The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) has said that several secret detention centres exist in Sri Lanka, with torture and killings widespread.
Vice Chair of the CAT, Felice Gaer, said an independent investigation is needed to look into the allegations.
"Sri Lanka Army and affiliated Para military groups have run and made possible to run secret facilities which torture and extra judicial killings, have it is claimed, perpetrated" she said
She informed the session that the UN Working Gropup on Disappearances holds Sri Lanka as haing the second highest number of disappearances in the world.
"While many of these cases have been clarified there are more than 5,000 that haven't been" said Miss Felice Gaer.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka responded in a predictable manner.
Senior Legal Advisor to the Sri Lankan Cabinet, Mohan Peiris, said:
“The commitment to honour the obligations under the Convention against Torture has continued in earnest and the progress in many areas has been exemplary while in some areas there is a great deal of work that must still be done,” Mr. Peiris said.
“Let me assure and reiterate to all members of this Committee that Sri Lanka has assiduously followed a tradition of close and constructive cooperation with all human rights treaty bodies and as well as the special procedural mechanisms of the Human Rights Council, and efforts are afoot right at this moment to strengthen this tradition.”
"We are committed to a world in which we can live in peace and dignity and you can be sure that we would do our utmost in the compliance of the convention provisions so that Sri Lanka will be an ideal place on this planet in which that everyone who lives there can live as brothers and sisters of the same family"
