Download the full report - Human Rights Watch

More documents

Recommendations

Info

the war. 96 Rajapaksa spoke disparagingly about a British Tamil woman who had worked in the government camps and raised concerns about rape in an interview with Channel 4: [S]he says that there have been, you know, all these allegations: rape and murder and all these things. Now she is one person who will get attracted by the people (haha) soldiers that’s right, because she’s different from others. So, I want to know whether she was raped. She was there for one year she came with the IDPs and she was in the IDP camps. Now she was talking about the rape. How can she talk about the rape when she a person so attractive safely came into this area was in IDP camps and released? She was not raped, she was not killed. How can she comment like that? 97 The issue of male rape and sexual violence against men has neither been raised nor addressed. Suppressed by victims and perpetrators alike, male rape remains a taboo subject and strategies to combat it have been glaringly absent. In an appearance before the UN Committee Against Torture, Sri Lanka publicly committed to a zero-tolerance policy on torture, 98 yet this has not been transformed into meaningful government action to combat torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. In fact, with the lapsing of the State of Emergency, the limited safeguards contained in Emergency Regulation No. 1 of 2005, such as that the armed forces must turn over suspects to police within 24 hours, are apparently no longer in effect. Relying on the more permissive PTA will have serious implications given the continued policing functions exercised by the military in northeast Sri Lanka. Impunity for serious human rights violations, including torture and rape, by state security forces is endemic in Sri Lanka. 96 See “Gotabaya Rajapaksa speaks to ‘Headlines Today’”, Transcurrents, August 11, 2011, http://transcurrents.com/news-views/archives/2921 (accessed January 3, 2013). 97 Ibid. 98 UN General Assembly, Report of the Committee against Torture, Forty-seventh session (31 October-25 November 2011), Forty-eighth session (7 May-1 June 2012), 12 November 2012, A/67/44 , http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/50a0f9b12.html (accessed January 3, 2013). 45 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2013
It is possible to identify specific problems that contribute to deep-seated impunity for torture in Sri Lanka, including that prosecutorial and judicial staff responsible for collecting and processing evidence lack adequate training, resources, and gender sensitivity, that repeatedly transferring cases without informing petitioners denies witnesses a chance to attend judicial hearings, and an absence of witness protection mechanism deters witnesses from coming forward. Legal guarantees meant to protect due process and ensure a speedy trial have been eroded by more than three decades of reliance on emergency regulations and provisions of the PTA. Even after the Emergency Regulations were withdrawn in September 2011, the PTA, with similarly broad powers, remained in force. Directives issued by the president in July 2006 to reduce the likelihood of torture and ill-treatment have largely been ignored. 99 However, these specific barriers to prosecutions and redress pale in comparison to the larger and more intractable issue: the Sri Lankan government’s clear unwillingness to seriously investigate or prosecute serious violations of human rights by the military and police, particularly those committed in connection with the armed conflict against the LTTE. Despite a backlog of cases of torture, enforced disappearance, and unlawful killings going back two decades, there have been only a small number of prosecutions. Past efforts to address violations by creating ad hoc mechanisms have produced few results, whether in providing information or prompting prosecutions. 99 On July 7, 2006, the president and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the Minister of Defense issued Directives to the Heads of the Armed Forces and the Police Force stating that, “any officer who makes an arrest or order of detention must, according to the above Directives, within 48 hours from the time of arrest or detention, inform the HRC [Human Rights Commission] of such arrest or detention and the place of custody or detention.” “WE WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON” 46
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 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: LTTE conspiracy to defame and demon
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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?