COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
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7 MARCH <strong>2012</strong> SRI LANKA<br />
state of emergency lapsed in August 2011; on 30 September about 1,000 were thought<br />
to remain in detention (‗Sri Lanka releases 1,800 former Tamil rebels‘, Associated<br />
Press, 30 September 2011.)<br />
―According to Regulation 22 (4), EMMPPR 2005, as amended, the Commissioner<br />
General of Rehabilitation shall ‗endeavour to provide the surrendee with appropriate<br />
vocational, technical or other training‘. Training reportedly provided in rehabilitation<br />
camps, even where potentially beneficial, has been imposed on people who are<br />
arbitrarily detained without access to judicial review and thus cannot be considered<br />
voluntary; it has reportedly included political indoctrination. Article 9(1) of the ICCPR<br />
prohibits arbitrary detention. UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 8, para.<br />
1. considers that this applies to all deprivations of liberty, including where detention is<br />
for ‗educational purposes. In addition to detainees held in rehabilitation facilities, some<br />
1,900 others suspected of being what the Sri Lankan authorities have referred to as<br />
hard core LTTE suspects have been administratively detained under the Prevention of<br />
Terrorism Act since the end of the conflict in 2009. Most have still not been charged with<br />
any offense.‘‖<br />
4.17 A letter from the British High Commission (BHC) Colombo dated 9 November 2011 86<br />
reported:<br />
―The British High Commission in Colombo regularly monitors the treatment of ex-LTTE<br />
cadres in Sri Lanka and rehabilitation/reintegration programmes.<br />
―The CGR [Commissioner General of Rehabilitation] stated in January 2011 that in total<br />
5,686 persons had been released. There remained 4,658 ex-combatants detained in the<br />
9 rehabilitation centres gazetted into law as being Protective Accommodation and<br />
Rehabilitation Centres (PARC). The Sri Lankan military operates these camps with<br />
involvement from various ministries. Those detained would continue to be released in<br />
batches over the next few months.‖<br />
4.18 The same BHC letter 87 went on to add that:<br />
―There were still a number of persons who are detained under the category of ‗active<br />
LTTE members who have been served with detention orders under the Emergency<br />
Regulations and are to be charged with offences‘. In the last few days there have been<br />
various quotes from the CGR and other military spokesmen regarding this group, but<br />
exact numbers are scarce. We are told around 1,000 had been transferred into the<br />
regular judicial system and another 703 were continuing to be investigated by the<br />
Terrorism Investigations Department (TID) with a view to following them into the judicial<br />
system.‖<br />
―In December 2010 and January 2011 small batches of this group appeared before<br />
Magistrates in Colombo. TID told the Courts that these persons had been arrested<br />
under the instruction of the Defence Secretary after having been found hiding amongst<br />
IDPs in various camps. TID added that they were awaiting instruction from the AG‘s<br />
[Attorney General] Department. All those that appeared were further remanded in<br />
custody.<br />
86 British High Commission Colombo, letter to the <strong>UK</strong>BA <strong>COI</strong> Service, dated 9 November 2011<br />
87 British High Commission Colombo, letter to the <strong>UK</strong>BA <strong>COI</strong> Service, dated 9 November 2011<br />
The main text of this <strong>COI</strong> <strong>Report</strong> contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section<br />
to 2 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
49