COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
―The Media spokesman of the Army Major General Ubhaya Medawala said that up to
now three officers and 1,500 army personnel belonging to all ranks have surrendered
making use of this amnesty.
―He said that under the military law measures have been taken to arrest 4,420 army
personnel and 10 officers. He said that the number of deserters amounts to nearly forty
thousand.‖
8.17 On 8 November 2011 BBC News 136 reported that:
―The army in Sri Lanka says it is giving up a campaign to round up tens of thousands of
deserters and will instead de-list or de-register them.
―It says there are nearly 60,000 such deserters - an apparent increase of 10,000 in just
under a year.
―However, some of the deserters fled the forces many years ago.
―A military spokesman said that the forces were now pursuing just a few dozen
deserters who are thought to have committed serious crimes.
―Just 12 days ago an army spokesman said that about 60,000 deserters would be
rounded up and apprehended.
―Now, however, he has told the BBC that nearly all of them will instead be de-listed and
will be able to term themselves ‗ex-soldiers‘ rather than deserters.‖
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HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS BY THE POLICE AND ARMED FORCES
Arbitrary arrest and detention
8.18 The US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report: Sri Lanka (USSD 2010) 137 ,
released on 8 April 2011, observed that ―The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and
detention; however, in practice such incidents occurred. Under the arrest and detention
standards imposed by the Emergency Regulations, the law does not clearly define what
constitutes an arbitrary arrest.‖
8.19 The USSD 2010 report 138 added that:
135 Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka, Amnesty for Army Deserters ends tomorrow, 11
February 2011 http://www.news.lk/home/17354-amnesty-for-army-deserters-ends-tomorrow date
accessed 2 June 2011
136 BBC News, Sri Lanka abandons round-up of military deserters, 8 November 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15638123 date accessed 22 January 2012
137 US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report: Sri Lanka (USSD 2010), released on 8 April 2011,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/sca/154486.htm , date accessed 11 May 2011, Section 1d
138 US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report: Sri Lanka (USSD 2010), released on 8 April 2011,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/sca/154486.htm , date accessed 11 May 2011, Section 1d
68 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.