UN Rights report details Lankan security forces abuses

HUMAN Rights Watch said on Friday the UN Human Rights Office’s report on Sri Lanka details entrenched and systemic rights violations—including arbitrary detention, torture, and deaths in custody—under President Anura Kumara Disanayake.

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The new report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Tiirk also describes the misuse of draconian laws to silence families and activists campaigning for justice and says that continued international engagement through the UN Human Rights Council is “essential.” The Human Rights Council should renew existing UN mandates on Sri Lanka at its 60th session, which begins 8 September. Amid near-complete impunity for past atrocities and ongoing violations against members of minority communities in Sri Lanka, the Council over the years has adopted a series of resolutions stemming from the widespread abuses linked to the 1983-2009 civil war between the Government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).