COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
displaced, including Manik Farm, as a result of screenings conducted by the SLA, as
well as the police Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) and Criminal Investigation
Division (CID). The screening and resultant arrests continued over the months that
followed the end of the conflict, sometimes with the assistance of Tamil informants
amongst the internees. Such arrests continued in the Manik Farm camps at least up to
December 2009.Some of these arrested individuals were taken to ‗surrendee‘ camps.
―Any alleged association with the LTTE appears to have been grounds for arrest. Those
arrested include individuals who were recruited by the LTTE in the days and weeks
before their defeat, as well as individuals who carried out official functions in LTTE
administered areas and received a salary from the LTTE, but had not taken any active
part in hostilities. Bona fide civilians who did not wish to be separated from relatives
who had been identified as LTTE suspects were also detained at reception points such
as Omanthai. The basis for arrests has included allegations by fellow IDPs and
paramilitary groups in the internment camps, raising issues of credibility.‖
―Other detainees responded to public calls from the SLA for the surrender of anyone
who had spent ‘even one minute with the LTTE in any way‘. This blanket call led many
detainees with minimal involvement with the LTTE to report themselves, including
children brought forward by their parents.
―It is estimated that about 12,000 individuals were arrested and detained during the final
months and immediate aftermath of the end to military conflict in May 2009, including
many who had at most a tenuous link to the LTTE and others who had been subjected
to forced conscription during the latter stages of the conflict.‖
3.33 Referring to the ―… at least 11,000 people… ‖ detained ―… in so-called ‗rehabilitation
centers… ‖ because of their alleged association with the LTTE, the HRW document
Legal Limbo, The Uncertain Fate of Detained LTTE Suspects in Sri Lanka, released on
29 January 2010 43 , observed:
―The government has routinely violated the detainees‘ fundamental human rights,
including the right to be informed of specific reasons for arrest, the right to challenge the
lawfulness of the detention before an independent judicial authority, and the right of
access to legal counsel and family members. The authorities‘ consistent failure to inform
families of the basis for the detainees‘ arrest and their whereabouts raises serious
concerns that some detainees may have been victims of torture and ill-treatment, which
are more likely to take place where due process of law is lacking and which have long
been serious problems in Sri Lanka. Given the lack of information about some
detainees, there is also a risk that some may have been ‗disappeared‘.‖
43 Human Rights Watch (HRW), Legal Limbo, The Uncertain Fate of Detained LTTE Suspects in Sri
Lanka, 29 January 2010 http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/srilanka0210webwcover.pdf
Date accessed 2 July 2010, Summary
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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