11th Special Session of the Human Rights Council: “The human rights situation in Sri Lanka” May 26-27, 2009

17/06/2009
Press release

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), welcomes the 11th special session the Human Rights Council is holding on the situation in Sri Lanka.

Intensified fighting between Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after the Government officially abrogated the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement in January 2008 resulted in a significant increase in human rights violations by all parties to the conflict, as well as in thousands internally displaced people. Although the armed conflict in Sri Lanka is said to have recently come to an end, serious human rights violations remain widespread throughout the country, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture and other ill-treatments. In addition, perpetrators continue to enjoy complete impunity. In such a context, the women and men who denounce those human rights violations have been facing an ongoing climate of hostility.

In particular, the Government has continued to restrict access for aid workers, in particular foreign nationals, to the areas most affected by the conflict as well as to restrict the provision of essential items. Aid workers have also been threatened, arrested, abducted and killed. Three Government employed medical doctors, namely Dr. T. Sathiyamoorthy, Dr. Varatharajah and Dr. Shanmugarajah, were last seen on May 15, 2009. It is feared that they might have been arrested for providing information about the situation in the conflict zone in North-Eastern Sri Lanka to local and international human rights groups and media.

Lawyers and defenders acting for victims of human rights abuses have also often been victims of attacks. In January 2009, staff members of the human rights centre “Right to Life”, in Negombo, Katunayake, received death threats because of their human rights activities. These threats started after the assassination, in September 2008, of a complainant in a bribery case. Likewise, Mr. Amitha Ariyaratne, Attorney-at-Law, was threatened three times with death by police officers. Mr. Ariyaratne was the lawyer for the same complainant, and also represents Mr. Sugath’s family in a complaint of torture. On March 7, 2009, Mr. Sinnavan Stephen Sunthararaj, well-known for documenting cases of child abuse in Jaffna, was abducted, allegedly by officers of the Criminal Investigation Department. Mr. Sunthararaj had then just spent one month in detention without charge. Since then, no further information could be obtained on his whereabouts. Mr. Santha Fernando, Secretary for Justice and Peace in the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL), who is particularly involved in the promotion of justice among the less privilege sections of society, has been detained since March 27, 2009 in the Terrorism Investigation Division of the Sri Lankan police. No specific reason for his arrest or detention has been given so far.

Media workers have also become high profile targets, particularly those who report on the conflict. Journalists have often been barred from the conflict areas, and have been threatened, intimidated, violently assaulted and even murdered. Anti-terrorism legislation has also been used to arrest and detain those seen as a risk. For instance, Mr. Jayaprakash Tissainayagam, a Tamil journalist and Editor of the magazine North-Eastern Monthly, remains detained since March 2008, along with Mr. N. Jasiharan, publisher of the same magazine, and his partner, Ms. V. Valamathy. In August 2008, they were indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Emergency Regulations, for publishing two articles in 2006 that criticised the Government’s military operations carried out in Tamil regions. Moreover, on January 8, 2009, Mr. Lasantha Wickrematunge, founder and Chief Editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper as well as a lawyer who was a vocal critic of corruption and abuse of authority in Sri Lanka as well as of the Government policies relating to the conflict, was assassinated in Colombo. Mr. Wickrematunge was also a critic of the war and advocated a peaceful political solution to the conflict.

These events illustrate the situation of extreme insecurity faced by human rights defenders in Sri Lanka, a situation that was further exacerbated by a public statement made last March by Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Minister, Mr. Mahinda Samarasingue, who discredited and threatened human rights defenders after several Sri Lankan NGOs denounced human rights violations during the session of the UN Human Rights Council held in Geneva in March 2009.

In view of these elements, the Observatory calls upon the Human Rights Council to urge the Sri Lankan authorities to:

· Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of all Sri Lankan human rights defenders;

· Order an immediate, thorough, effective and impartial investigation into all acts of reprisals against human rights defenders, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal sanctions provided by the law;

· Remove restrictions on access to war areas to human rights defenders, including aid workers, as a matter of extreme urgency;

· Put an end to all acts of harassment against all human rights defenders in Sri Lanka;

· Revoke the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency Regulations;

· More generally, conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, especially its Articles 1 and 12.2, and ensure in all circumstances the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Sri Lanka.

Thank you Mr. President.

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