• Torture reports persist as Sri Lankan forces escape justice
  says UN Human Rights Committee

 Agence France-Presse  reported on 7 November 2003:

GENEVA, Nov 7 (AFP) - A UN panel on Friday denounced persistent reports of torture in Sri Lanka and criticised the impunity enjoyed by security forces for crimes committed in the conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

"The committee remains concerned at persistent reports of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees by law enforcement officials and members of the armed forces," the UN Human Rights Committee said in its report on Sri Lanka.

It found that "very few" police or army officers had been punished on charges of abduction or torture since the ceasefire last year and urged authorities to promptly investigate allegations of crime against the army or police.

Prosecutions often fell through due to lack of evidence, while victims of abuse felt intimidated or were subjected to threats and must be protected, the committee said after its regular examination of Sri Lanka.

"The problem there is the culture of impunity," Nigel Rodley, one of the members of the 18-strong committee, told journalists.

The UN panel, which probes the country's application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, did not examine the current turmoil in Sri Lanka, but members indicated they were watching the situation closely.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Friday withdrew the state of emergency decree announced after she sacked the ministers of defence, interior and information and suspended parliament for two weeks.

"We have been very concerned about the security forces engaging in torture and disappearances and extrajudicial executions, especially during the armed conflict which was the occasion of the previous state of emergency," Rodley commented.

"Obviously antennae have to go up when we hear of a state of emergency in the case of Sri Lanka," he added.