Culture of Impunity Enables Grave Human Rights Violations to Continue Unchecked
Photo courtesy of Unique Times
Despite ongoing pressure from the international community, reforms to advance human rights and reconciliation, especially in institutional and security sectors, have not occurred. On the contrary, there are renewed threats to fundamental freedoms, evidenced by new or proposed regressive laws and ongoing instances of threats, intimidation and violence against victims, civil society, journalists and critics, according to a comprehensive new report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka.
“As the country approaches presidential and parliamentary elections, it has an opportunity to recommit to the transformational changes demanded by a broad cross-section of Sri Lankans, including accountability and reconciliation,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said in a media release.
The report points to several laws and bills introduced by the Government since 2023, giving security forces broad powers and significantly expanding pre-existing restrictions on freedoms of expression, opinion and association. “This trend is particularly concerning as the country is in an important pre-election period,” the High Commissioner said.
Lack of accountability for past and present human rights violations at all levels remains a fundamental human rights problem, particularly in cases where alleged perpetrators are members of security forces. The unwillingness or inability of the state to prosecute and punish perpetrators of crimes is best illustrated by the lack of meaningful progress in emblematic cases. This entrenched impunity has also manifested itself in the corruption, abuse of power and governance failures that were among the root causes of the country’s recent economic crisis, the report said.
In the absence of willingness or ability of the state to prosecute and punish perpetrators of crimes, the report urges the international community to pursue complementary strategies to support accountability including appropriate use of extraterritorial and universal jurisdiction, targeted sanctions against credibly alleged perpetrators and other available measures, consistent with international law.
Since 2023, the Government has introduced an array of new or proposed laws which give broad powers to the security forces and significantly expand pre-existing restrictions on freedom of expression and opinion and association. There is a concern that the cumulative effect of existing legislation and these new laws will have profound implications for the protection of fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, the report said.
OHCHR observed a persistent trend of surveillance, intimidation and harassment of journalists and civil society actors, especially those working on enforced disappearances, land seizures, environmental issues, and with former combatants in the north and east. Civil society organisations reported that police officials from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) or the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) often summoned or visited them to question their programmes, funding, event participants, staff contacts, and international travel, without legal basis. Journalists in these regions face abusive lawsuits, violence, intimidation, and surveillance.
During the reporting period, OHCHR received six reported cases of intimidation, surveillance, and reprisals against family members of the disappeared engaging with the UN or international actors, including members of the diplomatic community. Female victims in particular, reported receiving late-night calls from individuals claiming to be CID or TID personnel, who questioned them about their participation in protests and visits to Colombo or Geneva, including funding and individuals they had met.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) informed OHCHR that it received 2,845 cases of torture and 675 complaints of degrading treatment between January 2023 and March 2024. The HRCSL reported that between January 2023 and March 2024, it received 21 cases of extrajudicial killings; 26 cases of deaths in custody, and 1,342 complaints of arbitrary arrests and detentions.
OHCHR examined recent allegations of abduction, arbitrary detention, torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence perpetrated against individuals of Tamil ethnicity by Sri Lankan security forces, mainly in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya districts. These date from the period as recently as January 2024. OHCHR interviewed eight alleged victims. A clear pattern emerged: Tamils, primarily men who had been involved in protests over disappearances, land/environmental rights or commemoration of war victims and were believed to be previously involved or linked with the LTTE were monitored or photographed, and subsequently arrested by people who verbally identified themselves as police CID or TID personnel. In a few cases, families of the victims filed complaints with the police and HRCSL reporting that the victims had gone missing, the report said.
The OHCHR assessed as credible specific accounts of security forces using various techniques of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Many of the interviewees also reported experiencing sexual torture, including rape, squeezing testicles,forced nudity, biting of breasts, either during interrogation or in the holding cell. Victims described making up information or “confessing” simply to get the treatment to stop, or signing blank papers or documents in Sinhala, a language which majority of the victims could not read.
The report noted that the cumulative impacts of the economic crisis and associated austerity measures on the enjoyment of economic and social rights continue to reverberate deeply and widely at household and individual levels, particularly affecting the poorest and already marginalized groups. Between 2021 and 2023, the poverty rate doubled from 13.1 to 25.9 per cent and is expected to remain at elevated levels over the next few years. Survey results from the Department of Census and Statistics indicate that, since March 2022, 60.5 per cent of households have seen their monthly incomes decrease and 91 per cent of households experienced an increase in monthly expenditures.
In terms of the right to food, UN data estimate about one-quarter of households to be moderately food insecure, with households that are reliant on social protection and other assistance schemes being most at risk.
In terms of the right to health, Department of Census and Statistics data indicate that among those who experienced an illness during the economic crisis, almost one-quarter changed health treatment procedures due to a lack of funds. Other critical factors that have impacted patients’ access to medical care include emigration of significant numbers of health professionals, leading to reduced access and even closures of hospitals and medical centres, shortages of medicines and issues with counterfeit medicines and corruption in the health sector, the report said.
Th full report can be accessed here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/reports/ahrc5719-situation-human-rights-sri-lanka-comprehensive-report-united-nations
