From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 25 Sep 92 10:20 PDT
Subject: SRI LANKA: HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDZAWHM
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700519:000:3813
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Sep 25 10:20:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: SRI LANKA: HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDZAWHM

/* Written 12:03 am  Sep 25, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: SRI LANKA: HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDZAWHMUFMING, SAYS GROUP


colombo, sep 22 (ips) -- the blots on sri lanka's human rights
report card are starting to fade, says a group set up last year
to monitor civil liberties in the island following pressure from
international donors who threatened to withhold economic aid.

anthony soza, a former judge, who heads the human rights task
force (hrtf) said in colombo, ''we are on the right track but not
yet out of the woods.''

the year-old hrtf is safeguarding the rights of people held in
custody except by judicial order, and has a mandate to ensure
that security forces and the police respect fundamental rights as
guaranteed under the sri lankan constitution.

''the work of hrtf can be likened to a small pebble dropped in
a vast pool setting off ripples which will reach the farthest
shore,'' soza said as he released the group's first report
recently in the sri lankan capital.

the hrtf says it has been able to implement some of amnesty
international's recommendations to stop human rights violations
of political detainees in sri lanka.

the international human rights monitor wants unrestricted
access to detainees who should be held only at known detention
centres and be seen soon after they are taken into custody by
independent organisations like the red cross. they also want
government's to publicise lists of detainees.

according to sozagjm bvpformation office in colombo where
relatives can make inquiries 24 hours a day ''has been
increasingly made use of''.

hrtf officials have also visited army camps unannounced and
been allowed to talk to detainees alone.

it is estimated that 7,356 sri lankans are being held by the
army and police under special powers to combat insurgency. the
task force says another 3,589 have been reported missing
islandwide since last august.

this number excludes 93 people who were reported missinr, but
later located in police and army camps.

three fourths of those missing are from eastern batticaloa
which falls in sri lanka's northeast theatre of war where tamil
tigers are battling government forces for an independent homeland
for the country's 13 percent tamil minority. (more/ips)



sri lanka: human (2)

''in 280 visits, hrtf has seen all the 7,356 detained
persons,'' said soza.

the report while confirming that there has been a distinct
improvement in the government's human rights record, says there
are still complaints of torture and harassment when people are
taken into custody.

the hrtf also mentions the unnecessarily long periods of
detention which is a violation of human rights.

6:?753 ?6 5;3 3, 948 )-,(-'s bar association, the task
force has widened its scope of activities to challenge particular
cases of detention in the country's supreme court.

the hrtf will assist detainees who have been held for more
than three years to retain lawyers to fight their cases for a
speedy trial, and also to secure their release.

some of those in custody are suspected supporters of a
supposedly left-wing group that attempted to overthrow the
government but was ruthlessly crushed by the military in 1988-89.

the hrtf report warns that the people's liberation front (jvp)
which was all but wiped out, may be regrouping.

the government has been severely criticised for the ''killings
and disappearances'' of thousands of jvp activists and
sympathisers at the height of the insurgency. the hrtf was an
attempt to improve sri lanka's battered human rights image.
(end/ips/hr/rs/an/92)