Press Release: Sri Lanka - ALRC releases a Special Report entitled ‘Torture by the police in Sri Lanka

PRESS RELEASE - ALRC RELEASES SPECIALREPORT: “TORTURE BY THE POLICE IN SRI LANKA”

TheInternational Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), theworld’s largest coalition of non-governmental organisations collaborating inthe fight against torture, has the pleasure of announcing the release of aspecial report by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), entitled ‘Tortureby the police in Sri Lanka’.

Pleaseclick here to download the report’s Coverpages and Contents

OMCT isgravely concerned by the practice of torture in Sri Lanka, which OMCT considersto be systematic as defined by the UN Committee Against Torture, and the factthat it is accompanied by near-total impunity for the perpetrators of theseacts, despite the fact that Sri Lanka is a State Party to the United NationsConvention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment orPunishment, and has legislation at the national level designed, in theory, tomake the act of torture illegal and punishable. OMCT also decries the lack of aneffective and implemented mechanism that is able to ensure that adequatereparation is given to the victims and their families.

OMCT recallsthat under Article 2.1 of the Convention Against Torture, “each State Partyshall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures toprevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.

OMCT has denounced a number of casesof torture in Sri Lanka during 2002, with the information provided by ALRC’ssister-organisation, the Asian Human Rights Commission, a member of OMCT’sSOS-Torture network, and therefore welcomes and supports the release of thisspecial report, containing as it does, both detailed case studies and important,highly relevant and far-reaching recommendations to a range of institutions andgroups, which pave the way for much need change in this very grave situation.

Please find below the Press Releaseissued by ALRC concerning their publication, which you will find in theattachment to this message.

Pleaseclick here to download the report’s Coverpages and Contents

ALRCRELEASES SPECIAL REPORT: TORTURE BY THE POLICE IN SRI LANKA

The AsianLegal Resource Centre (ALRC) has announced the release of a special report, ‘Tortureby the police in Sri Lanka’, under the auspices of its bimonthlypublication article 2 (vol. 1, no. 4), in Hong Kong SAR, today, Thursday,3 October 2002.

‘Tortureby the police in Sri Lanka’ is the first serious attempt at recording andanalysing the routine use of torture by the Sri Lanka Police in day-to-daycriminal investigations. It examines how a culture of barbarity has permeatedpolicing at all levels throughout the entire country. Although in 1994 Sri Lankamade torture by a state officer a serious offence punishable by not less than aseven-year sentence, to date no one is known to have been charged under thatlegislation.

The reportincludes 22 detailed case studies of torture by the Sri Lanka Police. Itrefers to a total of 31 separate incidents of torture, involving 39 victims. Thereport also includes a commentary on the police crisis by the Executive Directorof ALRC, Mr Basil Fernando, two letters on torture in police stations byALRC’s sister organisation, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to theSri Lankan Minister of Interior, the full text of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatmentor Punishment Act, No 22 of 1994, and detailed recommendations to addressthe crisis.

Amongthe key recommendationsof the report are that the Government of Sri Lanka must strictly prosecute allcases of torture perpetrated by state officers, and establish a special unit forimmediate and adequate compensation of torture victims. It also containsextensive recommendations to the Attorney General, the National Human RightsCommission, Sri Lankan lawyers and doctors, and civil groups. UN agencies andinternational donor organisations have likewise been called upon to insist onmeasures by the Government of Sri Lanka to eliminate torture, and supportgenuine efforts to this end.

Pleaseclick here to download the report’s Coverpages and Contents

For furtherinformation please contact Sanjeewa Liyanage, Executive Secretary, ALRC.