Return to War - Human Rights Watch

Various United Nations principles including the UN Body of Principles for the
Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (principle 12)
and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (rule 55), lay
down that “[A]ll detainees should only be kept in recognized places of detention.”
Such places of detention should be visited regularly by qualified and experienced
persons appointed by, and responsible to, a competent authority distinct from the
authority directly in charge of the administration of the place of detention.
Disposal of bodies without public notification
Under the current Emergency Regulations, the authorities may dispose of bodies
without public notification. 155 The deputy inspector general of the police has the
authority to cremate bodies and thereby destroy potential evidence prior to inquest
proceedings. This is particularly problematic in cases of alleged torture of a detainee
who then dies while in custody. It is not known in how many cases the authorities
have disposed of a body.
Emergency Regulation (Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and
Specified Terrorist Activities) No. 7 of 2006
On December 6, 2006, President Rajapaksa promulgated an additional set of
emergency regulations called the Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and
Specified Terrorist Activities, No. 7 of 2006. The broad, sweeping language of several
of these provisions has also given rise to serious concerns.
155 Regulation 56 of the Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers) Regulations No.1 of 2005 published in Gazette
Extraordinary 1405/14 of August 13, 2005, states, “(1) The Magistrate shall, upon receipt of the report of the facts by the
Inspector-General of Police, or the Deputy Inspector-General of Police as the case may be under regulation 55: (a) direct the
Government Medical Officer to forthwith hold a post-mortem examination of such body and may direct that the dead body if it
has already been buried, be disinterred; and (b) make an order that at the conclusion of the post-mortem examination that the
dead body be handed over to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police for disposal. (2) The Deputy Inspector-General of Police
to whom the body is handed over the dead body [sic] to any relations who may claim the dead body, subject to such
conditions or restrictions as he may deem necessary in the interest of national security of [sic] for the maintenance or
preservation of public order; Provided, however, that the Deputy Inspector-General of Police may in the interest of national
security or for the maintenance or preservation of public order, authorize the taking possession of and effecting the burial or
cremation of the dead body in accordance with such steps as he may deem necessary in the circumstances.” These provisions
had been removed from the previous set of regulations on May 3, 2000.
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