Sri Lanka: 'Disappearances' by Security Forces a National Crisis
International Human Rights Monitoring Mission Urgently Needed
http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=slanka
The Sri Lankan government is responsible for widespread abductions
and "disappearances" that are a national crisis, Human Rights Watch
said in a new re****t released today. Human Rights Watch urged the
government to reveal the whereabouts of the "disappeared," immediately
end the practice, and hold the perpetrators accountable.
Since major fighting between the government and the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) resumed in 2006, Sri Lankan security forces and
pro-government armed groups have "disappeared" or abducted hundreds of
individuals, many of whom are feared dead.
The 241-page re****t, "Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for
'Disappearances' and Abductions in Sri Lanka," do***ents 99 of the
several hundred cases re****ted, and examines the Sri Lankan
government's response, which to date has been grossly inadequate. In
2006 and 2007, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and
Involuntary Disappearances recorded more new "disappearance" cases
from Sri Lanka than from any other country in the world.
"President Mahinda Rajapaksa, once a rights advocate, has now led his
government to become one of the world's worst perpetrators of enforced
disappearances," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human
Rights Watch. "The end of the ceasefire means this crisis will
continue
until the government starts taking serious measures."
Under international law, a state commits an enforced disappearance
when it takes a person into custody and denies holding them or
disclosing their whereabouts. "Disappeared" persons are commonly
subjected to torture or extrajudicial execution, and cause family
members continued suffering. An enforced disappearance is a continuing
rights violation - it is ongoing until the fate or whereabouts of the
person becomes known.
The vast majority of cases do***ented by Human Rights Watch indicate
the involvement of government security forces - army, navy, or police.
In some cases, relatives of the "disappeared" identified specific
military units that had detained their relatives and army camps where
they had been taken. In other cases, they described uniformed
policemen, especially members of the Criminal Investigation Department
(CID), taking their relatives into custody before they "disappeared."
Vairamuththu Varatharasan, a 40-year-old truck driver and father of
five, was abducted from his home in Colombo on January 7, 2007, and
has not been seen since. His wife told Human Rights Watch:
"A group of about 20 men - some in police uniforms, some in civilian
clothes surrounded the house. One policeman came inside and asked for
our identity card. I went into one of the rooms to get the identity
card. By the time I came out of the room, my husband was not there;
neither was the policeman. I ran out and spotted a van parked in a
dark place on the road. I ran to the road, but by the time I got
there, the van started and left."
Most of the victims are ethnic Tamils, although Muslims and Sinhalese
have also been targeted. In many cases, the security forces
"disappeared" individuals because of their alleged affiliation with
the LTTE. Clergy, educators, humanitarian aid workers, and journalists
also were targeted - not only to remove them from the civil sphere,
but also to warn others to avoid such activities.
Pro-government Tamil armed groups are also implicated in the
abductions and "disappearances"-specifically the Karuna group and the
Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP)-acting either independently or
in conjunction with the security forces.
The number of abductions perpetrated by the LTTE is comparatively low
since targeted killings, rather than abductions, appear to be the
LTTE's primary tactic. The LTTE has also been responsible for numerous
other egregious abuses, including bombings against civilians,
political assassinations, forced child recruitment, and the systematic
repression of basic civil and political rights in areas under their
control.
In the face of the crisis, the government of Sri Lanka has
demonstrated an utter lack of resolve to investigate and prosecute
those responsible. Not a single member of the security forces has been
brought to justice for involvement in "disappearances" or abductions.
Human Rights Watch said that Sri Lanka's emergency laws, which grant
the security forces sweeping powers to arbitrarily arrest and detain
people without being held to account, have facilitated enforced
disappearances.
"So long as soldiers and police can commit 'disappearances' with
impunity, this horrific crime will continue," said Pearson.
The Rajapaksa government has set up an array of special bodies tasked
with monitoring and investigating "disappearances" and other human
rights violations. None have yielded concrete results.
Human Rights Watch said this failure is unsurprising given that, at
the highest levels, the Sri Lankan government continues to downplay
the problem, denying the scale of the crisis and that its own security
forces are involved.
"The government's mechanisms to address 'disappearances' will remain
impotent so long as the president and top officials fail to send a
clear signal to the security forces that these abuses will not be
tolerated," said Pearson.
Sri Lanka's key international partners and the UN bodies, including
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, have raised
serious concerns about the alarming number of "disappearances" and
prevailing impunity. They have expressed growing sup****t for the
establishment of a UN human rights monitoring mission to investigate
and re****t on abuses by government forces and the LTTE throughout the
country.
Human Rights Watch deplored the Sri Lankan government's opposition to
an international monitoring mission, given that such initiatives have
proven effective elsewhere in dealing with "disappearances." With
sufficient mandate and resources, the monitoring mission could achieve
what the government and various national mechanisms have failed to do:
establish the location of detainees through unimpeded visits to the
detention facilities; request information regarding specific cases
from all sides to the conflict; assist national law enforcement
agencies and human rights mechanisms in investigating the cases and
communicating with the families; and maintain credible records of
re****ted cases.
"The Sri Lankan government's rejection of a UN monitoring mission
reflects badly on its commitment to human rights," said Pearson.
"While the government dawdles, many Sri Lankans will continue to pay
the price."
Human Rights Watch called on the government of Sri Lanka to:
* Take immediate measures to end the practice of enforced
disappearances, vigorously investigate all cases re****ted, and bring
the perpetrators to account; and
* Cooperate with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights to establish and deploy an international monitoring team to
re****t on violations of international human rights and humanitarian
law by all parties to the conflict;
Human Rights Watch also called on Sri Lanka's international partners,
in particular India and Japan, to make further military and other non-
humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka contingent on government efforts
to halt the practice of "disappearances," and to end impunity,
including its acceptance of an international monitoring mission.
Testimonies from the re****t:
"They started beating Thiyagarajah. They took his T-****rt off and
stuffed it into his mouth. The neighbors came out to help, but they
pushed them away. His wife was crying and shouting, and they hit her
with a gun butt. She was nine months pregnant. They were accusing
Thiyagarajah of having bombs in the house, and forced him to dig the
ground around the house. They searched the house, turning everything
upside down, but didn't find anything. They beat him so badly that he
couldn't walk - they had to carry him away. They took him away on a
motorcycle." - A relative of 25-year-old Thiyagarajah Saran,
"disappeared" on the night of February 20, 2007, from East Puttur,
Jaffna
"The villagers told me they saw Pathinather and Anton being
interrogated by the military. The military held them at gunpoint. Then
the military put them into the Powell [vehicle], and also loaded their
bicycles into their vehicle. The villagers could not see much because
the army ordered them to disperse, and now they are too afraid to talk
to anybody about what they saw." - A relative of 21-year-old Anton
Prabananth, "disappeared" on February 17, 2007 together with 24-year-
old Pathinather Prasanna, from Jaffna
"When we got to the [Kodikamam] army camp, I saw my nephew's bicycle
parked there. It was parked near the camp, in the military-controlled
area. When we asked the soldiers, they denied arresting them, and when
I said we had seen the bike, they got very angry, and started yelling,
'Who told you to go and look there?! We'll shoot you if you ever
approach this place again!' We asked the GS [local civilian official]
and the police to get the bike back, but they couldn't. Eventually,
the commander in the camp returned the bike to us. He said that the
people who had arrested our men were no longer there, so we should
just take the bike and go." - A relative of 26-year-old Thavaruban
Kanapathipillai, "disappeared" on August 16, 2006, together with 30-
year-old Shangar Santhivarseharam from Kachai, Jaffna
"Two people came to our door, in uniforms. They were armed. Another
man was dressed in an army T-****rt and jeans. I asked where they were
taking my husband. The person in civilian clothes showed me a pistol.
I asked where they were taking him again and he showed the pistol
again, and then they took him out. I ran after them, and they had two
vans, white and blue." - Wife of 21-year-old Ramakrishnan Rajkumar,
"disappeared" on August 23, 2006, from Colombo
Realted: "Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for
'Disappearances' and Abductions in Sri Lanka" [HRW]
|
