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A high number of rapes, including of men, in the context of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict was also reported to the UN special rapporteur on torture in 2002. These included the case of Subramaniam Kannan, a man from Vavuniya, who was taken into custody on June 20, 2000, and held for 42 days in the 211 Brigade army camp in Vavuniya. During his detention he was beaten with batons and subjected to electric shocks, before he was allegedly handed over to the Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) of the police. At the CSU, his head was reportedly covered with a petrol-infused plastic bag in an attempt to asphyxiate him, he was repeatedly beaten, and he had barbed wire inserted into his rectum. 32 The victims of sexual violence in custody have not been limited to Tamil men and women. During the second JVP uprising in 1987-1990, there were a number of alleged cases of sexual violence by state security forces against Sinhalese women. 33 Human rights organizations monitoring torture in Sri Lanka have documented over a thousand cases of torture of Sinhalese men and women in police custody over the past dozen years, many of which involved sexual violence and rape. 34 A government-appointed commission to inquire into enforced disappearances of persons during this period found disturbing instances of rapes and killings of women and noted that “violence against women was used as a tool of control of a community (family, village, peers).” 35 Despite emerging reports of past and continuing sexual violence, the issue has remained outside public discourse. High levels of social stigmatization, fear of reprisal owing to Commission (AHRC), “Sri Lanka: A Report on 323 Cases of Police Torture,” June 24, 2011, http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-085-2011/ (accessed January 2, 2013); and World Organisation Against Torture, “State Violence in Sri Lanka: Alternative Report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee,” January 2004, http://www.omct.org/files/2004/01/2444/stateviolence_srilanka_04_eng.pdf (accessed January 3, 2013). 32 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, http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7B874EAB39CFFE5D85256E6F004B90D3 (accessed January 2, 2013). 33 See, e.g., “How security forces committed war crimes on innocent Sinhalese two decades ago?,” Sri Lanka Guardian, October 9, 2011, http://jdsrilanka.blogspot.com/2011_10_09_archive.html (accessed January 2, 2013), which highlights an interview by Right to Life (www.right2lifelanka.org) with a woman allegedly raped by security forces in torture centers where JVP suspects were held. 34 Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), “Sri Lanka: A Report on 323 Cases of Police Torture,” June 24 2011, http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-085-2011/ (accessed January 2, 2013); provides summaries of 323 of the most serious of some 1,500 police torture cases reported to the organization during that period. 35 Government of Sri Lanka, “Final report of the Commission of Inquiry into Involuntary Removal or Disappearance of Persons in the Western, Southern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces, No. V,” 1997, p. 132. 21 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2013
ongoing military control over administration in northeast Sri Lanka, lack of meaningful accountability for past crimes of sexual violence and rape, and an overriding climate of impunity have combined to discourage rape survivors from seeking redress for the abuses against them. The degrading nature of rape and the silence that surrounds it makes women and men alike reluctant to discuss rape and other forms of sexual violence. Victims rarely volunteer information about the violation they have suffered and, when they do speak, often use indirect language or euphemisms; a victim might note, for example, that she was knocked unconscious and found she was bleeding when she regained consciousness, and only later will acknowledge explicitly that she was raped. “WE WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON” 22
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 and 24: Senior government officials initial
Page 25 and 26: From 1990 to 2002, Sri Lankan civil
Page 27: of women and girls. In its response
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
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Name: YS Gender: Female Age: 27 Dat
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Name: FJ Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
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Name: DB Gender: Male Age: 19 Date
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Name: PP Gender: Female Age: 29 Dat
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Name: LP Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
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Name: RC Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
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Name: MT Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
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Name: YN Gender: Male Age: 46 Date
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Name: DS Gender: Male Age: 17 Date
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Name: HB Gender: Male Age: 22 Date
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Name: CN Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
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Name: GW Gender: Female Age: 40 Dat
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Name: VM Gender: Female Age: 26 Dat
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Name: MH Gender: Female Age: 35 Dat
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Name: VB Gender: Female Age: 28 Dat
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Name: PV Gender: Female Age: 26 Dat
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Name: EN Gender: Female Age: 28 Dat
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Name: ST Gender: Female Age: 50 Dat
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Name: OP Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
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Name: YT Gender: Female Age: 22 Dat
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Name: RS Gender: Male Age: 27 Date
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Name: KN Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
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Name: JM Gender: Female Age: 31 Dat
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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
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Name: MJ Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
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They kicked me on my genitals and r
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Name: DH Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
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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
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“We Will Teach You a Lesson” Se
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