{"id":1430,"date":"2016-03-04T01:58:09","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T01:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=1430"},"modified":"2016-03-05T02:27:49","modified_gmt":"2016-03-05T02:27:49","slug":"sri-lanka-torture-allegations-continue-as-war-crimes-inquiry-remains-distant-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=1430","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka torture allegations continue as war crimes inquiry remains distant prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"salem\"<\/a>Amid a tense political situation and ongoing allegations of torture, a promised inquiry into Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war appears no closer.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka’s new government had vowed to convene an internationally supervised probe into atrocities, allegedly committed by both government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels during the decades-long conflict, which ended in 2009.<\/p>\n

However, with a worsening deficit and vocal opposition from nationalists to prosecutions, the coalition government indicated it will not be rushing to set up any inquiry.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, rights groups allege the abuses are continuing.<\/p>\n

Freedom from Torture’s director of policy Sonya Sceats said a culture of torture was “deeply entrenched” in Sri Lanka’s security forces.<\/p>\n

“It has been for decades and any assumption that a change of government has led to a rollback in torture is frankly naive,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Sceats said her organisation had been referred eight separate allegations of torture since the National Unity Government of Maithripala Sirisena took office last year.<\/p>\n

“These referrals come to us from the NHS here in Britain, GPs, psychological staff and lawyers who act for asylum seekers,” she said.<\/p>\n

Other human rights groups have reported similar concerns of ongoing abuses.<\/p>\n

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein told the ABC an inquiry was imperative, during a visit to Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

“Unless you look at your past and distil the right lessons from it, it’s never going to be enough,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Hussein said otherwise the country would run the risk of a “charismatic bigot” again whipping up ethnic division.<\/p>\n

In light of the ongoing allegations of torture in Sri Lanka, Mr Hussein also renewed his criticism of Australia’s policy of turning back asylum seeker boats.<\/p>\n

“We’ve expressed our opinion time and again, I’ve done so publicly and privately, in meetings with senior Australian officials, we’ve expressed our deep regret at this policy,” he said.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka’s legacy of war<\/h2>\n

Calls to investigate abuse allegations levelled at both sides were always rejected by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

Widely regarded as a hero for ending the long civil war, he and supporters have been particularly scathing of calls for foreign involvement, arguing it was aimed at punishing the country’s military.<\/p>\n

Accusations of persecution and torture of Tamils in the years following the war are also extensive, but Sri Lanka’s military, police and intelligence authorities have always denied allegations of mistreatment.<\/p>\n

The human rights situation was widely believed to be improving under new President Maithripala Sirisena.<\/p>\n

Since coming to office last year, he has taken steps to include more minority Tamils in the country’s administration and improve freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

On Sri Lanka’s independence day this February, he took the symbolic step of having the country’s national anthem sung in both Sinhalese and Tamil.<\/p>\n

Victims groups say investigation will end fear<\/h2>\n

Ms Sceats said problems continued because no-one had yet been brought before a court and perpetrators of torture freely remained in the security forces.<\/p>\n

“There are people in the military and intelligence services who know nothing but torture as a means of getting information that they believe that they need,” she said.<\/p>\n

The ABC spoke to two Tamil refugees now living in London, who each bore the scars of torture.<\/p>\n

Neither wanted to be identified, but both men agreed that people in predominantly Tamil northern and eastern Sri Lanka remained fearful of authorities.<\/p>\n

“I have saved my life and come here but my wife and kids are back home,” said one man from northern Sri Lanka<\/p>\n

“I’m worried that something might happen to them.”<\/p>\n

Another torture victim, originally from a village in Sri Lanka’s east, said he had signed a false confession to being a Tamil Tiger fighter after members of the security forces burned him repeatedly.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think there has been change, I don’t think there has been any change under the new government,” he said.<\/p>\n

Commitment to transnational inquiry wanes<\/h2>\n

When the UN released a report last September accusing both sides of atrocities, and passed a fresh resolution calling for an internationally supervised inquiry, President Sirisena agreed.<\/p>\n

But since then, under increasing domestic pressure, the leader of the National Unity Government has backed away from the commitment to international involvement.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka’s budget deficit is worsening and the country is now seeking a bailout from the IMF, bringing with it the need for unpopular reforms.<\/p>\n

President Sirisena is also facing renewed opposition from supporters of former president Mr Rajapaksa, whose family has been implicated in corruption allegations.<\/p>\n

As he works to keep his National Unity coalition together, President Sirisena has sought to placate those who fear an inquiry would tarnish Sri Lanka’s image.<\/p>\n

“We will… safeguard the dignity of the country, the people, and the soldiers as well as to get international recognition for our military,” he said, addressing Sri Lankans on their independence day.<\/p>\n

The President also indicated any inquiry is likely to be some time away, saying Sri Lanka would face the UN resolution “with patience and discipline”<\/p>\n

Source: ABC\/ Salem news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid a tense political situation and ongoing allegations of torture, a promised inquiry into Sri…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[17,5,9,6,19,33],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem.jpg",350,233,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem.jpg",350,233,false],"large":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem.jpg",350,233,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem.jpg",350,233,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem.jpg",350,233,false],"enternews-featured":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem.jpg",350,233,false],"enternews-medium":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem.jpg",350,233,false],"enternews-thumbnail":["https:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/salem.jpg",350,233,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1432,"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions\/1432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}