief editor of the Sunday Leader. On February 19, the police arrested five military intelligence officers in connection with the incident and for orchestrating attacks on journalists and dissidents during the Rajapaksa government. The suspects were released on bail pending the outcome of the investigation.
Dealing with the problem of “disappearances”, the US report says,
There were allegations of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities during the year, and disappearances during the war and its aftermath remained unresolved.
- The July 2017 report of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances noted the number of outstanding cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances at 5,859. On September 12, President Maithripala Sirisena signed a gazette legally establishing the Office of Missing Persons, tasked with “searching and tracing” missing persons, setting up a database, and assisting relatives of missing persons.
- In the case of Prageeth Eknaligoda, a journalist and cartoonist for Lanka eNews who disappeared in 2010 just before the presidential election, in 2016 the Criminal Investigation Department cleared Eknaligoda of any links to the LTTE or criminal gangs, a claim popularly used by Sinhala nationalists to justify his disappearance. In 2015 and early 2016, police arrested 13 persons, including nine military intelligence officers, in connection with Eknaligoda’s disappearance. A court granted bail to all 13 suspects in November, after holding them for almost one year without indictment. At year’s end authorities had not charged any suspects in Eknaligoda’s disappearance.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) reported torture is routine and continued throughout the country, and that it received 271 allegations of torture by state actors as of September. It stated that many reports of torture refer to police officers allegedly “roughing up” suspects to extract a confession or otherwise elicit evidence to use against the accused.
During a visit in July, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism stated, “Torture is very deeply ingrained in the security sector in Sri Lanka and evidently the use of torture has been and remains presently, endemic and routine for those arrested and detained on national security grounds. Since the authorities use this legislation disproportionately against members of the Tamil community, it is this community that has borne the brunt of the State’s well-oiled torture apparatus.”
Interviews by human rights organizations found that torture remained endemic throughout the country, including for those charged with offenses under the PTA. Suspects arrested under the PTA, including since the war ended in 2009, gave accounts of torture and mistreatment, forced confessions, and denial of basic rights such as access to lawyers or family members.
SOME MORE EXCERPTS
Prison conditions were poor due to old infrastructure, overcrowding, and a shortage of sanitary facilities.
Physical Conditions:
Overcrowding was a problem. The commissioner of prisons estimated that on average the prison population exceeded the system’s capacity by 50 percent. Authorities sometimes held juveniles and adults together. Authorities often held pre-trial detainees and convicted prisoners together. In many prisons, inmates reportedly slept on concrete floors, and prisons often lacked natural light or ventilation.
The commissioner of prisons reported 74 total deaths of prisoners in custody as of November. The majority of deaths were due to natural causes. There were also three suicides.
A few of the larger prisons had their own hospitals, but only a medical unit staffed the majority. Authorities transferred prisoners requiring medical care in smaller prisons to the closest local hospital for treatment.
Arbitrary Arrests
The HRCSL received 118 complaints of arbitrary arrest and detention during the year. According to human rights groups, the police and its Criminal Investigation and Terrorism Investigation Departments unlawfully detained individuals in police stations, army camps, and informal detention facilities on allegations of involvement in terrorism-related activities without bringing charges or arraigning detainees within the timeframe required by law. Police sometimes held detainees incommunicado, and lawyers had to apply for permission to meet clients, with police frequently present at such meetings. In some cases, unlawful detentions reportedly included interrogations involving mistreatment or torture. Authorities reportedly released detainees with a warning not to reveal information about their arrests or detentions under the threats of re-arrest or death.
Dozens of Tamil prisoners across the country, including former LTTE fighters, undertook three hunger strikes in October. They demanded an immediate resolution to their protracted detention. As a majority of these prisoners were held under the PTA without charge, they asked the government either to indict them or to provide a pathway for their eventual release.
Internet Freedom
There were no credible reports that the government monitored private online communications without appropriate legal authority. The government placed limited restrictions on websites it deemed pornographic. Approximately 30 percent of the country’s population used the internet regularly, and 21 percent had access to the internet at home. Media reports estimated a far larger percentage of the population accessed the internet via smartphones.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
The country’s civil war that ended in 2009 caused widespread, prolonged displacement, including forced displacement by the government and the LTTE, particularly of Tamils. According to the government’s Ministry of Resettlement, Rehabilitation, Hindu Religious Affairs, and Prison Reforms, 40,808 citizens remained IDPs as of June 30. The large majority resided in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, and Batticaloa districts in the north and east.
While all IDPs had full freedom of movement, most were unable to return home due to land mines; restrictions designating their home areas as part of HSZs; lack of work opportunities; inability to access basic public services, including acquiring documents verifying land ownership; and lack of government resolution of competing land ownership claims and other war-related reasons. The government did not provide protection and assistance to IDPs in welfare camps.
The government promoted the return and resettlement of IDPs by returning approximately 686 acres of military-seized land and making state land available for landless IDPs. In August 2016 the government approved a national policy on displaced populations. It aimed to establish durable solutions for conflict-affected displacement to provide a rights-based set of principles and standards to guide all stakeholders working with IDPs. The military and other government agencies supported the resettlement of IDPs by constructing houses, schools, toilets, and providing other social services on newly released lands
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Both local and Indian-origin Tamils maintained they suffered longstanding, systematic discrimination in university education, government employment, housing, health services, language laws, and procedures for naturalization of noncitizens. Throughout the country, but especially in the north and east, Tamils reported security forces regularly monitored and harassed members of their community, especially activists and former or suspected former LTTE members.
The government had a variety of ministries and presidentially appointed bodies designed to address the social and development needs of the Tamil minority. The government has implemented a number of confidence-building measures to address grievances of the Tamil community. It also replaced military governors of the Northern and Eastern provinces with civilians. The Office of National Unity and Reconciliation, established by the president in 2016, continued to coordinate the government’s reconciliation efforts. The office focuses on promoting social integration to build an inclusive society, securing language rights for all citizens, supporting a healing process within war-affected communities via the government’s proposed Commission for Truth, Justice, Reconciliation, and non-recurrence of the violence.
On April 17, the Tamil National Alliance and Defense Ministry initiated a formal dialogue on returning military-held lands in the Northern and Eastern provinces. In August army Chief Major General Mahesh Senanayake publicly committed the military to prosecuting personnel who committed criminal acts during and after the conflict, many of which were committed against the Tamil community.
Buddhist nationalist monks reportedly instigated attacks on Muslims and their property. These included more than 20 attacks on Muslim places of worship and shops from April to June. Authorities arrested four alleged perpetrators, including one police officer, all of whom were members of the Buddhist nationalist group Bodu Bala Sena.