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Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: Report of the Special Rapporteur on civil and politicial rights, including the question of disappearances and summay excutions (E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5)

Attachments

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sixty-second session
Item 11 (b) of the provisional agenda
CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE QUESTION OF DISAPPEARANCES
AND SUMMARY EXECUTIONS
Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Report of the Special Rapporteur, Philip Alston
Addendum

MISSION TO SRI LANKA* **
(28 November to 6 December 2005)

Summary

The Special Rapporteur visited Sri Lanka from 28 November to 6 December 2005, at a time when the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) of February 2002 between the Government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was under unprecedented stress. Extrajudicial executions are a singularly important element in the exacerbation of the conflict. Many Tamil and Muslim civilians have been killed primarily because they have sought to exercise their freedoms of expression, movement, association, and participation in ways that are not supportive of one or other of the factions fighting the Government. And many others have been killed in retaliation or because they are deemed to be "sympathizers".

Almost none of these extrajudicial executions has been effectively investigated. Police and military investigations into the killing of Tamils or the broader range of deaths in custody have too often been poorly handled and remarkably few convictions have resulted. On the rebel side, the LTTE regularly issues unconvincing denials of responsibility for various killings but fails to denounce any of those which suit their purposes.

The "Karuna group", who split from the LTTE in the Eastern Province in March 2004, have killed and terrorized LTTE cadres and suspected supporters. Its efforts have succeeded in weakening the latter's grip in the area. The Government insists that the group is an internal problem for the LTTE, while the latter now portray the Karuna group as a paramilitary formation acting in collusion with the Government which the Government is obligated to disarm under the CFA. Both positions are oversimplifications and neither is conducive to bringing an end to the conflict.

Because of the complexity of the situation and the role accorded to the LTTE under the CFA the report places particular emphasis on the need to spell out the applicable international legal framework governing the conduct of the various parties.

The report also examines the problem of deaths in police custody, the causes of which include: (a) the inadequate training of police in criminal investigation work; (b) the widespread use of torture to extract confessions from suspects; and (c) the failure to impose effective disciplinary and criminal sanctions against police officers guilty of torture.

The report concludes by arguing that human rights must be made central both to the peace process and the general system of governance. At present they do not receive the attention they warrant from any of the parties concerned. It suggests that the struggle for hearts and minds in Sri Lanka will be won by those who demonstrate that their actions as well as their vision for the future are solidly grounded in human rights. The principal recommendations include: (a) the need for a wide-ranging human rights agreement, including an effective international human rights monitoring mechanism; (b) the importance of all parties respecting common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions; (c) renewed Government renunciation of collaboration with the Karuna group; (d) arrangements to compensate the families of all non combatants killed in the conflict; (e) the effective police investigation of all extrajudicial killings; (f) a programme to train all police reservists in criminal detection and investigation; (g) a programme to recruit Tamil and Tamil-speaking police officers, especially to work in the North and East; (h) the immediate appointment of the members of the National Police Commission, and confirmation of its key role in promoting and disciplining police officers; (i) ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC; (j) the need for the LTTE to adopt concrete steps to demonstrate that it is serious about human rights, including issuing unequivocal denunciations of killings attributed to it but for which it denies responsibility; (k) a commitment by the LTTE to refrain from human rights violations and to eschew collaboration with armed civilian proxies; (l) an enhancement of the SLMM's human rights work, pending a more comprehensive human rights monitoring initiative; and (m) a human rights-based dialogue with the Tamil diaspora to be initiated by the Governments of all United Nations Member States in which there is a significant diaspora.

I. INTRODUCTION

1. This report describes the situation in Sri Lanka in relation to extrajudicial executions. It is based upon in situ visits and extensive interviews undertaken in the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa, and Kilinochchi, as well as in Colombo, from 28 November to 6 December 2005. The Government of Sri Lanka maintained an open and constructive attitude towards my visit, provided useful assistance, and placed no restrictions on my access to all places and persons, including to LTTE representatives. I pay special tribute to the late Foreign Minister, the Honourable Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was himself the victim of a political killing in August 2005. Annex I provides complete details of the visit.

2. My goal is not to provide an inventory of the extrajudicial killings that are taking place. Various other groups are doing that and their figures are generally consistent and reasonably accurate. Rather, my aim is to contextualize these killings and identify measures which might address the underlying causes and lead to an improved situation. The killings reached their peak during and immediately after my mission and the resulting situation is fragile and potentially perilous.

3. The issue of killings, in many respects, provides an important window into many facets of the overall situation in Sri Lanka. They are symptomatic of the widespread use of police torture, of the failure to rein in abuses committed or tolerated by the military, and of the systematic efforts by various armed groups, and particularly the LTTE, to kill Tamils who refuse to support the LTTE and to provoke military retaliation. Endeavours to achieve peace which do not address human rights issues will fail, although the parties to the conflict do not appear to fully appreciate this reality.

Note:

* The summary of this report is being circulated in all official languages. The report itself is contained in the annex to the summary and is being circulated in the language of submission only. The footnotes are reproduced as received.

** The present report was submitted late in order to reflect the most recent information.

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