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Amnesty International slams emergency regulations and shooting orders

11 May 2022

Authorities in Sri Lanka must immediately rescind the emergency regulations and shooting orders that provide excessive powers to the police and military, and take immediate steps to respect, protect, and fulfil the human rights of peaceful protestors, Amnesty International said yesterday (11). The authorities must also refrain from using the state of emergency as a pretext to curb the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, including at the protest sites such as “Gotagogama” in the country, it added. “Authorities in Sri Lanka should carry out a prompt, thorough, impartial, independent, effective, and transparent investigation into the reports of violent attacks on peaceful protesters. Authorities should bring to justice those suspected to be responsible and ensure access to justice and effective remedies for victims,” said Amnesty International South Asia Regional Director Yamini Mishra. “The attacks look like a deliberate decision by the Police to allow pro-Government groups to physically assault peaceful protestors, destroy structures, and wreak havoc at the ‘GotaGoGama’ protest site. The authorities have an obligation to provide an enabling environment for the protestors to peacefully exercise their human rights, and to end the violent attacks on protestors,” added Mishra.  “Justice and accountability from the Sri Lankan authorities is the need of the hour. An effective and transparent inquiry is necessary to bring those responsible for the violence to justice. The country is headed towards a deepening crisis while accountability and solutions for the economic crisis – key calls by the protesters – go completely unaddressed. Right now, Sri Lanka is a tinderbox, and any move to impermissibly restrict human rights through sweeping emergency powers granted to law enforcement agencies, including the armed forces, will lead to further repression,” said Mishra. Amnesty said the emergency regulations lack due process safeguards, such as the right to be informed of the reason for arrest, and the issuance of an arrest receipt at the time of arrest, informing family members where they would be detained, and that access to legal counsel is subject to conditions. The offences are broad and can be used to bar trade union strike actions, give powers to the President to shut down public processions, restrict access to public spaces, restrict the right to freedom of expression including the right to information, freedom of movement and peaceful assembly, it added. On 10 May, the Defence Ministry issued a notice saying the armed forces have been ordered to open fire at anyone looting public property or causing harm to others – a move that has been called “illegal” by some Parliamentarians. The Cabinet remains dissolved following the Prime Minister’s resignation on 9 May. “The shooting orders provide a licence to kill. Violent mobs should be contained, however lethal force must not be the first resort. Any restrictions on human rights during times of emergency must be necessary and proportionate to the exigencies of the situation and must not be used as a tool against freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, right to personal security, liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention. Further, any derogations from human rights guarantees under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sri Lanka is a state party, should be formally communicated with a clear explanation of the reasons for them to other state parties,” said Yamini Mishra.


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