COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
villages face tough times and uncertain futures, despite governmental and international
efforts at reconstruction‘ in Sri Lanka's post-war zone (5 July 2011). For example,
although the Ministry of Economic Development launched the Northern Recovery
Project to help ‗accelerate development‘ in Vanni, reconstruction is ‗a slow process‘ (UN
5 July 2011). According to a senior rural development specialist with the World Bank,
‘[a] detailed assessment of the full needs of the returnees is yet to be completed …. As
such, the limited development projects that are being implemented in selected areas will
not meet the entire needs and expectations of the people.‘ (qtd. in UN 5 July 2011)‖
25.52 Specific information on the return to Sri Lanka of families with children; unaccompanied
and separated children reintegration support post return and monitoring mechanisms for
children is available from the European Commission, Comparative Study on Practices in
the Field of Return of Minors, December 2011 (see section 5.6 on Sri Lanka)
Physical examinations/scarring
25.53 A letter from the BHC, Colombo, dated 5 January 2012, 538 observed:
―There is strong anecdotal evidence that scarring has been used in the past to identify
suspects. Previous conversations with the police and in the media, the authorities have
openly referred to physical examinations being used to identify whether suspects have
undergone military style training. Contacts in government ministries suggest that this
practice has either ceased or is used less frequently. At the very least it appears that
the security forces only conduct these when there is another reason to suspect an
individual, and are not looking for particular scars as such, but anything that may
indicate the suspect has been involved in fighting and/or military training. There is no
recent evidence to suggest that these examinations are routinely carried out on
immigration returnees.‖
25.54 The Freedom from Torture report Out of the Silence: New Evidence of Ongoing Torture
in Sri Lanka, released on 7 November 2011 539 , however, noted that:
―…high levels of scarring [based on a data set of ‗35 medico-legal reports (MLRs)
prepared by Freedom from Torture clinicians in relation to clients, most of whom are
asylum seekers or refugees‘ in the UK] could reflect a policy of permanently ‗branding‘
victims not only to inflict long-term psychological and physical damage, but also to
ensure that the individual may be easily identified in future as having been suspected of
links to the LTTE. Given that release from detention in each case in this data set
occurred only after payment of a bribe and was otherwise arbitrary, the implication is
that those carrying such scars are at risk of detention and possible further torture if
returned to Sri Lanka. Beyond the impact on the individual, these enduring signs of
torture must be intended to send a signal to the wider Tamil community about the
consequences of association with LTTE elements.‖
25.55 On this issue, the FCO FFM Report of October 2009 540 noted that:
538
British High Commission Colombo, letter dated 5 January 2012
539
Freedom from Torture, Out of the Silence: New Evidence of Ongoing Torture in Sri Lanka, 7
November 2011
http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/sites/default/files/documents/Sri%20Lanka%20Ongoing%20Torture_
Freedom%20from%20Torture_Final%20Nov_07_2011.pdf date accessed 13 January 2012
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.
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