Download the full report - Human Rights Watch

More documents

Recommendations

Info

On March 22, 2012, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling upon the Sri Lankan government to fulfill its legal obligations toward justice and accountability, and to expeditiously provide a comprehensive action plan to implement the recommendations of the LLRC, and to address alleged violations of international law. The Sri Lankan government in July approved a national Action Plan to implement recommendations made by the LLRC. The Action Plan ostensibly aims to implement the Human Rights Council’s March 2012 resolution but set out unreasonable timelines and ceded authority for implementing the recommendations to agencies with a vested interest in thwarting investigations. In January 2013, a report of a committee of officers of the army appointed by Sri Lanka’s army commander to look into recommendations of the LLRC relevant to the army, and to formulate a viable action plan to address the specific areas so identified, also failed to address the question of accountability. Notably, this report emphatically disagreed with the LLRC’s recommendation that the Ministry of Defence should be delinked from supervisory authority over the Department of Police. An update on the action plan, also published in January, provided little measurable information as to what steps the government had taken towards implementing the LLRC recommendations. Decades of Sexual Violence by the Security Forces Rape as a form of torture of persons in custody has long been a serious problem in Sri Lanka. Sporadic reports of sexual violence by members of Sri Lankan security forces against detained men and women emerged over the course of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict. Specific cases of rape of Tamil women and girls by Sri Lankan military personnel were raised by the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and the special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in reports they issued between 1997 and the end of the war. 20 LTTE held areas was one that was carefully conceived, in which the protection of the civilian population was given the highest priority.” 19 Ibid. 20 See, e.g. UN Commission on Human Rights, Reports of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1997/47/Add.4, January 30, 1997; UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/54, January 26, 1998; UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/68/Add.1, January 11, 1999; UN Doc. E/CN.4/2001/73/Add.1, February 13, 2001; UN Doc. E/CN.4/2002/83/Add.1, January 28, 2002; UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/75/Add.2, January 14, 2003; UN Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertürk, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2004/66/Add.1, March 3, 2004; UN Doc. E/CN.4/2005/72/Add.1, March 18, 2005; UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/61/Add.1, March 27, 17 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2013
From 1990 to 2002, Sri Lankan civil society organizations reported dozens of alleged rapes of Tamil women by the security forces primarily in the north and east. 21 Although there has been no systematic survey to assess the prevalence of sexual violence in Sri Lanka’s three decades of civil war, regular reports by various UN special mechanisms, human rights organizations, and the media indicate persistent sexual violence against both men and women by state security forces. There is also some evidence to show that the LTTE used sexual torture against some male prisoners held in detention. 22 Sexual violence, as with other serious abuses committed by Sri Lankan security forces, was committed against a backdrop of deeply entrenched impunity. However, one emblematic case for a time galvanized public opinion, and finally led to the arrest and prosecution of low-level Sri Lankan army soldiers and police officers. In September 1996, 18-year-old Krishanthi Kumaraswamy was raped and murdered at a checkpoint near Jaffna. Kumaraswamy’s mother, brother, and neighbor, who went in search of her, were also killed. Six low-level personnel were convicted by the High Court and the convictions were upheld on appeal to the Supreme Court. Their trial revealed information about various mass graves in Jaffna from a clandestine site near Chemmani. 23 Years later, no proper further investigations or prosecutions have ensued. In numerous other cases, perpetrators have managed to evade all attempts at accountability. Constitutional remedies have proved to be as ineffective as penal remedies. The Sri Lankan Supreme Court ordered compensation and costs in a fundamental rights application to be paid to Yogalingam Vijitha, a 27-year-old Tamil woman from Jaffna district, who was tortured 2006; UN Doc. A/HRC/4/34/Add.1, March 19, 2007; UN Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur, Sir Nigel Rodley, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 2001/62, UN.Doc; E/CN.4/2002/76/Add.1, March 14, 2002; UN Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, Theo van Boven, submitted pursuant to Commission Resolution 2002/38, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.1, February 27, 2003. 21 DBS Jeyaraj, “Sexual Violence against Tamil Women,” July 8, 2001, http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/1149 (accessed January 2, 2013); Amnesty International, “Sri Lanka: Rape in Custody,” January 28, 2002, ASA/37/001/2002, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3c552e584.html (accessed January 2, 2013). 22 Elisabeth Wood, “Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When Is Wartime Rape Rare?” Politics & Society, vol. 37, no. 1 (March 2009), p. 149. 23 International Commission of Jurists, “Still Seeking Justice in Sri Lanka: Rule of Law, the Criminal Justice System and Commissions of Inquiry Since 1977,” January 2010, http://www.nipsa.in/wpcontent/uploads/2011/04/Sri-Lanka_final_3.pdf (accessed February 13, 2013), p. 46. “WE WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON” 18
Page 1 and 2: H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H “
Page 3 and 4: Copyright © 2013 Human Rights Watc
Page 6: Map of Sri Lanka
Page 9 and 10: Available information indicates tha
Page 11 and 12: sexual violence such as bites on th
Page 13 and 14: Not all detainees subjected to sexu
Page 15 and 16: surveillance of civil society group
Page 17 and 18: Methodology From November 2011 to O
Page 19 and 20: I. Background The 26-year-long arme
Page 21 and 22: The Sri Lankan government declared
Page 23: Senior government officials initial
Page 27 and 28: of women and girls. In its response
Page 29 and 30: ongoing military control over admin
Page 31 and 32: damages. 43 The UN has reaffirmed t
Page 33 and 34: Aside from their direct criminal re
Page 35 and 36: Rights Watch and other organization
Page 37 and 38: Criminal Investigation Department (
Page 39 and 40: For instance, GD, a 31-year-old wom
Page 41 and 42: Human Rights Watch that he and othe
Page 43 and 44: international airport, and taken to
Page 45 and 46: Violations: Denial of Basic Due Pro
Page 47 and 48: on this aspect of torture. “Victi
Page 49 and 50: IV. Domestic Response Post-War Barr
Page 51 and 52: LTTE conspiracy to defame and demon
Page 53 and 54: It is possible to identify specific
Page 55 and 56: • Establish, maintain, and public
Page 57 and 58: Appendix: Cases of Rape and Other S
Page 59 and 60: Name: KM Gender: Male Age: 22 Date
Page 61 and 62: Name: DK Gender: Male Age: 21 Date
Page 63 and 64: Name: VV Gender: Male Age: 29 Date
Page 65 and 66: Name: BL Gender: Male Age: 28 Date
Page 67 and 68: Name: KP Gender: Male Age: 31 Date
Page 69 and 70: They left me naked with my hands ti
Page 71 and 72: Name: MB Gender: Male Age: 27 Date
Page 73 and 74: Name: JV Gender: Male Age: 28 Date
Page 75 and 76:
Name: IR Gender: Female Age: 29 Dat
Page 77 and 78:
Name: KI Gender: Female Age: 29 Dat
Page 79 and 80:
Name: YS Gender: Female Age: 27 Dat
Page 81 and 82:
Name: FJ Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
Page 83 and 84:
Name: DB Gender: Male Age: 19 Date
Page 85 and 86:
Name: PP Gender: Female Age: 29 Dat
Page 87 and 88:
Name: LP Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
Page 89 and 90:
Name: RC Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
Page 91 and 92:
Name: MT Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
Page 93 and 94:
Name: YN Gender: Male Age: 46 Date
Page 95 and 96:
Name: DS Gender: Male Age: 17 Date
Page 97 and 98:
Name: HB Gender: Male Age: 22 Date
Page 99 and 100:
Name: CN Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
Page 101 and 102:
Name: GW Gender: Female Age: 40 Dat
Page 103 and 104:
Name: VM Gender: Female Age: 26 Dat
Page 105 and 106:
Name: MH Gender: Female Age: 35 Dat
Page 107 and 108:
Name: VB Gender: Female Age: 28 Dat
Page 109 and 110:
Name: PV Gender: Female Age: 26 Dat
Page 111 and 112:
Name: EN Gender: Female Age: 28 Dat
Page 113 and 114:
Name: ST Gender: Female Age: 50 Dat
Page 115 and 116:
Name: OP Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
Page 117 and 118:
Name: YT Gender: Female Age: 22 Dat
Page 119 and 120:
Name: RS Gender: Male Age: 27 Date
Page 121 and 122:
Name: KN Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
Page 123 and 124:
Name: JM Gender: Female Age: 31 Dat
Page 125 and 126:
MG’s medico-legal report, on file
Page 127 and 128:
I could not endure the torture anym
Page 129 and 130:
Name: TH Gender: Female Age: 28 Dat
Page 131 and 132:
Name: DJ Gender: Female Age: 23 Dat
Page 133 and 134:
Name: PR Gender: Male Age: 26 Date
Page 135 and 136:
Name: MJ Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
Page 137 and 138:
They kicked me on my genitals and r
Page 139 and 140:
Name: DH Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
Page 141 and 142:
Name: LV Gender: Female Age: 38 Dat
Page 143 and 144:
Name: DV Gender: Female Age: 37 Dat
Page 145 and 146:
Name: PT Gender: Male Age: 23 Date
Page 147:
“We Will Teach You a Lesson” Se
show all

Download the full report - Human Rights Watch

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?