Sri Lanka: Free Prominent Rights Defenders [1]
The arbitrary arrest and detention of prominent human rights defenders is an attempt to silence criticism and divert the spotlight from ongoing abuses, leading global and Asian human rights monitors said today in a joint statement. The statement was issued by Amnesty International, Forum Asia, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and the International Commission of Jurists.
Ruki Fernando of the Colombo-based INFORM and Father Praveen Mahesan, a Catholic priest, were arrested in Kilinochchi on March 16, and are believed to be detained without formal charges under Sri Lanka’s notoriously draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
“The Sri Lankan authorities need to release Fernando and Father Praveen, and end the ongoing state harassment of human rights defenders,” said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Asia Pacific. “How can the international community take Sri Lanka’s claims to respect rights seriously when rights defenders continue to face intimidation and criminal charges for demanding accountability and human rights protection?”
The police Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) detained and
questioned Ruki Fernando and Father Praveen after they sought to ensure the
welfare of 13-year-old Balendran Vithushaini, who had been ordered into
probationary care following the arrest of her mother, Balendran Jeyakumari, on
March 13. Both mother and daughter are active opponents of enforced
disappearances in Sri Lanka and have been prominently featured in international
media coverage of demonstrations by families of the disappeared, most recently
in Jaffna in November 2013 during a visit by British Prime Minister David
Cameron.
Fernando and Father Praveen were questioned separately in two different
buildings for more than three hours by several TID officers. Lawyers acting on
their behalf were given contradictory information about the arrests and the
reasons for their detention. The most recent information is that Fernando and
Father Praveen have been taken to police Terrorism Investigation Division
headquarters in Colombo, and their lawyers are still seeking access to them.
Fernando and Father Praveen have not been charged to date, but according
to Sri Lankan Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Ajith Rohana, they will
be charged with “attempting to create instability among communities” and
“allegedly promoting separatism” under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The PTA has been widely criticized by Sri Lankan civil society,
international monitoring organizations, and United Nations bodies. In its
report, Authority
without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka [2], the
International Commission of Jurists documents [3] how
provisions of the PTA have resulted in arbitrary detention, contravened
suspects’ right to a fair trial and due process, and facilitated torture and
other ill-treatment and enforced disappearances.
The human rights groups said that the arrests are particularly
disturbing since a resolution on Sri Lanka’s failure to address accountability
is under discussion and will be voted on soon at the ongoing Human Rights
Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva. The international community has long called
for Sri Lanka to take meaningful steps to end its culture of impunity.
“This ongoing campaign of reprisals against those speaking out against
human rights violations shows the extent of the government’s impunity,” said
Sam Zarifi, Asia director at the International Commission of Jurists. “The
international community, through its voting at the Human Rights Council, must
judge Sri Lanka not by its promises, but by its actions.”
In spite of two prior resolutions by the UNHRC in 2012 and 2013, Sri
Lanka has taken no measurable steps towards ensuring justice for the victims of
its civil war, and has instead launched an aggressive campaign against those
who advocate for accountability. Human rights defenders, activists, journalists,
and civil society members who are critical of the government have regularly
been threatened and harassed. Those who have an international profile, such as
Fernando, face particular government hostility.
“Sri Lankan authorities systematically clamp down on those who seek to
reach out to the international community, especially around significant events
such as the Human Rights Council sessions or the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting,” said Evelyn Balais-Serrano, the executive director of Forum-Asia.
“Instead of protecting human rights defenders, the latest arrests show the Sri
Lankan government is stepping up its aggressive stance towards those seeking
justice and answers.”
The arrests also call into question the Sri Lankan government’s stated commitment
to improving respect for human rights since the end of the armed conflict with
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009, the groups said.
“Arresting peaceful activists known for their work with victims of
rights violations from all ethnic communities is not a way to build trust and
restore relationships damaged by the war,” said Jonathan Prentice, the
International Crisis Group’s chief policy officer. “If sustainable peace is to
be more than an illusion, the rights of Sri Lanka’s victims and human rights
defenders to speak freely and safely must be protected.”
The organizations stressed that Fernando and Father Praveen should be
given full rights while they remain in detention. Under international law,
including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which
Sri Lanka is a state party, people deprived of their liberty must be promptly
informed of the reasons for their detention, be given prompt and regular access
to lawyers, and be promptly brought before a judge or judicial officer.
The rights organizations pointed out that Sri Lanka’s security forces
have a well-documented history of custodial torture. Human Rights Watch’s 2013
report, “‘We Will
Teach You a Lesson’: Sexual Violence against Tamils by Sri Lankan Security
Forces [4],” documented sexual violence and other torture by the TID and other
security forces.
“Human Rights Council members should demand the immediate release of Fernando
and Father Praveen and be clear that this will not deter them from adopting a
necessary resolution on Sri Lanka,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human
Rights Watch. “The arrest of these human rights defenders shows just how
important it is for the international community to stand up for human rights in
Sri Lanka.”
Signed by:
- Amnesty International
- FORUM-ASIA
- International Commission of Jurists
- International Crisis Group
- Human Rights Watch
Links:
[1] http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/17/sri-lanka-free-prominent-rights-defenders
[2] http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/50ae365b2.pdf
[3] http://www.icj.org/sri-lanka-new-icj-report-documents-crisis-of-impunity/
[4] http://www.hrw.org/node/113790
[1] http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/17/sri-lanka-free-prominent-rights-defenders
[2] http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/50ae365b2.pdf
[3] http://www.icj.org/sri-lanka-new-icj-report-documents-crisis-of-impunity/
[4] http://www.hrw.org/node/113790
