In-Depth Reports

Below are in-depth reports from human rights and humanitarian agencies concerned about Sri Lanka. Please inform us of reports to include by emailing us at Contact@PEARLAction.org.

Sri Lanka: Government Abuses Intensify

August 6, 2007 – Human Rights Watch

This investigative report concludes that the Sri Lankan government is increasingly resorting to indiscriminate violence against civilians. HRW supports a United Nations mission to Sri Lanka to document and check government abuses of power. Brad Adams, HRW Asia Director, said that “The Sri Lankan government has apparently given its security forces a green light to use ‘dirty war’ tactics.”

Excerpts from the report:

What I am saying is, if there is a terrorist group, why can’t you do anything? It’s not against a community... I’m talking about terrorists. Anything is fair.
—Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa, June 12, 2007

My wife was bathing at the well near my hut. I heard one big boom and saw smoke…. Then I saw her lying near the well…. Blood was all around. I called her but she didn’t speak.
—Father of two whose wife died in the army shelling of the displaced persons camp at Kathiravelli on November 8, 2006

We just want to know where he is. He can even be in prison but let us know where he is.
—Mother of “disappeared” son, Colombo, March 2007

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In one of the most deadly incidents of recent years, government shelling in the eastern Vaharai area on November 8, 2006, hit school grounds that were housing thousands of displaced civilians, killing 62 and wounding 47. Government forces failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians and may have purposely targeted the school. Based on interviews with a dozen witnesses and other information, Human Rights Watch found no evidence to support government claims that the LTTE had fired that morning at government forces from the vicinity of the school or had used civilians as “human shields” to protect themselves from attack.

The treatment of internally displaced persons remains a paramount concern. Some 315,000 people have had to flee their homes due to fighting since August 2006; 100,000 fled in March 2007 alone. This comes atop the 200,000-250,000 people made homeless by the December 2004 tsunami—many from the same areas as the recent fighting—and the approximately 315,000 displaced by the conflict prior to 2002. Since January 2006 more than 18,000 Sri Lankans have fled to India, often on rickety boats, as refugees.

Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Crisis

June 14, 2007 – International Crisis Group

This in-depth report carefully analyzes the escalating crisis in Sri Lanka, and urgently calls for international human rights monitors to be accepted in Sri Lanka in an effort to stem the abuses.

Excerpts from the report:

Civilians are repeatedly caught up in the fighting. More than 1,500 have been killed and more than 250,000 displaced since early 2006. There have been hundreds of extrajudicial killings, and more than 1,000 people are still unaccounted for, presumed to be the victims of enforced disappearances. Hundreds more have been detained under newly strengthened Emergency Regulations that give the government broad powers of arrest and detention without charge. The security forces have also expelled hundreds of Tamils from Colombo. Forces commanded by the ex- LTTE commander Karuna, leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) now aligned with the government, engage in child recruitment, extortion, abductions for ransom and political assassinations.

While many deaths result from military clashes, the army – assisted by pro-government Tamil paramilitaries – is also engaged in a deliberate policy of extrajudicial killings and abductions of Tamils considered part of LTTE’s civilian support network. Targeted assassinations have been particularly frequent in Jaffna and parts of the east, often victimising civilians with no connection to the LTTE. Political killings, abductions and disappearances have also spread to Colombo, where abductions for ransom have targeted both Tamils and Muslims.

Sri Lanka: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006

March 6, 2007 – U.S. Department of State

The U.S. State Department publishes its annual report on human rights in Sri Lanka, and finds evidence of grave violations.

Excerpts from the report:

The government's respect for the human rights of its citizens declined due in part to the breakdown of the CFA. Credible sources reported human rights problems, including unlawful killings by government agents, high profile killings by unknown perpetrators, politically motivated killings by paramilitary forces associated with the government and the LTTE, and disappearances. Human rights monitors also reported arbitrary arrests and detention, poor prison conditions, denial of fair public trial, government corruption and lack of transparency, infringement of religious freedom, infringement of freedom of movement, and discrimination against minorities. There were numerous reports that armed paramilitary groups linked to government security forces participated in armed attacks, some against civilians. Following the December 1 LTTE attempt to assassinate Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaka, the government strengthened emergency regulations that broadened security forces' powers in the arrest without warrant and non-accountable detention of civilians for up to 12 months.

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On June 17, uniformed men fired into a church in Pesalai, Mannar, in which several hundred Tamil civilians had taken refuge, killing one and injuring at least five others. Authorities published no progress in these investigations by year's end. On August 10, military aerial bombardment on LTTE-controlled Trincomalee left 50 civilians dead and 200 wounded. On August 14, the army dropped 12 to 16 bombs on a compound in Mullaitivu, killing 51 teenage girls, and injuring more than 100. No investigations have been conducted.

On August 17, 17 local employees-16 Tamil and one Muslim-of the French Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Action Contre La Faim (ACF) were shot execution-style on their compound in Muttur. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) asserted that security forces had been responsible for the murders, a charge which the government denied. The government called upon Australian investigators to assist with the case, agreeing on terms of reference in September. At year's end, police had made no arrests.

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At year's end the HRC continued to investigate 16,305 past cases of disappearance by security forces, some of which had been pending for over a decade. There were no indictments, investigations, or prosecutions of security force personnel for past disappearance.

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Role of the Police and Security Apparatus Following the November 2005 presidential election, the government eliminated the Ministry of Internal Security and placed control of the 66,000-member police force, which included the 6,000-strong paramilitary Special Task Force, under the Ministry of Defense. Senior officials in the police force handled complaints against the police, as did the civilian-staffed National Police Commission (NPC). Few police officers serving in Tamil majority areas were Tamil and generally did not speak Tamil or English. Impunity, particularly for cases of police torture and disappearances of civilians within high security zones, was a severe problem. Several NGOs claimed that corruption was also a problem in the police force.

Breaking the Silence: A compilation of testimonials reflecting ground realities of life for Tamils in Northeast Sri Lanka

December 2006 – International Study Centre

This report provides firsthand accounts of experienced injustice in Sri Lanka. Interviews range from topics of indiscriminate bombings, assault, displacement, poverty, and attacks on religion, democracy and humanitarian aid workers.

Excerpts from the report:

My son, Pireemash Aanantharasa Singharasa, went to Muttur to work for Action Against Hunger (ACF) without telling us. After the fighting started there, he said he’d come in the evening. He told a friend he was afraid of the shelling and the fighting, but that he trusted the Army wouldn’t harm them because they were working for ACF. But it was the Army who went and shot all of them. Their bodies were found face down, like they were sleeping. My son had a bullet through the back of his head, that came out of his forehead….

I had trusted my son would take care of me because when he was younger he’d always say he’d take care of us. He’d study and work and take care of us. But now I have no son….Now I am always crying, and there’s no one to wipe my tears…. — Singarasa Mary Josephine, 38 years

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I was bathing when the Kfir planes came so I hid under the water tank, and then I realized they were coming for us, so I went and lay down underneath a bush.

With the first bomb I was wounded in the stomach, but I didn’t realize this, it was like I had been burned by fire.

I got up and was walking away, and then other girls were calling to me, ‘Big sister, you’re wounded, stop and lie down.’ Blood was pouring down my body. The other girls wouldn’t let me get up and walk anywhere, so we were all lying down together. If we had gotten up we would definitely have lost an arm or a leg because they just kept bombing us. When they came to carry me and go, that’s only when I saw how much blood there was around me. Throughout the whole grounds, everyone was dying. They were all wounded but otherwise it looked like they were sleeping…
— Rajeswary Selvanesh, 19 years

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My husband died last year, so now I am alone in taking care of our six children. I have a laundry store, so all our money supply comes from that. Before my husband would do other work, odd jobs for temples and weddings, but now we don’t get that income. It’s hard now, especially when buying school supplies for the children.

After they closed the border, the prices for everything went up, like sugar and flour, and there are more refugees here now. It’s hard for us, everything is very difficult. We only have this one store, and now all the prices have gone up. We only get a little money, but the kids need a lot and it’s very difficult….

Living here in Vanni is very different from life in Jaffna. Here you can live freely, if at midnight your ear starts hurting you can go to the hospital. But there in the evenings I’m scared to even light a candle. It’s very difficult there. I asked my relatives why they were staying there, when they couldn’t even leave their house after 6 pm. They later came from there to stay here with me for safety. They say how freely we live here, and how much happier we are here. There even if someone in the next house is dying, you can’t go and help….

Growing up we didn’t have all the conveniences to study. But unlike us, I want my children to be able to study freely. I only studied until the 4th grade. I don’t want my children to go through the same difficulties as me. Now all my children are studying. My last son, who’s only 6 years old, says he wants to be a doctor.
— Venthiny Sobiraj, 36 years