Corporate report

Sri Lanka - Country of Concern update: 30 June 2014

Updated 21 January 2015

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The human rights situation in Sri Lanka remained of concern with continued reports of rights violations during the last three months.

Serious communal clashes took place when violence erupted between Muslims and Sinhala Buddhists on the south western coast. The majority of the attacks were against Muslims. Clashes between Sinhalese Buddhists and Muslims and subsequent rioting in the Kalutara District on 15 June left at least three dead, scores injured, and many properties destroyed. Despite an overnight curfew and a heavy police presence, violent incidents continued overnight on 16 and 17 June, including in areas not affected by the initial violence. Justice Minister and leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (the country’s largest Muslim party), Rauf Hakeem, told the media that he was “outraged” that “the law-and-order machinery completely failed”. Inflammatory statements made by extremist Buddhist organisations such as the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) have also been blamed for the rising tensions.

A number of international organisations, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International, and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) expressed their concerns. Our High Commissioner to Sri Lanka has raised our concerns with the Sri Lankan authorities, and has urged them to investigate the attacks thoroughly, and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice. The UN Human Rights Council resolution established on 27 March (see 31 March update for details) expressed alarm at the significant surge in attacks against members of religious minorities in Sri Lanka, and called upon the Sri Lankan government to investigate all alleged attacks on members of religious minority groups and places of worship.

EU Heads of Mission in Colombo also condemned the outbreak of communal violence perpetrated against the Muslim community. They urged the Sri Lankan government to ensure that the rule of law was upheld and welcomed the government’s assurance that it would investigate and take action against those responsible for these incidents. Sporadic attacks on Muslim religious places and businesses took place elsewhere in the country. Evangelical Christian churches also continued to report challenges including onerous administrative burdens, threats and harassment, and lack of support by law enforcement officials.

Restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly continued during the last three months. Civil society condemned the “assault, arrest and alleged torture” of 18 students leading protests in Colombo on 16 May. Four of the arrested students were admitted to the National Hospital with injuries. The main university students’ union, the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF), alleged that the students’ injuries were a result of police torture and had resulted in permanent vision loss in one of the victims. On 2 June, a mob allegedly attacked students of the Ruhuna University, resulting in eight students being hospitalised. The Sri Lankan opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament that some politicians had led the mob. Students and teachers at Jaffna University also reported continued threats (including death threats) and harassment, especially during the fifth anniversary of the end of the armed conflict.

Reporters without Borders (RSF) condemned the 14 April attack on a Jaffna-based journalist by unidentified persons with iron rods. On 9 April, the editor of a leading Colombo-based newspaper was questioned extensively by law enforcement following the publication of a photo of a senior government official’s wife with a controversial caption. Following threats and intimidation (allegedly by members of the security forces), three tourist hotels cancelled investigative journalism training workshops organised by Transparency International for Tamil journalists. The International Federation for Journalists (IFJ) and its local affiliate, the Free Media Movement (FMM), noted the role of security forces in the repeated cancellation of these workshops. A group of opposition United National Party MPs visiting the international airport and the Port in Hambanthota (in the south), and media personnel accompanying them, were attacked by a mob on 17 May. Civil society and Tamil politicians raised concerns over restrictions placed in the north on families of victims commemorating dead relatives on the 5th anniversary of the end of the armed conflict.

The British High Commissioner in Colombo issued a statement on world press freedom day noting that Sri Lankan journalists worked against a difficult backdrop of harassment and intimidation, and called on the government of Sri Lanka to renew its commitment to free expression by protecting journalists and ensuring investigations take place into past crimes.

On 11 April, three LTTE (Tamil Tiger) operatives were killed by security forces near Vavuniya in the north during a reported confrontation. This had followed a search for these suspects in connection with the alleged shooting of a police officer on 13 March. Subsequent security operations in the north and east saw scores detained and questioned, house-to-house searches, over 60 arrests (including in Jaffna and Colombo) under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and restrictions on movement in some areas. There have also been complaints of increased surveillance.

There were a number of concerns relating to the police during the last three months. These include the abduction of two policemen and the subsequent killing of one of them (by an armed gang), a policeman being forced to kneel and apologise to a politician who was given a spot fine for speeding, and the assault of a policeman (now in hiding) subsequent to issuing a similar fine. There were continued reports of police involvement in torture and custodial deaths, as well as in extrajudicial killings. The Friday Forum, a local civil society organisation, urged the Sri Lankan Inspector General of Police (IGP) to “respond as a matter of urgency to the current public concern, including that of the Bar Council, on the deaths that are taking place in police custody”. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that a teenager in the custody of the Kandaketiya police was “severely tortured along with his brother and another family member”, denied medical treatment and “died in the remand prison while his brother held him in his arms”. The Friday Forum also raised concerns about killings of alleged criminals under arrest “in very suspicious circumstances”.

The British High Commission in Sri Lanka hosted an event as part of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence on 11 June. However, Sri Lanka has not endorsed the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. We continue to lobby them to recognise this issue and to endorse the Declaration to demonstrate greater political commitment to addressing sexual violence in conflict.

The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka said that “rape and sexual violence are not inevitable but a deliberate tactic of war that can be deterred, prevented and punished”. He also noted that no country that believed in human rights could choose to turn a blind eye to sexual violence in conflict. A number of attendees with expertise on sexual violence in Sri Lanka were also invited to the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence held in London from 10-13 June.

On 25 June, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, announced the names of Martti Ahtisaari (former Finnish President), Silvia Cartwright (former Governor General of New Zealand) and Asma Jahangir (former President of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission), as the three experts who would advise and support the UN Human Rights Council investigation into allegations of violations of abuses of international law on both sides of Sri Lanka’s military conflict.