Covering events from January - December 2003

The cease-fire and peace talks between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continued to contribute to an improved human rights situation, despite the LTTE suspending negotiations in April. LTTE breaches of the cease-fire included the killing and abduction of members of other Tamil political groups and the recruitment of children. Torture in police custody continued to be widely reported, although steps to address the problem were announced in September. Measures aimed at holding the security forces to account for past human rights violations failed to show significant progress. The long-standing practice of automatically commuting all death sentences continued despite pressure to reopen debate on a resumption of executions.

Background

The government and the LTTE, during talks in Japan in March, made commitments to adopt a Declaration of Human Rights and Humanitarian Principles. The Principles had not been adopted by the end of the year. After the LTTE was excluded from an international aid conference, peace talks stalled in April. According to the LTTE, the peace talks failed because of lack of progress in dismantling army High Security Zones and in resettling Tamils internally displaced by the conflict, and because of the failure to address poverty in the north and east.

According to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, since the cease-fire, over one third of the estimated 800,000 internally displaced people had returned home by August. Uncleared mines and lack of basic infrastructure continued to impede resettlement. In October, the LTTE published its proposal for the establishment of an Interim Self-Governing Authority, which differed substantially from an earlier government proposal in July for an interim authority to govern the north and east. In November a disagreement between the government and the President saw the sacking of three ministers and the suspension of parliament. The Norwegian government responded to the political uncertainty by suspending its involvement in the peace negotiations. However, the cease-fire agreement remained in place and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, an international monitoring mechanism consisting of representatives from Nordic countries, continued to monitor its implementation.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) launched a three-year plan to improve its effectiveness. Proposals to amend the Human Rights Commission Act were still before parliament at the end of 2003.

The UN Human Rights Committee considered the combined fourth and fifth reports of Sri Lanka and presented its findings in November.

LTTE abuses

LTTE abductions and killings of members of Tamil political parties and their relatives were reported, particularly between April and August.

  • Sivapunniam Rathirani Varatharjah was abducted and briefly detained by the LTTE in July. Her abductors beat and threatened to kill her if her husband did not renounce membership of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front-Varathar. She went into hiding with her two children.

Reports of child recruitment continued throughout the year, despite commitments by the LTTE to end the practice. In August the government and the LTTE agreed an Action Plan for the demobilization and rehabilitation of children. Three transit camps would be established, managed by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization and UNICEF (the UN Children's Fund), to assess the children's needs before returning them to their communities and to provide them with education, health care, vocational training and micro-credit facilities.

The first camp opened in Kilinochchi in October, housing 49 children. There were reports that, the next day, the LTTE forcibly recruited up to 23 children, and that child recruitment continued but on a smaller scale. UNICEF said it was informed that, of 1,155 children with the LTTE, 385 had been released.

Prevention of Terrorism Act

In December, 65 people were still held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Since the cease-fire agreement in February 2002 over 1,000 prisoners held for prolonged periods under the PTA, many of them Tamil political prisoners, have been released. The government continued its review of PTA cases, but in September the Attorney General suspended the withdrawal of indictments under the PTA where the prosecution was solely based on the confession of the accused. Government plans to review or repeal the PTA had not progressed by the end of 2003.

'Disappearances'

A commission of inquiry, appointed by the NHRC to investigate complaints of "disappearances" in Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya districts from 1990 to 1998, published its findings in October. The commission investigated the cases of 281 "disappeared" people, 245 of whom had been detained by the army, 25 by the LTTE. Neither the army nor the LTTE cooperated fully with the inquiry. The commission found no evidence that "disappearances" occurred in police custody, but it did find that the police had systematically hindered investigations into complaints by relatives of the "disappeared". It made recommendations on procedures for the arrest, transfer or release of detainees, including keeping the next of kin, the NHRC and the local magistrate informed. It also recommended that officers with command responsibility be held criminally liable in "disappearance" cases and that the government consider compensating relatives of the "disappeared".

Torture, including rape

Torture in custody continued to be reported. In September the Police Commission and the NHRC agreed to produce guidelines on action to be taken against police officers named in complaints of torture or ill-treatment by the police that were upheld by the Supreme Court. They also announced that officers with command responsibility would be held responsible for torture in police stations, that families and lawyers would be given access to detainees in police custody, and that the rights of those arrested would be displayed on posters in all police stations.

According to the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process, at least 10 members of the security forces had been indicted under the Convention Against Torture Act of 1997. However, no successful prosecutions had been reported.

In July, five officers from Wariyapola police station were charged under the Torture Act of 1994 with the sexual assault of Nandini Herat. She was arrested in March 2002 and was reported to have been sexually tortured, including by the Officer in Charge of the police station. All five officers were suspended from active duty. Their trial started in November. Nandini Herat's family complained of harassment and intimidation aimed at making them withdraw the charges. The police failed to investigate these allegations.

Sinnathamby Sivamany and Ehamparam Wijikala filed a fundamental rights petition against security forces personnel they accused of rape and other torture while they were detained at the Mannar Police Special Investigation Unit Camp in March 2001. The Attorney General's Office informed the court that the perpetrators would be indicted under the Torture Act. Charges under the PTA brought by police against the two women were withdrawn.

Impunity

Despite progress in a small number of cases, there was still widespread impunity for human rights violations. According to the government, criminal action had been instituted against 597 security forces personnel, of whom 262 had been indicted in the High Court. Little or no progress was reported in these cases.

  • In July, five people, including two police officers, were convicted in the Colombo High Court of involvement in the killing in October 2000 of 27 young Tamil men and boys detained for "rehabilitation" at Bindunuwewa. The five were sentenced to death, and their sentences immediately commuted to life imprisonment. The case went to appeal.
  • The UN Human Rights Committee concluded that Sri Lanka was responsible for the "disappearance" of Thevarajah Sarma in the first case to be brought before the Committee since Sri Lanka acceded to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Thevarajah Sarma was detained by the army in June 1990, with three other young Tamil men, during an operation in Anpuvalipuram, Trincomalee district.

Death penalty

Parliament debated reintroducing executions, amid public concerns over a rise in violent crime, but no vote was taken. In September the Interior Minister assured a delegation of European parliamentarians that the government had no plans to resume executions.

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