‘Longstanding, systematic discrimination’ of Tamils says US report

Sri Lanka violated human rights last year as it dealt a final blow to Tamil Tiger insurgents the US State Department said in its annual human rights report.

"The government's respect for human rights declined as armed conflict reached its conclusion," the 2009 country report, released by the US Department of State on 11^th March 2010 said.

The report adds that young Tamil men accounted for an "overwhelming majority" of victims of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings.

The report highlights the concerns surrounding the estimated 11,700 LTTE combatants held by the government in detention centres near Vavuniya, especially with regards to the use of torture by the Sri Lankan army. including ‘beatings, often with cricket bats, iron bars, or rubber hoses filled with sand; electric shock; suspending individuals by the wrists or feet in contorted positions, abrading knees across rough cement; burning with metal objects and cigarettes; genital abuse; blows to the ears; asphyxiation with plastic bags containing chilli pepper mixed with gasoline; and near‑drowning’.

The US Department of State’s report adds significant weight to the international calls for war crimes investigations. Examining what is described as the Sri Lankan government’s declining respect for human rights, all aspects of liberalism, including freedom of expression, press, religion and movement, are analysed, with extensive coverage of the latter stages of the conflict. Alleged human rights abuses by the LTTE are stated. 

Acknowledging that extrajudicial killings were the carried out by those ‘working with the awareness and assistance of the government’, the report describes the disappearances and murders of activists, ‘armed attacks against civilians’ and the practice of torture, kidnapping and extortion. The disappearances, abductions, physical abuse and killings within the IDP population features highly, with sources said to include several international NGOs.

The unequal treatment of Tamils by the Sri Lankan state through the ‘longstanding systematic discrimination in university education, government employment and in other matters controlled by the government’ is unequivocally stated.

The requirement of all Tamils wishing to move within the country to obtain a special pass from the security forces is highlighted, with a poignant reminder of the law, which grants ‘freedom of movement and of choosing his residence’. The compulsory registration of any Tamil tenants by all landlords and reporting of their presence to the police is also mentioned.

The unequal access to legal proceedings was specifically stated. The lack of availability of Tamil language hearings, court appointed interpreters and legal textbooks in Tamil was argued to restrict the ‘ability of Tamil-speaking defendants to receive a fair hearing’.

The country’s rule of law was repeatedly brought under question with specific examples of crimes inadequately investigated such as high profile political assassinations and the killing of prominent journalists. The COI (Commission of Inquiry) set up in response to the growing criticism of Sri Lanka’s lack of justice and culture of impunity took a particular battering. The COI was slammed for its ineffectiveness, having investigated only seven of the seventeen cases it was asked to review, and for blaming the killing of 17 French NGO workers on the LTTE. An allegation, the report describes as ‘contrary to many independent analyses of available evidence that pointed toward involvement in the killings by police, Muslim Home Guard and Special Task Force members’.

The annual country reports on human rights are compiled by the US department of state and sent to the Congress, in accordance with US legislation which dictates that US foreign policy and trade policy should consider a country’s human rights record. Information gathered is said to be assessed ‘objectively, thoroughly, and fairly.’