Return to War - Human Rights Watch
Return to War - Human Rights Watch Return to War - Human Rights Watch
Given Sri Lanka’s Emergency Regulations, which criminalize “aiding and abetting the LTTE,” this broad lumping of human rights groups with the LTTE seems aimed at silencing organizations working to report objectively on human rights, including groups also highly critical of the LTTE. The climate of fear for human rights activists is intensified by death threats some individuals have received over the phone in the past year, in which unknown individuals warn activists that the government should not be condemned. In December 2005, a parliamentary committee established to monitor the influx of aid organizations after the tsunami expanded its scope to organizations that work on human rights, democratization, and peace-building. The committee required NGOs to submit their internal records from the past 10 years, such as lists of publications and organized functions, including attendees. Freedom of the press has taken a serious blow. Eleven Sri Lankan journalists and other media practitioners have been killed by various parties to the conflict since August 2005. To date, no one has been convicted for any of the killings. Tamil journalists work under severe threat from both the LTTE and government forces. In LTTE-controlled areas media freedom is severely restricted. The LTTE has been implicated in abductions of media practitioners and the killings of journalists. It has routinely pressured Tamil journalists and attempted to force Tamil media practitioners to resign from state-owned media. The circulation of some Tamil newspapers was unofficially banned in parts of the north and east. In October 2006 and again in January 2007 the Karuna group blocked the delivery of the newspapers Thinakural, Virakesari, and Sudar Ol in Batticaloa and Ampara. The Sinhala-language media is not exempt from government pressure. On November 22, 2006, agents of the police’s Terrorist Investigation Division arrested Munusamy Parameswary, a reporter for the Sinhala newspaper Mawbima, accusing her of “helping the LTTE and a suspected suicide bomber.” Parameswary was apparently targeted because of her writings on human rights violations, including enforced 13 Human Rights Watch August 2007
disappearances. The police released her on March 22, 2007, when a court found insufficient evidence to continue her detention. On February 27, 2007, the Terrorist Investigation Division arrested the spokesperson and financial director of Standard Newspapers Ltd., which publishes Mawbima and the English-language weekly Sunday Standard. Under the Emergency Regulations they detained him for over two months without charge. On March 13, 2007, the government froze the company’s assets, forcing Mawbima and Sunday Standard to stop publication. On May 30, the police arrested the owner of the company under the Terrorist Financing Act on suspicion of providing material and financial assistance to the LTTE. Over the past year President Rajapaksa has held regular breakfast meetings with media editors. According to participants, he has at times admonished editors for their “unpatriotic” writing. His brother the defence secretary has been more direct: in April 2007 he telephoned the editor of the Daily Mirror, an English-language daily, and told her that he would ”exterminate” a journalist who had written on human rights issues in the country’s east. Impunity reigns Impunity for human rights violations by government security forces, long a problem in Sri Lanka, remains a disturbing norm. As the conflict intensifies and government forces are implicated in a longer list of abuses, from arbitrary arrests and “disappearances” to war crimes, the government has displayed a clear unwillingness to hold accountable those responsible for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Government institutions have proved inadequate to deal with the scale and intensity of abuse. One barrier to accountability lies in the failure to implement the 17th amendment to the constitution, which provides for the establishment of a Constitutional Council to nominate independent members to various government commissions, including the Human Rights Commission. Ignoring the amendment, the president has directly appointed commissioners to the bodies that deal with the police, public service, and human rights, thereby placing their independence in doubt. The 17 th amendment has Return to War 14
- Page 1 and 2: Sri Lanka Return to War Human Right
- Page 3 and 4: Karuna group ......................
- Page 5 and 6: I. Summary What I am saying is, if
- Page 7 and 8: extrajudicial killings to unlawful
- Page 9 and 10: 2002. Since January 2006 more than
- Page 11 and 12: against them, and list the location
- Page 13 and 14: Emergency Regulations (372 Tamils,
- Page 15: The mother of an abducted boy from
- Page 19 and 20: commission, highlighting examples o
- Page 21 and 22: Methodology This report is based pr
- Page 23 and 24: discriminating against Tamils in th
- Page 25 and 26: intimidation to force civilians who
- Page 27 and 28: International humanitarian law proh
- Page 29 and 30: in which an LTTE cadre shot and kil
- Page 31 and 32: the Savukady camp in Batticaloa to
- Page 33 and 34: they would no longer be responsible
- Page 35 and 36: In mid-May the government began a n
- Page 37 and 38: On May 29, UNHCR commented on the g
- Page 39 and 40: Grama Niladari Divisions (the small
- Page 41 and 42: The salvos landed in and around the
- Page 43 and 44: didn’t take him to the hospital b
- Page 45 and 46: While describing the loss of civili
- Page 47 and 48: saw no weapons, no bunkers or artil
- Page 49 and 50: V. Enforced Disappearances and Abdu
- Page 51 and 52: months of 2007. 84 A government com
- Page 53 and 54: In one illustrative case documented
- Page 55 and 56: The Valvettiturai police registered
- Page 57 and 58: would send him by bus or train to T
- Page 59 and 60: wife tried his cell phone several t
- Page 61 and 62: then that his brother had paid, alt
- Page 63 and 64: as the disseminators of “LTTE pro
- Page 65 and 66: It is evident that many of the [dis
Given Sri Lanka’s Emergency Regulations, which criminalize “aiding and abetting the<br />
LTTE,” this broad lumping of human rights groups with the LTTE seems aimed at<br />
silencing organizations working <strong>to</strong> report objectively on human rights, including<br />
groups also highly critical of the LTTE.<br />
The climate of fear for human rights activists is intensified by death threats some<br />
individuals have received over the phone in the past year, in which unknown<br />
individuals warn activists that the government should not be condemned.<br />
In December 2005, a parliamentary committee established <strong>to</strong> moni<strong>to</strong>r the influx of<br />
aid organizations after the tsunami expanded its scope <strong>to</strong> organizations that work on<br />
human rights, democratization, and peace-building. The committee required NGOs<br />
<strong>to</strong> submit their internal records from the past 10 years, such as lists of publications<br />
and organized functions, including attendees.<br />
Freedom of the press has taken a serious blow. Eleven Sri Lankan journalists and<br />
other media practitioners have been killed by various parties <strong>to</strong> the conflict since<br />
August 2005. To date, no one has been convicted for any of the killings.<br />
Tamil journalists work under severe threat from both the LTTE and government forces.<br />
In LTTE-controlled areas media freedom is severely restricted. The LTTE has been<br />
implicated in abductions of media practitioners and the killings of journalists. It has<br />
routinely pressured Tamil journalists and attempted <strong>to</strong> force Tamil media<br />
practitioners <strong>to</strong> resign from state-owned media. The circulation of some Tamil<br />
newspapers was unofficially banned in parts of the north and east. In Oc<strong>to</strong>ber 2006<br />
and again in January 2007 the Karuna group blocked the delivery of the newspapers<br />
Thinakural, Virakesari, and Sudar Ol in Batticaloa and Ampara.<br />
The Sinhala-language media is not exempt from government pressure. On November<br />
22, 2006, agents of the police’s Terrorist Investigation Division arrested Munusamy<br />
Parameswary, a reporter for the Sinhala newspaper Mawbima, accusing her of<br />
“helping the LTTE and a suspected suicide bomber.” Parameswary was apparently<br />
targeted because of her writings on human rights violations, including enforced<br />
13<br />
<strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> August 2007
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