As expected, the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights' (UNHCHR) report on Sri Lanka (A/HRC/57/19) was released on 22 August. It consists of seven pages and 68 paragraphs critical of Sri Lanka.
This report will be submitted to the UNHRC on 9 September, the first day of the 57th session. The core group on Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Council – the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Montenegro, Malawi, and North Macedonia – will commence their difficult task work towards a resolution on Sri Lanka. Following consultations on the final draft if necessary, it will go for voting in the UNHRC, most likely during the first week of October.
The summary and excerpts of this report are given below:
The report says that the President (Ranil Wickremesinghe) has been meeting Tamil Parliamentarians regularly regarding the Sub-Committee for Reconciliation, and that these efforts are said to be a step in the right direction. The UNHCHR requests the Government to publicise the outcomes of these deliberations and the agreed timeline to resolve the issues that these meetings identified.
The report covers developments from resolution 51/1 in October 2022, until July of this year (2024) but also references events in previous years where appropriate.
Sri Lanka underwent its fourth cycle of the Universal Periodic Review in February of last year (2023). In July 2023, it accepted 173 out of the 294 recommendations.
The popular demands by the mass protest movement in 2022 for democratic reforms and accountability for corruption and economic mismanagement remain largely unfulfilled. Long overdue reforms to advance human rights and reconciliation have yet to occur, especially in the institutional and security sectors.
Since 2023, the Government has introduced an array of new or proposed laws that give broad powers to the security forces and significantly expand pre-existing restrictions on the freedoms of expression, opinion, and association.
Paragraph 13 states: For years, UN human rights experts, the Office of the UNHCHR (UNOHCHR) as well as national and international organisations have expressed concerns about various repressive laws, such as the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA) as amended and the Bureau of Rehabilitation Act as amended, and the misuse of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, which are often used to arrest, detain and prosecute journalists and human rights defenders. In May, 2023, female stand-up comedian Natasha Edirisooriya, was remanded under Section 3 of the ICCPR Act for allegedly “insulting Buddhism”, and a Magistrate’s Court dismissed the case on 19 June 2024.
Paragraph 15 states: Despite promises of a de facto moratorium on the uses of the PTA, the authorities have continued to use it to arrest and detain people, including Tamils commemorating their relatives who died in the civil war.
The UNOHCHR received cases of:
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) however reported that the authorities notified it of 46 cases of arrests and detentions under the PTA between January, 2023, and April, 2024. The UNOHCHR also received reports of at least 12 cases in which the PTA was used to detain persons, primarily those participating or involved in organising memorial activities.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court (SC) found over 30 clauses in the Online Safety Bill, inconsistent with the Constitution. On 24 January 2024, the Parliament nevertheless passed the law without incorporating several amendments required by the SC.
In June 2024, when the SC ruled that the enactment of the 'Gender Equality' Bill was inconsistent with the Constitution, the President attacked the Court in the Parliament, potentially triggering a fundamental constitutional conflict between the three branches of Government and risking the independence of the Judiciary.
Paragraphs 21 and 22 state: Over the reporting period, the UNOHCHR observed a persistent trend of surveillance, intimidation as well as the harassment of journalists and civil society actors, especially those working on enforced disappearances, land seizures, environmental issues, and with former combatants in Sri Lanka’s North and East. Journalists in these regions face abusive lawsuits, violence, intimidation, and surveillance. For instance, in October 2023, journalists Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and Valasingham Krishnakumar were questioned after covering a protest about State supported land seizures.
During the reporting period, the UNOHCHR received six reported cases of intimidation, surveillance, and reprisals against family members of the disappeared engaging with the UN or international actors, including members of the diplomatic community. Female victims in particular reported receiving late night calls from individuals claiming to be Criminal Investigations Department (CID) or Terrorism Investigation Division personnel, who questioned them about their participation in protests and visits to Colombo or Geneva, Switzerland, including funding and individuals that they had met.
Paragraphs 27 states: Torture and ill-treatment by Police and security forces remain prevalent in Sri Lanka. In April 2023, the UN Human Rights Committee stated that it was, “deeply concerned about the widespread practice of torture and ill-treatment by the Police and security forces in places of detention, which has resulted in deaths in custody”. The HRSCL informed the UNOHCHR that it received 2,845 cases of torture and 675 complaints of degrading treatment between January 2023 and March 2024. The HRCSL reported that between January 2023 and March 2024, it received 21 cases of extrajudicial killings, 26 cases of deaths in custody, and 1,342 complaints of arbitrary arrests and detentions.
Widespread torture
Paragraph 29 states: Many of the interviewees also reported experiencing sexual torture, including rape, the squeezing of the testicles, forced nudity and the biting of breasts, either during interrogation or in the holding cell.
The UN previously established that there are reasonable grounds to believe that grave violations of human rights, war crimes as well as crimes against humanity were committed during the conflict. To date, the Government has rarely even acknowledged the serious violations that occurred in the conflict or provided victims with adequate redress. Numerous commissions of inquiry appointed by successive Governments, often in response to international pressure, have failed credibly to establish truth and advance accountability and reconciliation.
The Office on Missing Persons further stated that out of the 5,791 complaints from ‘phase I’ (2000-2021 period) reviewed so far, 1,058 were associated with the military forces or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, of which 397 cases had been the subject of further action, including 50 files forwarded to the CID for further verification.
Impunity
The unwillingness or inability of the State to prosecute and punish perpetrators of crimes is best illustrated by the lack of meaningful progress in emblematic cases.
Paragraph 45 states: the UNOHCHR reports, such as the 2006 massacres of 17 humanitarian workers in Muttur, the killings of five Trincomalee Tamil students in 2006, the murder of editor and lawyer Lasantha Wickrematunge in 2009, and the disappearance of journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda in 2010 have faced prolonged delays and setbacks during the investigation stages. Others have been the subject of interference, acquittals or charges being dropped. For instance, in the assassination of Tamil Parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham in 2005, at a Christmas church service in full view of witnesses, the Attorney General (AG) informed the Court that he would not proceed with the prosecution.
Paragraph 47 states: There has been limited progress in the criminal investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
Paragraph 54 states: The international legal system offers further opportunities, including through the inter-State complaint mechanisms of treaty bodies, and/or the consideration of proceedings before the International Court of Justice, provided for by the relevant human rights treaties. Efforts have been undertaken by civil society organisations to request the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to the extent possible, to exercise jurisdiction over the relevant crimes committed in Sri Lanka. The Rome Statute provides opportunities for States to activate the ICC’s jurisdiction, including through the UN Security Council formally referring a situation to it.
Paragraph 56 states: As of 5 July 2024, the repository established by the UNOHCHR’s project comprises 96,215 items and contains over 470 different sources, including information provided by more than 220 witnesses and 250 organisations, including international and multilateral organisations.
Conclusions and recommendations
Following the Elections, the newly elected Government should, as a matter of urgency, pursue an inclusive national vision for Sri Lanka that addresses the root causes of the conflict and undertakes fundamental constitutional and institutional reforms needed to strengthen democracy and the devolution of political authority and advance accountability and reconciliation.
Repeal or amend existing laws or proposed laws that unduly restrict the rights to the freedoms of opinion and expression, association, and peaceful assembly, including the Online Safety Act, the ICCPR Act, the draft Non-Governmental Organisation Bill, and proposed amendment to the Telecommunications Act.
Publicly issue unequivocal instructions to all branches of the military, the intelligence, as well as the Police forces that arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence and other human rights violations are prohibited and will be systematically investigated and punished.
Established as a matter of urgency, an independent prosecutorial authority, separate from the AG’s function, to assess the relevant information and make independent prosecutorial decisions, including with regard to the cases of human rights violations and the violations of international humanitarian law committed in previous decades.
Avoid military involvement in law enforcement, commercial and civil affairs and significantly reduce the military presence in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Order all security agencies and the intelligence to immediately end all forms of surveillance and the harassment of and reprisals against human rights defenders, journalists, victims of human rights violations and their families, especially women.
Consider using other international legal options to advance accountability in Sri Lanka.
(The writer is the General Secretary of the France based Tamil Centre for Human Rights)
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication