Torture appears to be widely practiced by the police and military in Sri Lanka, a U.N. human rights expert said.
Manfred Nowak, the U.N.'s independent expert on torture and other cruel and degrading punishment, said Monday that he observed during a visit to Sri Lanka earlier this month that torture "is prone to become routine in the context of counter-terrorism operations," especially by the Terrorist Investigation Department.
In visits to police stations and prisons, Nowak said, he received "numerous consistent and credible allegations from detainees who reported that they were ill-treated by the police during inquiries in order to extract confessions, or to obtain information in relation to other criminal offenses."
"Similar allegations were received with respect to the army," he said in a statement released as he appeared before the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee.
Nowak said the methods reported included beating with various weapons, including on the soles of the feet, blows to the ears, suspension in various positions, burning with metal objects and cigarettes, asphyxiation with plastic bags with chili pepper or gasoline, "and various forms of genital torture."
"Though the government has disagreed, in my opinion the high number of indictments for torture filed by the Attorney General's office, the number of successful fundamental rights cases decided by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, as well as the high number of complaints that the National Human Rights Commission continues to receive on an almost daily basis indicates that torture is widely practiced in Sri Lanka," he said.
Nowak said he originally intended to assess torture and ill-treatment in the entire country, including the police, security forces, Tamil Tiger rebels and other groups.
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for more than two decades for an independent state for the island's ethnic minority Tamils in the north and east in the face of historic discrimination by majority Sinhalese -controlled governments. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
A 2002 cease-fire meant to pave the way for a permanent peace agreement broke down nearly two years ago.
Nowak said he could not draw conclusions on torture during the conflict because the government insisted that the armed forces no longer keep detainees within their facilities and did not permit him to travel to Kilinochchi, the main town in the Tamil Tigers' de facto state in the north, to meet rebel leaders and visit their detention facilities.
So he said he focused on torture and ill-treatment in the criminal justice system.
Nowak said "Sri Lanka already has many of the elements in place necessary to both prevent torture and combat impunity." But he said there are a number of shortcomings, most significantly an independent body to make unannounced visits to detention facilities, conduct private interviews with detainees, and carry out independent medical examinations.
He called for "a truly independent monitoring mechanism," centers to rehabilitate torture victims, an independent complaints system in prisons to look into torture and abuse allegations, and prompt investigation of torture allegations by an independent authority.
Confessions made without a lawyer present and not confirmed before a judge should also not be admitted as evidence at trials, he said.
Nowak, a professor of constitutional law and human rights at the University of Vienna, said he shared the preliminary findings with the government, which responded with "constructive comments" and said it would appoint a high-level task force to study the recommendations. A comprehensive report will be submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Source: AP Features
