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 />
8.13 Jane‘s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country <strong>Report</strong>, Sri Lanka 132 (accessed on<br />
3 February <strong>2012</strong>) observed that:<br />
―A major block to ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka has been the ethnic composition of all<br />
branches of the security forces. The overwhelmingly Sinhalese Sri Lanka Army and<br />
police force has seemingly validated LTTE propaganda that Sri Lanka is a racist, monoethnic<br />
state that marginalises and abuses Tamils. All branches of the security forces<br />
were accused of committing civilian massacres during the civil war. However, Tamils<br />
were not in a position to join the security forces in significant numbers during the war<br />
years.‖<br />
8.14 With regards to the army, the same source 133 noted:<br />
Desertion<br />
―Established after independence in 1949, the Sri Lankan Army remained small and<br />
ceremonial until the outbreak of the Tamil separatism militancy in the early 1980s when<br />
the force had approximately 12,000 regular army personnel. The Sri Lanka Army<br />
recruited aggressively amongst Sinhalese youth, more than trebling the total army<br />
strength, including reservists on active duty, within four years. The recruitment process<br />
was assisted by high levels of unemployment and poverty in rural Sinhalese areas; at<br />
no time during the war was military conscription a serious proposition.‖<br />
8.15 On 2 February 2011 AFP 134 reported:<br />
―Sri Lanka's military on Wednesday [2 February 2011] offered to discharge all its 50,000<br />
deserters without disciplinary action to mark the country's independence anniversary.<br />
―<strong>Office</strong>rs and enlisted men who have been absent without leave can report to their<br />
regiments and then be released from their duties, military spokesman Major General<br />
Ubaya Medawala said.<br />
"‘This is not an amnesty, but a special concession to mark independence,‘ he said,<br />
adding the deserters needed to register between February 4 and 12.<br />
―Mass desertions have plagued the Sri Lankan army before and since the defeat of the<br />
separatist Tamil Tigers rebels in 2009, which ended decades of bloody warfare on the<br />
island.‖<br />
8.16 On 11 February 2011 the Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka 135 reported that:<br />
132<br />
Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country <strong>Report</strong>, Sri Lanka, Security and foreign forces, 4<br />
January <strong>2012</strong><br />
http://sentinel.janes.com/docs/sentinel/SASS_country.jsp?Prod_Name=SASS&Sent_Country=Sri%20La<br />
nka& [subscription only] date accessed 3 February <strong>2012</strong>,<br />
133<br />
Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country <strong>Report</strong>, Sri Lanka,<br />
http://sentinel.janes.com/docs/sentinel/SASS_country.jsp?Prod_Name=SASS&Sent_Country=Sri%20La<br />
nka& [subscription only] date accessed 3 February <strong>2012</strong>, Security and foreign forces, 4 January <strong>2012</strong><br />
134<br />
AFP, Sri Lanka offers amnesty to 50,000 army deserters, 2 February 2011<br />
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5huxkFbMehc9cK9upg5RvksnN5iMw?docId=C<br />
NG.d21e4138637545580b355321babcdc6e.f1 date accessed 2 June 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 />
67