Major human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch,[1] as well as the United States Department of State1 and the European Union,2 have expressed concern about the state of human rights in Sri Lanka. Both the government of Sri Lanka and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are accused of violating human rights. Amnesty International stated in 2003 that there was a considerable improvement in the human rights situation attributed to the peaceful context of a ceasefire and peace talks between the government and the LTTE. In their 2006 report, however, Amnesty International stated that "escalating political killings, child recruitment, abductions and armed clashes created a climate of fear in the east, spreading to the north by the end of the year," while also outlining concerns with violence against women, the death penalty, and "numerous reports of torture in police custody."3 Although Sri Lanka has not officially practiced the death penalty since 19764, well-documented cases of state-sponsored 'disappearances' and murders5 by non-partisan humanitarian organizations, notably Human Rights Watch, contradict official statements.
Background
Sri Lanka has been embroiled in a civil war for more than two decades. More than 64,000 people have been killed and more than one million have been displaced since 1983. In July 1983, the most savage anti-minority pogrom in Sri Lanka's history, known as the Black July riots, erupted. Government appointed commission's estimates put the death toll at nearly 1,000.President Kumaratunga's speech on the 21st Anniversary of 'Black July'</ref> mostly minority Sri Lankan Tamils. Amnesty International Canada || News Release</ref> died or 'disappeared' over the course of the three-year government crackdown.6
Abuses by the government
- 1990
The Eastern province of Sri Lanka was taken over by Sri Lankan Forces after heavy fighting in 1990. Even after government forces moved in early 1990 large number of disappearance and extrajudicial execution were continued. By October 1990, 3,000 people were estimated to have been killed or to have disappeared in Amparai district. Further Many of the disappeared people were believed to have been killed as a result of extrajudicial execution. Likewise in Batticaloa another 1,500 people were reported to have disappeared.7 The LTTE terrorists continued to kill innocent people in the Eastern Province. They killed Muslims gathered in two mosques, for Friday prayers. Also more than 700 unarmed policemen were murdered, cold blood. A bus full of Buddhist monks were killed at Aranthalawa. However, the true perpetrators of the disappearances are yet to be determined, with the Sri Lankan government and the rebels both accusing each other.
- 2000
The European Union also condemned Sri Lankan security forces in the year 2000 concerning human rights, after fighting displaced 12,000 civilians.8
The US State Department has stated that "The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, although some members of the security forces committed serious human right abuses".9
Shooting of Tamil media workers
Sahathevan Nilakshan, also spelt Sahadevan Nilakshan was a minority Sri Lankan Tamil student journalist and the head of the Chaalaram magazine. Sahadevan was shot dead inside his house during nighttime curfew in an area heavily guarded by the Sri Lankan Army.10 Sahadevan was part of a series of killing of Tamil media workers particularly those seen supporting the Tamil nationalist cause as Chaalaram magazine for which he worked was linked to the Federation of Jaffna District Students was seen supporting Tamil nationalism. It was seen as part of the intimidation of Tamil media.1112
Abuses by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have repeatedly been accused of attacks on civilians during their separatist guerrilla campaign. The US State Department reported several human rights abuses in 2005, but it specifically states that there were no confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the government. The report states that, "they [LTTE] continued to control large sections of the north and east and engaged in politically motivated killings, disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, denial of fair public trial, arbitrary interference with privacy, denial of freedom of speech, press, of assembly and association, and the recruitment of child soldiers". The report further accused the LTTE of extrajudicial killings in the North and East.13 Several members of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) were illegally detained by the LTTE.citation needed
The LTTE committed massacres in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. The number of civilians massacred were as high as 144 (Anuradhapura massacre). Some of the major attacks resulting in civilian deaths include the Kebithigollewa massacre, the Gonagala massacre (54 dead), the Dehiwala train bombing (56 dead),14 the Palliyagodella massacre (109 dead) and the bombing of Sri Lanka's Central Bank (102 dead). Further a claymore antipersonnel mine attack by the LTTE on June 15, 2006 on a bus carrying 140 civilians killed 68 people including 15 children, and injured 60 others.15
Tamil Tigers were also credited by FBI for the invention of suicide bra and suicide belt.16 Most of the targets of suicide attacks were made on civilians rather than the government forces.
Abuses by other groups
During the 1980s, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna was regularly accused of arbitrary attacks on civilians during its uprising of that period.citation needed
Further, the TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), an armed organization led by Colonel Karuna, has been accused by many human rights and non-governmental organizations of recruiting children, torture, assassinations and engaging in extortion in its war against the LTTE.171819 The TMVP was also involved in kidnappings for ransom of wealthy, predominantly Tamil, businessmen to raise money in Colombo and other towns. Some businessmen were killed because their family could not pay the ransom.20.212223
See also
References and further reading
- ^ Sri Lanka
- ^ The EU's relations with Sri Lanka - Overview
- ^ 2006 Annual Report for Sri Lanka, Amnesty International USA, http://www.amnestyusa.org/annualreport.php?id=ar&yr=2006&c=LKA, retrieved 2009-02-12
- ^ Ste's Site - Death penalty in Sri Lanka
- ^ Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for "Disappearances" and Abductions in Sri Lanka
- ^ Asia Times: Sri Lanka: New rulers have bloody past
- ^ Sri Lanka: The Northeast: Human rights violations in a context of armed conflict
- ^ "Sri Lanka rapped over human rights". BBC News. April 3, 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/700045.stm. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- ^ Line 5 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61711.htm
- ^ CPJ Sahadevan Nilakshan, Chaalaram, August 1 2007, Jaffna
- ^ Intimidation of Tamil media
- ^ IFJ calls for end to brutal targeting of Lankan media
- ^ Sri Lanka
- ^ Timeline of the Tamil conflict, BBC News, September 4, 2000, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/51435.stm
- ^ United States Condemns Terrorist Attack on Sri Lankan Bus, US State Department, http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2006/June/20060615115032ndyblehs0.351742.html
- ^ http://www.fbi.gov/page2/jan08/tamil_tigers011008.html
- ^ "Sri Lanka", Human Rights Watch, August 9, 2007, http://hrw.org/englishwr2k7/docs/2007/01/11/slanka14837.htm
- ^ "Complicit in Crime: State Collusion in Abductions and Child Recruitment by the Karuna Group", Human Rights Watch 19, January 2007, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/srilanka0107/
- ^ "Sri Lanka: Armed groups infiltrating refugee camps", Amnesty International, August 9, 2007, http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGASA370072007
- ^ "Impunity reigns", Human Rights Watch (1(C)), August 9, 2007, http://hrw.org/reports/2007/srilanka0807/1.htm#_Toc173322236
- ^ Government Complicit in Forced Recruitment of Young Tamils
- ^ Sri Lanka: Letter to Pope Benedict XVI on the Situation In Sri Lanka
- ^ Sri Lanka: Karuna Group and LTTE Continue Abducting and Recruiting Children
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