From: (thum-bi)
Subject: what about rock me up
Keywords: cold eye
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 15:22:28 GMT

Subject: Human Rights Report

 FORTY-EIGHT SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISION ON HUMAN RIGHTS


                          SRI LANKA
                   HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION

   Memorandum prepared on behalf of the European NGO Forum on 
   Sri Lanka by the Country Working Group on Sri Lanka (Geneva)

                            PART 1 of 3
                           _____________



1. INTRODUCTION

  The record of human rights violations including arbitrary 
arrests, detentions without trial, deaths in custody, 
`disappearances', arbitrary killings and disregard for the 
norms set by international human rights and humanitarian 
law continue to be matters of grave concern deserving 
serious attention by all those who are concerned about the 
situation in Sri Lanka. 

  The fighting that broke out in June 1990 between government 
forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE - Tamil 
Tigers) has resulted in incalculable death and destruction, and 
in the displacement of an estimated one million people. 
International and local non-governmental organisations have
documented gross violations of human rights including 
`disappearances' and summary executions running into tens of 
thousands. 

2. EMERGENCY RULE

Sri Lanka has been under a State of Emergency since 1983 
except for a brief period of five months: 

Emergency proclaimed   : 18 May 1983 
Terminated             : 11 January 1989 
Emergency reintroduced : 20 June 1989 
Continues              : To date

Many of the normal safeguards in regard to democratic and 
human rights and fundamental freedoms have remained 
suspended and the security forces have been invested with 
extraordinary powers under the Emergency Regulations and 
the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) which has been 
described as "an ugly blot on the statute book of any civilised 
country''[see Ref l]. 

The PTA, inter alia,

(a) provides for arrest without warrant and for detention
until conclusion of trial and the courts have no power to grant 
bail;
(b) empowers the Minister of Defence to detain a person 
incommunicado for up to 18 months, and the courts have no power to 
determine the legality of such detentions;
(c) empowers the Minister to restrict or prohibit a person from 
taking part in any political activity for up to 18 months, and 
the courts have no power to question the legality of such 
prohibition orders; 
(d) provides for a maximum prison term for life and forfeiture 
of property; 
(e) empowers the Minister to impose censorship of news and 
prohibit the distribution of newspapers; 
(f) enables confessions made orally or in writing to a police 
officer while held in custody or detention to be admitted in 
evidence - the burden of proving that the confession was 
caused by duress, threat, inducement or promise is upon the 
defendant. 

Additional draconian powers are conferred by the Emergency 
Regulations under which persons can be held incommunicado 
in detention for an indefinite period without trial. 


3. DETENTION WITHOUT TRIALS

Tens of thousands of persons were held in detention without 
trial during the period 1988-90 and at present (January 1992) 
an estimated 11,000 persons are reported to be held in 
detention. While theoretically there are legal provisions to 
refer the matter to the courts by way of habeas corpus 
applications, in practice it has proved that these provisions do 
not provide an effective and speedy means of redress against 
arbitrary and unacknowledged detentions. Hundreds of habeas 
corpus applications made to the courts in respect of detained 
persons have remained unresolved for months and in many 
cases for more than a year. 

There have been reported cases where persons have been held 
even without a formal "Detention Order" or after the order had 
elapsed. In one case which was taken up recently before the 
Supreme Court, W.M.Seetha Weerakoon, a high school girl 
student, was arrested along with her younger sister on 12 
August 1989 by army personnel and were handed over to the 
Galagedera police station. Her sister was released within 14 
days. But Seetha was detained until 27 August 1990. The 
evidence led in the case established that she was held for over 
a year without any detention order, and therefore had been held 
illegally. 


4. TORTURE

  The use of torture in Sri Lanka is routinely practiced against 
persons in custody or in detention. The practice is so widespread that 
it can no longer be regarded as the result of individual excesses or 
simply as an over-reaction by enthusiastic officers. 

  Prolonged police and military custody, incommunicado detention in 
unknown places without any form of independent supervision or 
control, the denial of visits by lawyers or relatives, and the 
enabling of confessions to be admissible in evidence provide a 
ready context for torture and ill-treatment. Reliable reports have 
confirmed "that torture is used extensively by the Sri Lankan 
security forces, and that several people have died as a result of 
injuries incurred through torture" [Ref 2]. "Local human rights 
groups and some Government security officials acknowledge that 
Sri Lankan security forces commonly used torture to elicit 
information and cooperation from suspected members of the JVP".[Ref 3] 

  In January 1989, three police officers were charged with the 
murder of a lawyer, Mr.Liyanarachchi. He was abducted in 
September 1988 by police officers, taken to an unknown 
destination and later transferred to the residence of a senior police 
officer where he was held in secret. He was badly tortured and 
when his abduction became publicly known, he was taken to the 
hospital where he died within a few hours after admission. Medical 
evidence showed that the victim had sustained more than one 
hundred serious internal injuries. In the course of the trial, in 
a plea bargaining exercise with the Attorney General, the police 
officers concerned pleaded guilty on a charge of "wrongful 
confinement" in return for dropping the charge of murder. 

  The October 1991 Amnesty International Report states: "Torture 
and ill-treatment appear to have been commonplace at Sevana 
Camp (an army camp from which large numbers of persons held in 
detention `disappeared'  (see Section 13 below). One prisoner who
was released from the camp told Amnesty International that he had
been kept for about a month in a communal bathroom, where he 
got wet from the showers, and that he had been blind folded for 
several weeks. He had also been subjected to several forms of 
torture - he had been beaten with bottles, rubber hosing and cricket 
stumps; he had been suspended from a bar, and burnt with 
cigarettes. Loops had been tightened around his ankles causing 
great pain, and electric shocks had twice been applied to his 
genitals. Marks remain visible on his body which are consistent 
with the forms of torture described. This young man had been 
abducted by men in plain clothes, and the security 
forces had denied for some time that they held him. In his 
account, which is supported by the account of another 
prisoner released from Sevana camp whom Amenesty International 
has interviewed, torture and ill-treatment were widespread at the 
camp. He once claimed to hear a prisoner being beaten to death". 

5. JVP VIOLENCE

  The period covering 1988-1990 was characterised by unprecedented 
violence both on the part of government forces and the Janatha Vimukthi 
Peramuna (People's Liberation Front, JVP), an extremist political group 
based mostly in south Sri Lanka. Adopting a violently antagonistic 
position against the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement of July 1987, which 
sought to provide a framework for devolution of powers for the Tamil 
areas, and to the presence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force(IPKF) 
in the northeast of the island, the JVP engaged in a campaign 
of unmitigated violence including widespread assassinations of 
not only members of the security forces, Members of Parliament 
and leading members of the ruling party, but also of those 
belonging to the opposition parties. It also targeted individuals 
connected with human rights organizations, academics etc. Through 
a sustained campaign of enforced work stoppages, burning down 
government installations etc., the JVP was seeking to bring the 
administration of the country to a grinding halt. In an attempt 
to prevent the parliamentary elections from being held in February 
1989, the JVP having called for a boycott of elections killed 
several candidates belonging to all political parties, election 
agents, officials and even ordinary persons who chose to vote at the 
elections. 
 
  An Amnesty International Report says:

"The JVP and the associated Deshapremi Janatha 
Viyaparaya (Patriotic People's Movement), continued 
a campaign of violence and intimidation and were 
widely believed responsible for thousands of murders.
The victims included people perceived as `traitors' 
to the groups, prisoners, security forces personnel 
and their families, members of the ruling UNP, senior 
public officials, broadcasters and left wing opposition 
activists, including some Buddhist monks. Members of 
the two groups reinforced their calls to strike and to 
demonstrate against the government by threatening to 
murder those who refused to participate. They also 
destroyed government offices, post offices, tea plantations 
and other state property" [Ref 4].

  According to government figures, the JVP murdered 6,517 people 
between late 1987 and March 1990. There were markedly fewer 
reports of killings by the JVP in 1990 than in 1989. However, 15 
members of a village `vigilance committee', which had reported on
suspected subversives to the security forces, were murdered in 
Matara District in July 1990. The government attributed the 
killings to the JVP [Ref 5].


6. GOVERNMENT'S VIOLENT RESPONSE, ARBITRARY KILLINGS AND 
   "DISAPPEARANCES" 

  Government forces responded with counter-violence which was 
characterised by unmitigated repression and brutality. Anyone 
suspected of JVP membership or sympathy was shot dead and 
in many cases burnt alive. Their homes were set on fire. Death 
squads sponsored by the security forces went about the 
country in unmarked vehicles summarily executing anyone 
with suspected JVP connections. An estimated 60,000 persons 
`disappeared' between 1988-90. 

  "In the south extra-judicial executions were carried out by 
uniformed members of the security forces and by 'death 
squads' believed to be associated with them. Many hundreds of 
people were killed, because they were suspected of supporting 
or sympathizing with the JVP, but it was impossible to 
establish the true total. The identity of many victims was not 
known because bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, 
burned in heaps of tyres or thrown in rivers. Some bodies were 
dumped long distances from the scene of the execution...Some 
victims had been taken by uniformed police or army officers; 
others had been abducted by unknown armed men in civilian 
clothes, some of them travelling in unmarked vehicles. Security 
force spokespersons said many victims were JVP sympathisers 
or collaborators. Other people killed were from villages 
believed to be collectively sympathetic to the JVP" [Ref 6]. 

  Several people who complained of or witnessed human rights 
violations by the security forces have reportedly been killed. 

  Human rights activists in Sri Lanka point to the "Vavulkele 
Murders" as typical of the innumerable cases of deliberate 
killing by members of the security forces after persons have 
been taken into custody. In this incident, police officers 
belonging to Nittambuwa area took into custody 13 persons of 
whom one escaped but the other 12 were shot, killed, bodies 
burnt and then buried on 27 February 1990. The following are 
excerpts from the account of the incident given by the person 
who escaped: 

  "On that day, 27 February 1990 at about 2.30 in 
the early morning, I heard the sound of banging on 
the door. When I opened the door, I saw a group of 
persons in masks and dressed in army and police 
uniforms. There was a white van and a jeep parked 
near the house. They ordered me to get into the van. 
I did so, clad in my sarong. It was quite dark at the 
time, so I was not able to recognize anybody else who 
was within the van at the time. But because the masked 
men would occasionally shine their torches on to us, I 
gathered that there were about 7 persons in the van 
along with me. The jeep drove in front of the van in which 
we were. These vehicles stopped at several more points 
along the route; more people were put into the vehicles 
at each stop."

"As soon as I was inside the van, they stripped me of 
my sarong. I was naked. Then they tore strips off my 
sarong and tied my hands and feet with them. The torch 
light showed me that the others in the van too were in 
this same situation, naked with their hands and feet bound." 

"When there were about ten of us in the van, they brought 
in a 11th person. This was a small and pretty girl. At the 
time she was put into the van she was wearing only a 
nightdress." 

 "After putting the girl into the van, one of the masked 
men asked me to rape her. When I refused, they pushed her 
onto the floor of the van and pushed me on top of her. 
When I proved unamenable to their demand, they asked the 
others in the van to rape her. By this time, there was an 
electric bulb burning inside the van. When all the other 
prisoners also refused to rape the girl, they scolded us 
asking us if we were "men". They used a lot of obscenities. 
Then they began to molest that girl in front of us in a very 
bestial manner. Even though the girl cried out when they were 
molesting her, we were helpless, and we could do nothing. 

"As the van moved forward, I slowly loosened the bonds on 
my wrist, without them noticing what I was doing. By the 
time we reached the spot where the killing was to take 
place, I had freed my hands completely." 

"By about 3 am, the vehicles came to a stop near Vavulkele 
Estate. Two of the armed men stood near the door of the van. 
They took one person out, and shot him. Then the next, the 
next and so on. I was fifth in line. They took the third out 
and shot him too. As they took the fourth person out, I 
jumped out and struck a vigorous blow at one of the other 
men who was standing near the door of the van. I pushed that 
man aside and ran away into the dark. It was due to some luck 
that I was able to avoid the shot they fired at me as I was 
running. I felt the bullet whiz past me." 

  "I managed to clamber up a cadju tree nearby with great 
difficulty. From the top of that tree, I watched the bodies 
of companions being burned." 

  "When the next day dawned I came down off the tree and ran 
to the temple that was nearby. There I asked for a glass of 
water from a person who was there, and told him what had 
happened. He gave me a sarong. After that I went around to 
the homes of the people that I had recognised in the group, 
and gave them the information about what had happened and
 then went home"[Ref 7]. 

  Because of the public outrage at these killings and the 
resulting wide publicity they received, the incident could 
not be covered up as in many other similar cases. At an 
identification parade, 11 police officers were identified 
as being involved and 8 of them are facing murder charges. 
Among those charged are two senior police officers, the 
Offlcer-in-Charge of the Weerangula Police Station and the 
Officer-in-Charge of the Ganemulla Police Station and other 
junior police officers. 


7. HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERS AND ACTIVISTS KILLED 

  Lawyers pursuing human rights cases were among those who were 
extra-judicially executed. Charitha Lankapura and Kanchana 
Abhayapala, two lawyers, had filed hundreds of habeas corpus 
applications with courts on behalf of `disappeared' prisoners 
and others arrested in the south. The former was killed by unknown 
armed men in July 1989 and the latter in August 1989. At least 20 
other lawyers were reportedly threatened with death in attempts 
to prevent them from working on such cases. Many lawyers have 
gone into exile in fear of being killed. 

  Richard de Zoysa, a journalist who had reported on human rights
issues, was among those killed in February 1990. He was abducted 
by gunmen from his home in the capital, Colombo. The following 
day his naked body was found in the sea with bullet wounds in his 
neck and head. Although his mother identified one of the alleged 
killers as a senior police offlcer, a magisterial inquiry into his 
death was discontinued in August 1990 and no action was taken 
against the police officer allegedly involved. Richard de Zoysa's 
mother and lawyer both received death threats in May 1990 when 
they pressed for a full inquiry into his murder. 

  Other human rights defenders were also at risk: at least five 
members of parliament who had raised human rights cases 
received death threats. In September 1990 Kumaraguru 
Kugamoorthy, a radio producer and human rights activist, 
`disappeared' after being abducted in Colombo by an armed group 
believed to be connected with the security forces. 


8. `DISAPPEARANCES' AFTER ARRESTS

  Information was received by Amnesty International during 1989 
about over 2,000 `disappearances' after arrests by security forces 
in the south. Most victims were young men, many from socially 
depressed areas, but included some Buddhist monks and students. 
Some people who reportedly `disappeared' were later released 
after being held in unacknowledged detention by the authorities. 
Other `disappeared' people were believed to have been killed, and 
the fates of many remain unknown. 

  The authorities arbitrarily arrested thousands of people on the 
basis of anonymous denunciations and suspected links with the 
JVP. Detainees were commonly held incommunicado. Many 
reportedly were tortured and died in custody. Relatives of 
suspects were also held as 'hostages' in the absence of the wanted 
person. Many of the relatives were apparently beaten in custody 
and some were killed. The brother of an army deserter was 
reportedly arrested in Kandy district in place of his brother in July 
1989. Next day his body was found in a nearby reservoir.[Ref 8] 
Suspects' relatives were at times detained in place of the wanted 
person. In one reported case a six-year old child was detained in 
October by Kuliyapitiya police who had sought the father as a JVP 
suspect. The child was later released and the father arrested. The 
father spent one month in detention before his arrest was 
acknowledged.[Ref 9]

 
9. ABDUCTIONS WHILE IN CUSTODY

  There have been several instances of persons being abducted 
while in custody of the security forces, or soon after their release 
from custody. 

  In August 1990, an opposition MP (a Joint Secretary of the 
Committee of Parliamentarians for Human and Fundamental 
Rights) raised in parliament a case in which a youth, suspected of 
being a member of the JVP, had been detained at the Police Station 
in Badulla. He was released on 10 August 1990. No sooner had the 
released youth started walking towards the clock tower with his 
mother on their way home, than a jeep with no number plates arrived 
and some persons who had their faces covered alighted from the 
jeep, dragged him into the jeep in spite of the struggle put up by 
the boy and the mother. In the course of the struggle, the face 
covering of one of the persons was displaced and those who saw 
the incident have identified him as a member of the "platoon" of a 
Police Unit of the Badulla area. A few days later, the boy's body 
was found burning along with two other bodies at the 13th 
milepost in Meeghakivula. 

  In September 1990, W.L.Palitha, a suspect in a murder case, was 
abducted from the premises of the Harnbantota Magistrate's Court 
in the presence of police officers and other security service 
personnel and taken away in a white coloured van which had no 
number plates, and thereafter he had not been seen. 



10. J.V.P. LEADERS KILLED

  In November 1989 and the following months, government forces 
succeeded in taking into custody many of the leaders of the JVP, 
including its leader Rohana Wijeweera and General Secretary 
Upatissa Gamanayake, most of whom were summarily executed 
without any trial. "In the south, the government said in 
January(1990) that it had destroyed the armed opposition JVP"
[Ref 10]. 


11. DEATHS IN CUSTODY

  There have been many cases of persons having suffered death 
while in custody. In January 1991, an opposition Member of 
Parliament complained that two persons, Jayantha Welagedera (19) 
and Gamini Fonseka (15) had `disappeared' after being taken into 
custody by the police on 13 January 1991 and there was reason to 
believe that they had been killed by the police. The police had 
apparently told the relatives that the two boys had escaped from 
custody. At a Magisterial inquiry subsequently held, K.A.Tikiri 
Banda, a minor employee who was working at the Kadawatha Police 
Station during the period in question, in his evidence said that 
he had seen both boys in the custody of the police and that they 
had been severely assaulted. On the night of 15 January 1991 the 
older boy died and his body vanished. The younger boy was alive 
until 17 January and then he too "vanished". The witness also said 
that he had been threatened by police officers to deny having seen 
the incident. In another case, four policemen and a "home guard" are 
facing murder charges for having beaten to death while in custody a 
person named P.Siripala who was arrested on 12 June 1991. 


12. KILLINGS AND `DISAPPEARANCES' IN ARMY CAMPS

  In June 1990, scores of corpses were found near former army 
camps, apparently the bodies of prisoners killed at the camps 
before troops were redeployed to the northeast. Bodies of suspected 
victims of extrajudicial execution continued to be found in the 
following months. 

  `Disappearances' continued to be reported from the south following 
detentions by uniformed police officers and abductions by 
plainclothes squads believed to be attached to the security forces. 
The victims included former JVP suspects who had previously been 
detained but then released, and young Tamil men apparently 
suspected of links with the LTTE [Ref 11]. 

  In its report October 1991 on the "Unresolved 'Disappearances' in 
the period 1987 -1990 : The Case of Sevana Army Camp", Amnesty 
International has documented details of 46 cases of `disappearances' 
from the Sevana Army Camp in late 1989 and early 1990. All victims 
were detained at this Army Camp situated in the Ratnapura district at 
the time they `disappeared'. 
"In several cases relatives had received information from witnesses or 
military officers that the missing person was indeed detained there. 
At the time these youths were detained, the Sixth Artillery Unit was 
stationed at Sevana Camp. According to the relatives, when the Sixth 
Artillery Unit moved out of this camp in late January 1990, these and 
other prisoners held there simply vanished. No prisoners remained at 
the camp, and the relatives have been unable to trace them elsewhere. 
The relatives do not know the fate of the youths. They fear they may 
have been extra-judicially killed and their bodies secretly disposed 
of in hours before the camp was handed over to soldiers belonging 
to the Fourth Gemunu Regiment..." 

  "Amnesty International does not know the total number of 
prisoners who `disappeared' from Sevana Camp. The cases included 
in this paper exemplify aspects of the pattern of `disappearances' 
during this period, and demonstrate the continuing plight of 
relatives of the `disappeared' who have so far had no clarification 
from the authorities of the fate of the youths, and have no means of 
redress through official channels"[Ref l2]. 


13. ARREST OF TAMIL YOUTH

  Random and indiscriminate arrest of Tamil youth residing in the 
south of the island, particularly in Colombo and adjoining areas 
continued following the outbreak of fighting between government 
forces and the LTTE in June 1990 in a hunt by security forces for 
those allegedly with LTTE connections. Although many were 
reportedly released after `interrogation', they were subjected to 
torture while in custody. Following the assassination of State 
Minister of Defence Ranjan Wijeratne in a bomb attack in May 1991 
allegedly by the LTTE and the bomb attack by the LTTE upon the 
Joint Operations Command Head Quarters in Colombo in June 1991, 
hundreds of Tamil youth were rounded up and detained. 


14. GOVERNMENT - LTTE TALKS

  In April 1989, the LTTE accepted an invitation from President 
Premadasa who assumed office on a promise to secure the 
departure of the IPKF. Talks between the government and the LTTE 
commenced shortly thereafter with both parties declaring a 
cessation of hostilities. However the fighting continued between the 
LTTE and the IPKF together with its allied Tamil groups who 
constituted the Northeast Provincial administration which had come 
into being following the elections in November 1988. Shortly after 
government-LTTE talks commenced, President Premadasa called for 
the pull-out of the IPKF. After some unseemly diplomatic wrangling 
between Delhi and Colombo, by the end of December 1989 IPKF had 
withdrawn from all districts in the Northeast except Trincomalee 
and Jaffna from where the departure of the IPKF was completed in 
March 1990. 


15. MURDER OF TULF LEADERS

  While the LTTE delegation was in Colombo negotiating with the 
government, on 13 June 1989 three LTTE gunmen who had gained 
access to the residence of the leaders of the moderate Tamil 
United Liberation Front (TULF) leaders on the pretext of 
negotiating with them assassinated the Front's General Secretary 
and Member of Parliament A.Amirthalingam and a former 
Member of Parliament V.Yogeswaran. Mr. M.Sivasithamparam, the 
Front's President, escaped with serious gunshot injuries. Having 
initially denied any involvement in the assassination, the LTTE 
leadership later announced that the TULF leaders were executed 
because they were "traitors". 


16. FIGHTING BETWEEN TAMIL GROUPS

  Indian troops, who had been responsible for the security of the 
northeast since July 1987, completed their withdrawal by late 
March(1989). Following heavy fighting with rival Tamil groups, the 
LTTE took control of the Northeastern Province and continued 
negotiations with the Sri Lanka Government about the future 
administration of the province. Members of the Eelam People's 
Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and allied groups, who had 
controlled the provincial council under Indian patronage, fled the 
area.[Ref 13] 

  The Tamil groups forming the provincial administration led by the 
EPRLF, in anticipation of the IPKF withdrawal, had forcibly 
conscripted thousands of young Tamils for training and to 
constitute a Tamil National Army(TNA). The TNA was obviously 
formed with the hope of withstanding any military challenge from 
the LTTE following the withdrawal of the IPKF. As the IPKF 
withdrew from each district in the northeast, fighting broke out 
between the LTTE and the TNA. The fighting in the eastern 
Batticaloa district was particularly fierce and the LTTE emerged 
victorious with hundreds of TNA (described as the boys-brigade) 
cadres being killed. 

  It has emerged that, after President Premadasa came to power 
and commenced negotiations with the LTTE, the government of Sri 
Lanka supplied weapons, vehicles and other material help to the 
LTTE to fight against its rival Tamil groups and the IPKF[Ref 14]. 
In May 1990, Mr.Sam Thambimuthu, a well known human rights 
activist, a member of the Batticaloa Citizens Committee and 
Member of Parliament of the Batticaloa district, was shot dead 
with his wife in front of the Canadian High Commission in Colombo 
allegedly by the LTTE. 

  The LTTE's attacks on rival Tamil groups were not confined to Sri 
Lanka. "On June 20, 1990, twenty men armed with AK-47 assault 
rifles attacked an apartment block in Madras, India, where the 
exiled EPRLF Secretary-General, Kandaswamy Padmanabha was 
living. Fifteen were killed including Padmanabha and 
V.K.Yogasangari, an EPRLF Member of Parliament for Jaffna district 
and P.Kirupakaran, Finance Minister for North-East Provincial 
Council" [Ref 15]. 


17. FIGHTING BREAKS OUT - JUNE 1990

The government and LTTE had been negotiating for for over an 
year. With the departure of the IPKF in March 1990 and the 
collapse of the provincial administration in the Tamil areas, the 
LTTE gained effective physical control of the north east. 
"Government administrative officers remained in place in the 
northeast, as did government police officers, but in practice most 
of their activities were subject to control by the LTTE''.[Ref 16] 
Without any advance warning and quite unexpectedly, fighting 
broke out between the LTTE and government forces on 11 June 
1990 with LTTE cadres surrounding many police stations in the 
east. The LTTE ordered all police personnel in eastern Sri Lanka 
and their families to vacate police stations by 2.30 pm that day. 
Hundreds of policemen and their families took refuge in army and 
air force camps. Most of the police stations surrendered without a 
fight and by the end of the day, the LTTE had captured most of the 
police stations in the region.[Ref. l7] 

"The LTTE took captive hundreds of police officers. It appears that 
most Tamil police officers, as well as some Sinhalese and Muslim 
officers, were released; however, most of the Sinhalese and Muslim 
officers held prisoner were summarily executed. The bodies of 
some of those killed have been found. For example, a police officer 
from Kalmunai who escaped with injuries was reported in the 
press as saying that he and 113 of his colleagues had been taken 
away by the LTTE, lined up and shot".[Ref.18] 

Some of the police personnel are believed to be still in LTTE 
custody. 

18. AERIAL BOMBARDMENT

Since June 1990, Government forces have been engaged in a 
sustained campaign of indiscriminate aerial bombardment of the 
north, particularly the Jaffna peninsula. Thousands of homes, 
school buildings, temples, churches, hospitals, shops etc. have been 
reduced to rubble. Many hundreds of civilians have fallen victims 
to bombing raids. By targeting the main power grid in a bombing 
raid, the northern areas, including the densely populated Jaffna 
district have been deprived of electricity since mid 1990. Without 
electricity, essential activities, including storage of medicines and 
blood for transfusions, have been made virtually impossible. 
Despite the claim by the government that the war is directed against 
the LTTE and not against the Tamil people, it is the civilian 
population that has suffered most form the bombing raids. 

"We also had the opportunity, during our stay in Jaffna, to visit
seniour officials of the LTTE in their well protected camp, with
its well-nigh impregnable bunker. It was clear to us that the 
constant bombing and helicopter strafing would have little impact 
on the Tamil Tiger soldiers; it was the ordinary citizens, with 
their simple bunkers, little more than shallow dugouts, often 
snake-infested, who were constantly vulnerable to air attacks."
[Ref. 19]

In carrying out its campaign of indiscriminate bombing and 
and strafing, the Government has displayed utter diregard for 
the suffering and damage caused to civilians.

"Government forces have waged a bombing campaign 
form the air on those areas of the north controlled by 
the LTTE. Damage to property through bombing has been 
extensive... Residents of the Jaffna peninsula have also
complained that civilians have been chased by military 
helicopters, fired at and sometimes killed. Markets where
civilians gather to buy supplies are also reported to have 
come under attack form the air. For example, about 12
people were reportedly killed at Chavakachcheri market, 
Jaffna, when it came under helicopter fire on 9 October
1990. Further credibility was given to the repeated 
allegation that civilians were being targeted from the air
when on 3 May 1991 a clearly marked vehicle carrying
medical staff from the French non-governmental organization,
Medicins Sans Frontieres was attacked from the air by a 
helicopter between Madhu and Vavuniya. Four members of the 
medical team were injured." [Ref. 20]


19. ECONOMIC BLOCKADE

Transport and communications have been almost totally 
disrupted in many parts of the northeast, especially in
many areas of the north. A virtual economic blockade has 
been imposed against the north and the civilian population has
been deprived of essential food and medical supplies. The
supplies made possible through the good offices of the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) do not 
meet even a fraction of the needs of the population. The
security forces have banned the transport of a large number of
items essential to the basic survival of the community in the 
affected areas. With no electricity, no fuel, no transport, no
adequate food or medicines, the civilian population has been
pushed to undergo severe hardship and into leading a primitive
existence.

The ICRC`s capacity to perform its humanitarian functions has
been severely curtailed by the widespread and intensive nature
of the military conflict between the LTTE and government forces,
and the restrictions imposed upon the ICRC by the warring parties.

20. EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS AND `DISSAPEARANCES' IN THE 
    NORTHEAST

It is reported that since June 1990, seven to eight thousand
people have been arbitrarily killed and an estimated six 
thousand persons have `dissapeared' in eastern Sri Lanka.
"Those cited as responsible for committing human rights violations
on the government side include members of the military, the
police and the Special Task Force (STF, a police commando unit).
In some areas of the east, members of unidentified groups who
wear plain clothes and use unmarked vehicles have also been 
cited. These people operate in much the same manner as the 
plainclothes "death squads" linked to government forces which
were a feature of the recent counter-insurgency drive against
the JVP in the south." [Ref. 21]

Government forces in the northeast are reported to have extra-
judicially executed thousands of defenseless civilians in areas
they had regained, using counter-terror tactics simililar to 
those employed in the south in 1989. Killings in the east have 
also been attributed to paramilitary or vigilante groups which
operate in plain clothes and use unmarked vehicles to reduce
risk of identification. Such groups are often believed to 
consist of members of the security forces. Almost all the victims
of violations committed by government security forces and allied
groups are members of the Tamil community. [Ref. 22]

Victims were reportedly shot, bayonetted, stabbed or hacked to 
death; some were said by witnesses to have been burned alive.
Victims' bodies were regularly left in the open. The identities
of many remained unknown; others, presumably killed in custody,
were identified as people who had been detained by security forces
days earlier. Some had been burned beyond recognition or mutilated.
In Amparai distric, where the Special Task Force, a police 
commando unit, was especially active, bodies - some without heads -
began to be washed on the beaches from September (1990).

"In Amparai district alone at least 3,000 Tamil people were
reportedly killed or `dissapeared' between June and October(1990),
many of whom were believed to have been victims of extrajudicial
executions. In Batticaloa and Vavuniya districts, as well as in
other areas, widespread extrajudicial executions were also 
reported after government troops moved in." [Ref 23]

The extrajudicial executions, burning of bodies and
`dissapearances' started in several towns in the east within
days of government forces moving in. Father Eugene Herbert,
an American Jesuit priest who had lived in Sri Lanka for 42
years, described the outbreak of killings in Batticaloa as 
follows in a letter dated 4 August 1990 to his brother-in-law:

"When the army first came in on June 25 no shot was fired as 
the Tamil Tigers had withdrawn to fight first in Jaffna. But 
then began the arrest of innocent citizens, looting, killings
and burning on public roads to terrorise the people, etc. I had
to supervise the burial of two, a man and a woman, who had been
killed, put into a sack and thrown off the bridge into the lagoon
just in front of St. Sebastian's Church. They had been in the 
water for three days before we were able to get the army to bury
them."

"There has been some improvements lately. The Peace Committee
...has mad many representations to the Army authorities. Their
efforts have stopped the burning of bodies on the public roads
and there have not been any persons thrown off the bridge for
two weeks now. But the arrests of boys, mostly innocent, continue."

In spite of the optimism expressed in Father Herbert's letter
about `improvement', extrajudicial executions and dissaperances
continued to be committed on a large scale in Batticaloa, and 
Father Herbert himself `dissapeared' on 15 August 1990 while
travelling on a road which was deserted except for regular army
checkpoints. [Ref 24]

People have been picked up from their homes and work places, on
the streets, while travelling in buses and even from refugee 
camps never to be seen again. The `dissapearances' and killing
of people following such arrests have inclued infants, children
-boys and girls- the middle aged and the elderly reaching up to
70 year olds. In many instances whole families have `dissapeared'.
"Victims included babies and their mothers, children and elderly
men and women. In Batticoloa town alone over 1,200 people 
reportedly `dissapeared' between June and October (1990)". [Ref. 25]

On 2 August 1990, 150 men were reportedly taken from Pottuvil
refugee camp, only 30 of whom were subsequently released. The 
police and the STF both denied that they had carried out the 
detentions, and the whereabouts of the remaining 120 remain 
unknown. However local citizens reported that in days following
the detentions, smoke was seen rising form the premises of the 
police station. It is suspected that these prisoners may have
been killed and burned.

In another incident, 158 people staying at the refugee camp 
at the Eastern University campus, Vandaramullai, Batticaloa, 
were taken into cutody by the security forces on 5 September
1990. By 20 September, the local Peace Committee submitted
the names of those detained to the authorities who later denied
taking the concerned persons into custody. It is presumed that
the persons had been killed and their bodies disposed off in 
secret.

The names of hundreds of people reported to have `disspeared'
following round ups in villages have reached Amnesty International.
In one incident, over 160 people were reportedly taken into
custody from 4 villages in Batticaloa district : Kokkuvil, 
Saturukondan, Pannichaiyady and Pillaiyarady, including children
and babies, and old men and women. According to reports, armed
soldiers in uniform and some in civilian dress, went to these
villages at about 5:30 p.m. on 9 September 1990 and ordered all
the residents to come out of their homes and gather on the road.
Then they were taken towards the Boys Town army camp. None of
the persons taken into custody on that day has been seen ever
since.

There were reports of killings committed by a so-called vigilante
group in Batticaloa  in late April 1991. The methods used in the
killings were very much the same as those used by death squads 
which operated in south Sri Lanka in the recent past. Headless
bodies were reprotedly fround in the Batticaloa area on several
occasions in April 1991. Notices had been placed near the victims
saying that they had been killed by "Black Cobras". On 26 April
two headless bodies were found at Iruthayapuram; on 27 April 
two further headless were found near the STF camp near Kallady
bridge.

"On 12 June 1991, two soldiers were killed  and one was wounded
in a LTTE landmine attack at Kokkaddicholai, in Batticaloa 
district. In retaliation, one officer and sixteen soldiers from
the local army camp went on a rampage in the villages of 
Mahiladithivu and Muthalikuda killing dozens of civilians, 
including women and children. Local Members of Parliament claimed
that over 150 civilians were killed, some women raped and 
dozens of properties set ablaze. Seventeen villagers from 
Muthalaikuda, including a 16 year boy called Suthaharan, were
taken to the place of the landmine explosion, made to circle
around the crater three times and then shot. Their bodies were
dumped in the crater and burnt. In Mahiladithivu an estimated 
50 villagers were killed, including several women and children,
one only eight-months old. [Ref. 26]


21. CLASHES BETWEEN TAMILS AND MUSLIMS

One of the tragic features of the latest round of fighting is 
the internecine clashes between Tamil and Muslim communities 
in the eastern province which have resulted in the deaths of 
hundreds and the displacement of thousands. The clashes have 
been either instigated or retaliatory in character. 

By mid-July 1990, the security forces appeared to have regained
control of the main towns - Tricomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai -
in the east over which the LTTE previously asserted control 
during the period of its negotiations with the government. To 
begin with, in what was seen as retaliation to alleged collaboration
by Muslims with the security forces, Muslim civilians were attacked
and many were killed by unidentified persons, but the blame was
promptly attributed to the LTTE by some Muslim leaders of the area
and the government. Following these attacks on the Muslims, Tamil
people also were attacked allegedly by persons belonging to the 
Muslim community. It is believed that one of the initial contributory
factors for the instigation of attacks on civilian Tamils was the
reported killing of Muslim policemen captured by the LTTE.

Following representations from Muslim leaders, the government 
implemented a scheme to train and arm Muslim "home guards" with
the ostensible purpose of protecting their community. Predictably,
violence escalated with attacks and counter-attacks, killings 
and counter-killings between the two communities. "The government
policy of arming civilian groups in the east appears to have 
contributed to an intesification of violence in the area; tensions
between and within communities have been exacerbated."[Ref 27]

While the LTTE has, since July 1990 been held responsible for a
number of incidents in which hundreds of Muslim civilians have 
been killed, the actions of government-aided Muslim "home guards"
have been accused of being responsible for the death and 
`dissapearance' of thousands of Tamil civilians in the Batticaloa,
Trincomalee and Amparai districts in eastern Sri Lanka.

22. VIOLATIONS BY THE LTTE

Of the many Tamil militant groups, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE - Tamil Tigers) has emerged the most dominant and
it claims to be the "sole representative of the Tamil people" and to 
have the support of the majority in the community, it is charged
that it achieved its dominance by systematic physical 
extermination of other groups and political parties. 
The LTTE's declared aim is to achieve a separate state of "Eelam" 
comprising the northern and eastern provinces which are inhabited 
by the overwhelming majority of the "Tamil speaking people" 
(Tamils and Muslims). It has conducted an armed struggle to 
achieve the state of Eelam for over a decade. 
The LTTE had held effective territorial control and administered 
nearly the whole of the northern Jafma peninsula for a number of 
years. Following the gradual withdrawal of the Indian Peace 
Keeping Force (IPKF) in the period December 1989 to March 1990, 
the LTTE took effective control of almost the whole of the northeast. 
By this time, it had started negotiations with the government of Sri 
Lanka and there was a cessation of hostilities between the LTTE and 
government forces. On the ground, in the northeast, Sri Lankan 
security forces and the police were contined to their barracks. 
During this period, the LTTE resorted to widespread arbitrary 
arrest, incommunicado detention, torture, "disappearances" and 
extrajudicial executions.[Ref. 28] 

The following are some of the many violations reported to have 
been committed by the LTTE: 

* LTTE cadres carry out arrests on various grounds, including 
people's sympathies for rival Tamil groups, or cooperation with 
them, sympathy or cooperation with the IPKF in the past, suspicion 
of providing information to the security forces or refusal to pay 
contributions to the LTTE. [Ref. 29] 

* A number of people, particularly businessmen, have been 
kidnapped and detained for ransom. [Ref. 30] 

* "The LTTE also tortured and killed prisoners, killed or imprisoned 
numerous members of rival Tamil groups and imprisoned Tamil 
civilians for ransom". [Ref. 3l] 

* Victims of extrajudicial executions by the LTTE "include large 
numbers of Sinhalese and Muslirn civilians as well as Tamil people 
considered `traitors'. [Ref. 32] 

* The LTTE has also been responsible for the "disappearance" of 
prisoners it has taken, including policemen and others in 
government service as well as those it considers `dissident' Tamils, 
and is reported to have tortured prisoners.[Ref. 33] 

* One person interviewed by Amnesty International in June 1991 
said that he was taken into "custody for interrogation" by LTTE 
cadres in April l99Z. He was blindfolded and taken in a van to a 
transit camp and kept there with over 4000 others for 9 days. On the 
ninth day, he was transferred to Tunukkai in the Mullaitivu district 
where one of the largest detention camps of the LTTE was in place. 
The majority of the prisoners were held in a large covered area 
which was divided into individual spaces for prisoners by white 
lines painted on the ground. Each prisoner was allocated a 
numbered space of 3' X 2'. Prisoners were forced to stay in their 
allocated spaces. Their feet were shackled together with a rigid 
nine-inch bar. He estimated that about 800 people were held in this 
hall at that time. He also alleged that those considered to be 
"hardcore" prisoners were held separately in eight-foot deep pits 
surrounded by barbed wire. There were five such pits, each of 
which, he thought contained approximately 20-25 prisoners.[Ref. 34]

* Persons held in LTTE camps were subjected to torture. One 
prisoner who managed to escape described how at a detention 
camp set up in the Kachchai area in the Jaffna district, he and four 
others were put into a small room, told to stand with their face 
towards the wall and were hit several times on the back with a 
sledge hammer. In MidJuly 1990, he also witnessed at the same 
camp how 16 soldiers of the Sri Lankan army, who had been taken 
prisoner during the LTTE attack on Kokkavil army camp in 
Mullaitivu district, were tortured - nails were pushed under their 
fingernails, they were forced to eat mud and sand, stripped naked 
and forced to roll in the hot sand, hung upside down and beaten, 
and one by one they were put into a small room in which red 
chillies were being burnt.[Ref. 35] 

* Several ex-prisoners of the LTTE;. have provided Amnesty 
International with names of the people in LTTE custody, including 
a number of members of rival groups, journalists, employees of 
institutions such as banks, civil servants and police officers.[Ref.36]

* Hundreds of Sinhalese and Muslim villagers have also been 
killed by the LTTE since the outbreak of the fighting in the 
northeast. On 14 April 1991 at Ethimale in the Moneragala district, 
14 Sinhalese villagers were killed among whom there were at least 
six children. 

* In apparent retaliation to alleged Muslim collaboration with the 
security forces, the LTTE reportedly carried out a series of 
massacres of Muslim civilians: 

"On 13 July 1990, 168 Muslims returning from Colombo to their 
home village in the east were abducted, robbed, hacked to death 
and burned. On 24 and 28 July in two incidents four and ten 
worshippers respectively were killed in a mosque at 
Sammanthurai, Batticaloa. On 30 July 17 Muslim farmers were 
killed at Akkaraipattu in the Amparai district. On 3 August in two 
attacks on two mosques in the village of Kattankudi, 145 
worshippers were killed and 125 more injured. On 11 -12 August, 
nearly 200 Muslim civilians, including women and children were 
killed in three villages near Eravur.[Ref. 37] 

* There are at least five to six thousand persons held in LTTE's 
detention camps. 


In the areas controlled by the LITE: 

(a) The rule of law has disappeared with the forcible dismantling 
of the established legal system including the courts and the 
profession of lawyers. Instead the LTTE dispenses "justice" through 
its own appointed "courts" which are often under the supervision 
of gun-trofflng LTTE cadres. 
(b) Freedom of expression has been suppressed; national 
newspapers have been banned; all newspapers published in the 
area are under the control of the LTTE. "Newspapers published in 
Jaffna are closely controlled by the LTTE. The LTTE have silenced 
dissent within the areas they control by killing, threatening or 
driving out those who have spoken or written against them".[Ref.38] 
(c) All political parties and groups have been banned and anyone 
suspected of belonging to a group unsympathetic to the LTTE  is 
summarily executed. Even civil rights groups and humanitarian 
and charitable institutions which are regarded as not sympathetic 
to the LTTE are not permitted to function. 
(d) People of the north have been deprived of the right to freedom 
of movement; LTTE has imposed a "visa system" which prevents 
people from escaping from the horrors of the on-going war. There 
is a general prohibition on the issue "visas" to those fall between 
the age group of 10 to 40. years. The prescribed lowest fee for 
applying for a "visa" is fifteen thousand rupees ($37.50) or three 
sovereigns of gold which very few people can afford. Anyone 
attempting to leave the area without a "visa", if caught, faces 
instant execution. 
(e) As a matter of routine, LTTE cadres abduct persons and hold 
them until the demanded ransom (which is very often very high) 
is paid by the relatives living locally or abroad. LTTE extorts cash 
and gold jewellery from ordinary people under the guise of taxes. 
(f) As a matter of routine, suspected members of other Tamil 
groups are picked up by LTTE cadres and very often killed or kept 
in detention and tortured. 
(g) The University of Jaffna has been allowed to function only 
under the stringent supervision of the LTTE; the Students Union 
has been disbanded; after the murder by the LTTE of Dr.Rajani 
Thiranagama, the Head of the Anatomy Department of the 
University and human rights activist, many university teachers 
have fled through fear; university students who do not sympathise 
with the LTTE are picked up by LTTE cadres from within the 
University without the permission of the Vice Chancellor or the 
University Teachers. Two students, union leaders of the Jaffna 
University, A.Vijitharan and K.Vimaleswaran, were killed by the 
LTTE. In August 1991, Ms.Selvanithy Thiagarajah, a final year 
student of drama and theatre at the University of Jaffna and 
member of the Poorani Women's Centre at Uduvil, Jaffna was 
forcibly removed from her home by LTTE cadres and has not been seen 
since. In July 1991, S.Thillainathan, a graduate teacher and theatre 
artist, and K.Manoharan, final year student, both of the Jaffna 
University, were abducted by the LTTE and have not been seen since.
[Ref. 39] 
(h) LTTE conscripts children as young as 10 to 12 to fight its war. 
They are given cyanide capsules to wear around their neck to commit 
suicide at the first sign of danger of being caught and are armed with 
AK47 Kalashnikov assault rifles. They are often sent to the frontline 
and "suicide missions" in the course of LTTE attacks on Sri Lankan 
army camps. 
(i) Relief food and other essential supplies sent free through the good
offices of the ICRC for the benefit of the civilians and displaced people 
in northern Jaffna are taken over by the LTTE and sold to the people 
for cash. 
(j) Thousands of people's homes have been forcibly expropriated for 
use by the LTTE leadership, its cadres and supporters. 
(k) Senior government officials and civil servants including the 
Government Agent of Jaffna V.Panchalingam, the Government Agent 
of Batticaloa Mr.Anthonimuthu, the Government Agent of Mullaitivu 
G.Gnanachandran and the Deputy Government Agent of Jaffna 
Mr.Ramanathan have been assassinated by the LTTE. 


23. DISPLACED PEOPLE AND REFUGEES

The result of the war has been human suffering of an incalculable 
scale. It is estimated that between June and September 1990, more 
than one million people were displaced by the fighting in the 
Northeast, and as of January 1991 over 210,000 had fled to South 
India and more than 5,400 killed.[Ref. 40] 

By late July 1990, there were a reported 880,000 people displaced 
taking refuge in some 640 camps. By far the largest number were in 
Jaffna where 355,000 people were displaced in 352 camps. Batticaloa, 
Mannar, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi were also heavily affected with 
displaced persons averaging about 100,000 per district. By the end of 
1990, statistics on displaced persons, counting those inside and 
outside government welfare centres, exceeded one million. [Ref. 4l] 

"While many people have been displaced by the destruction of their 
homes and loss of livelihood, it is generally agreed that fear has been
the driving force behind the internal flight".[Ref. 42] 

Since June 1990, an estimated 100,000 people, mostly from northern 
Jaffna and less from the east, have abandoned their homes and taken 
refuge in Colombo and adjoining areas. Besides the continuing aerial 
attacks and the intensive military encounters that take place almost 
on a daily basis between government forces and the LTTE, the main 
causes of the exodus of people from the north have been the harsh 
living conditions with scarcity of food and other essential supplies, the 
disruption of normal civilian life, the LTTE's repressive regime, its 
exorbitant financial and other demands and the forcible recruitment 
of teenage children to its war effort. 
Particularly cruel was the fate of nearly 50,000 Muslims who were 
forcibly displaced from their homes in the Jaffna, Kilinochchi, 
Mullaitivu and Mannar districts where they have lived for centuries. 
In late October 1990, the LTTE gave them just two hours notice to 
move out from their homes and districts without taking any of their 
belongings - their choice was to leave or to be killed. They preferred 
to leave, and ever since these Muslims have been living in refugee 
camps in appalling conditions in the Puttalam district. 

In addition to the systematic campaign of terror unleashed by the 
security forces, another important cause for the displacement of 
people from the east has been the attacks and counter-attacks by the 
LTTE and Muslim "Home Guards" aided by the security forces. 

24. GOVERNMENTS FAILURE TO PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS

The dismissive attitude of the Sri Lankan government towards reports 
by human rights organisations of acknowledged credibility reveal its 
callous disregard for basic human rights. The expulsion last year of 
the British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Mr.David Gladstone, who 
was known to have been an outspoken critic of human rights abuses 
in the island, is but one example of the government's hostility to those 
who are concerned with the human rights situation in that country. 
The government has not taken any meaningful and effective steps to 
investigate the thousands of `disappearances' reported in recent years. 
Evidence mounted during 1989 -1991 of the massive scale of 
`disappearances' and extrajudicial executions, believed to number over 
60,000 which took place in the country. 

"Tens of thousands of people have reportedly `disappeared' in Sri 
Lanka after being detained by the security forces in recent years, yet 
the government has taken few steps to acknowledge responsibility 
publicly, to investigate the fate or whereabouts of the `disappeared', 
or to bring those responsible for `disappearances' to justice. 
Amnesty International believes that the government's lack of action 
over the years to curb `disappearances' and extra judicial 
executions committed by the security forces has contributed to a 
sense of impunity among security forces personnel confronting 
armed opposition, and has given the impression that the 
government condones these gross violations of human rights in 
certain situations".[Ref. 43] 

The government's failure to adequately address charges of massive 
human rights violations became one of the main accusations used by 
the opposition in its recent bid for the impeachment of President 
Premadasa. The impeachment motion, inter alia, charged that the 
President "failed to protect and intentionally and knowingly 
prevented the investigations and conduct of inquiries and/or to 
punish those responsible for the ... murder of the well-known 
journalist Mr.Richard de Zoysa, the `disappearance' of Mr.Lakshman 
Perera, the `disappearance' of Krishna Hussein and thousands of 
others including youth who were arbitrarily abducted, tortured, 
killed and otherwise disposed of by hired killer groups". [Ref. 44] 
In September 1990 the police confiscated details of 533 
`disappearances' from an opposition member of Parliament who was 
about to take them to a meeting of the United Nations(UN) Working 
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in Geneva. The 
papers were returned to him in October after he filed a petition in 
the courts alleging infringement of his fundamental rights, and 
following intervention by the UN Centre for Human Rights. 
In fact the government has gone so far as to provide immunity to 
security service personnel from prosecution for violation of human 
rights. The Indemnity (Amendment) Act was passed in December 
1988, providing immunity from prosecutions for acts done "in good 
faith" between 1 August 1977 and 16 December 1988 by 
government and security forces personnel and others involved in 
enforcing law and order. 

The government's lack of commitment to pursue cases of 
`disappearances' was further reinforced in January 1991, when a 
Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Involuntary Removal of 
Persons was created with powers to investigate only new cases of 
`disappearance': that is only `disappearances' reported to have 
taken place between 11 January 1991 and 11 January 1992. The 
Commission is not empowered to investigate the tens of thousands 
of reported `disappearances' which occurred before January 1991. 
It thus appears that the government does not intend to provide 
proper redress for the relatives of those who `disappeared' in 
earlier years. 

The substantial majority of cases of `disappearances' reported to 
this Commission have been held to be outside its terms of 
reference. 

A four member "Human Rights Task Force" appointed by President 
Premadasa in August 1991 to monitor the observance of 
fundamental rights of persons detained in custody otherwise than 
by a judicial order has not, up to now, contributed to the 
improvement of the human rights situation. 
The government's response to widespread criticism of human rights 
abuses has been half-hearted, superficial, cosmetic and woefully 
inadequate. In an obvious attempt to divert criticism, it has 
appointed many commissions of inquiries, but their results and 
performance have been disappointing. 

25. THE NGO COMMISSION

On the other hand, the government seems to be bent on taking 
steps to make further inroads into the activities of independent 
Non-Governmental Organisations. In December 1990, the 
government appointed a Presidential Commission of Inquiry into 
NGOs. The six-member Commission is mandated to inquire into (a) 
the activities and funding of both local and foreign NGOs, (b) the 
provisions of the law for monitoring and regulating the activities 
and funding of NGOs, and (c) whether any of the funds received 
from foreign sources have been misappropriated or are being used 
for activities prejudicial to the state. 
In today's Sri Lanka, the role of the NGO is crucial. 

"In general, the NGOs are very conscious of the fact that the general 
political, economic and social climate in the country means that their 
role in the society at large is of particular importance beyond the 
specific functions they perform. This is because many of the 
traditional bulwarks of pluralist and democratic societies are 
disturbingly weak in Sri Lanka. Most notably, there is little in the 
way of a vigorous free press. The principal newspapers are widely 
seen as being under the effective csntrol or at least the strong 
influence of the government. In addition, the opposition political 
parties are widely perceived to have little real impact on the way 
in which the country is governed. The NGOs, accordingly, see 
themselves very consciously as among the most important guardians of 
independent activily in Sri Lanka". [Ref. 45] 


The manner in which the Commission's proceedings have taken 
place so far would appear to confirm the worst fears entertained by 
some NGOs that the whole exercise is to bring the NGO community 
into public disrepute, harass and intimidate certain key persons in 
the NGO community, and shackle the NGOs with stringent legislative 
controls which will make them subservient to the dictates of the 
government of the day. 

"Nany of the wutnesses who have so far come forward to give evidence 
have been known to be hostile to NGOs, and their evidence, given 
wide publicity in the government controlled media, has been directed 
mainly at tarnishing the image and reputation of NGOs by portraying 
them as antinational, unpatriotic and being agents of "foreigners". 

"Much of this testimony has been hostile to NGOs. Some persons in the 
NGO community frankly regard much of the testimony thus far as 
consisting of wild, uninformed and unsubstantiated allegations against
NGOs by cranks and eccentrics of various kinds. The according of 
substantial press coverage to testimony of this kind has contributed to
a general anti-NGO atmosphere in the country. Some persons from the 
NGO community consequently take the view that the NGO Commission, 
even if not ill-intentioned itself, is nonetheless, in effect, being 
used by the government unwittingly as one component of its 
orchestrated campaign against NGOs. [Ref 46]


26. PROMOTION OF PARA-MILITARY GROUPS

While the government's own lack of regard for the rule of law and its 
readiness to employ its security forces to engage in uncontrolled 
abuses of human rights have served to escalate the violence, its 
practice of arming and training of extra-military forces in the form 
of "home guards" and "vigilance units", particularly in the east of 
the island, perrnitting the operation of "death squads" associated 
with the security forces, and its shifting positions towards various 
Tamil militant groups - at one time supporting and arming the LTTE 
to attack other Tamil groups, and later arming and supporting anti-
LTTE Tamil groups to fight the LTTE - have all contributed not only 
to the proliferation of the use of weapons, but also to produce a 
general climate and culture of violence. 

In its war against the LTTE, the government has employed LTTE's rival 
Tamil groups providing them with weapons, training and transport 
facilities. The goverment makes no secret of the fact that EPDP, PLOTE 
and TELO [Ref. 47] are provided with these facilities and that they are
fighting the LTTE along with the security forces. 

The government armed hundreds of Muslim home guards following 
reported LTTE attacks upon Muslim civilians in the east in August 
1990. In June 1991, the Secretary for the Ministry of Defence revealed 
that approximately 2,000 Muslims had been provided with weapons by 
the governrnent. In the Moneragala district, village defence units 
were set up among Sinhala villagers in April 1991 after attacks by the 
LTTE in which about 40 were reportedly killed. The number of (mainly 
Sinhalese) home guards along the borders with the Northeastern 
province is 23,000, and they are provided with weapons and said to 
function under the control of the local police. [Ref. 48] 


27. UN WORKING GROUP ON "DISAPPEARANCES" 

Large scale `disappearances' in Sri Lanka have been the subject of 8 
successive reports of the UN Working Group on Enforced or 
Involuntary Disappearances. In spite of the thousands of cases 
referred to the Government of Sri Lanka, only a few cases have been 
"clarified" and the overwhelming majority remain unaccounted for. It is
reported that during the period 1988 - 1991, over three thousand 
cases of `disappearances' have been brought to the attention of the 
Working Group. 

A three member delegation of the Working Group visited Sri Lanka in 
October 1991 to carry out their own investigation and gather evidence. 
A comprehensive report from the Working Group has been submitted 
to the Forty-Eighth Session of the Commission on Human Rights. The 
contents of this report confirm that thousands of persons have 
`disappeared' or have been arbitrarily killed in Sri Lanka in the 
recent past. 


28. VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW 

In the conduct of the conflict, the warring parties have violated the 
most fundamental norms set by international human rights and 
humanitarian law. 

"International human rights law makes clear that certain fundamental 
rights - in particular the right to life and the right not to be 
tortured - must be upheld by governments at all times and in all 
circumstances. Killings by members of the armed opposition can never 
provide justification for government forces to deliberately kill 
defenseless people. Nor can they justify the enforced `disappearances' 
or torture of prisoners in the custody of government forces".[Ref. 49] 
Under Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights, to which the Government of Sri Lanka acceded in 1980, there can
be no derogations from the duty to uphold the right to life and the 
right to freedom from torture in any circumstances, even "in time of 
public emergency which threatens the life of the nation". 

Common Article 3 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 relating to 
internal armed conflicts not of an international character stipulates 
that 

"Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members
of the armed forces who have laid down their arms and 
those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, 
detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be 
treated humanely..". 

Although the government of Sri Lanka is a consenting party 
to the aforementioned Covenants and Convention, and in spite 
of the fact that the LTTE notified the United Nations and the 
International Committee of the Red Cross in February 1988 that 
it would abide by the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, it 
is obvious that the warring parties have conducted themselves 
in gross violation of their obligations. 


29. RECOMMENDATION:

Taking into account the gross violations of human rights, the
continuing armed conflict and the displacement of an estimated 
one million civilians in Sri Lanka, the Forty-Eighth Session
of the United Nations is urged to discuss the situation in Sri
Lanka and to adopt a resolution along the following lines:

The Commission on Human Rights

  Guided by the principles embodied in the charter of the United
Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
International Covenants on Human Rights,

  Reaffirming that all Member States have an obligation to promote
and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms and to fulfill
the obligation to promote nad protect human rights and fundamental
freedoms and to fulfill the obligations they have undertaken 
under teh various international instruments in this fiesd,
  
  Mindful that Sri Lanka is a party to the International Covenants
on Human Rights,

  Recalling its resolution 1987/61 regarding the situation in 
Sri Lanka,

  Concerned by reliable reports of the extent and scale of 
enforced or involuntary disappearances, extrajudicial executions,
torture, and arbitrary detention in Sri Lanka as reflected, inter
alia, in reports of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances, the report of the Special Rapporteur on Summary
or Arbitrary Executions, and the report of the Special Rapporteur
on Torture,

  concerned especially by reports of the existence and operation 
of "death squads" and "private armed groups" in Sri Lanka and 
their role in causing enforced or involuntary dissapearances, 
extrajudicial executions and the practice of torture and arbitrary
detention,

  Concerned by the fact that Sri Lanka has been governed under 
an officially proclaimed state of emergency for a prolonged 
period accomanied by the suspension of the democratic and human
rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution
of Sri Lanka and by international law,

  Regretting the resumption and continuation of the armed hostilities
between the armed forces of the government of Sri Lanka and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),

  Deeply Concerned by the non-observance by the parties to the 
conflict of internationally accepted norms of humanitarian law
as set down in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 
1949,

  Gravely concerned by the displacement of hundreds of thousands
of civilians in cosequence of the ongoing armed conflict in Sri
Lanka,

 1. Expresses grave concern at the level of gross violations of 
    human rights in Sri Lanka,
 
 2. Urges the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure full respect 
    for human rights and fundamental freedoms and, in particular

 a) to take positive and meaningful steps to halt the arbitrary
and summary executions;
 b) to take positive and meaningful steps to put an end to the 
practices of enforced or involuntary disappearances and torture;
 c) to take steps to disband any existing "death squads" and private
armed groups and to prevent the formation of such groups in the
future;

  3. Calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to appoint appropriate
independent judicial commissions or tribunals to investigate all
cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances, summary or 
arbitrary executions, and cases of torture that have already
occured;
 
  4. Urges the Government of Sri Lanka to cooperate with the 
Commission on Human Rights and, in particular, to help clarify
the pending cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances noted
in the report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary 
Disappearances, and to communicate to the Commission new
measures the government of Sri Lanka may take in the field of 
human rights;

  5. Calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka and all other parties
to the conflict to strictly adhere to the obligations under 
Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions;

  6. Calls upon the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to
put an end to summary or arbitrary executions, to the practice
of torture, to release all persons arbitrarily detained in areas
under its control and to respect fully the democratic and human
rights and fundamental freedoms of the people in the areas under
its control;

  7. Urges the government of Sri Lanka and other parties to the 
conflict to seek a cessation of hostilities with a view to 
achieving a political solution to the conflict through negotiations
among all concerned parties and to obtain the assistance of the
Secretary General of the United Nations in any mediation that may
become necessary;

 8. Requests the Chairman, after consulation with the Bereau, to
appoint an individual of international standing in the field of
human rights as Special Rapporteur of the Commission whose 
mandate will be to make a thorough study of the violations of
human rights in Sri Lanka, based on all information the Special
Rapporteur may deem relevant, including information provided by
intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations and any
comments and material provided by the Government of Sri Lanka,
and submit an interim report thereon to the General Assembly at 
its forty-seventh session and a report to the Commission at its
forty-ninth session

 9. Calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to afford all necessary
assistance to the Special Rapporteur of the Commission;

10. Decides to continue its consideration of the situation of human
rights in Sri Lanka under the present agenda item at its forty-ninth
session.


30. NOTES


1.  Sri Lanka: A Mounting Tragedy of Errors by Paul
    Seighart, International Commission of Jurists, 1984.
2.  Amnesty International, May 1989
3.  US Country Reports, February 1990
4.  Amnesty International Report 1990
5.  Ibid
6.  Ibid
7. "Devayina", a Sinhalese language daily, Colombo, 8
    March 1990
8.  Amnesty International Report 1990
9.  Amnesty Intemational Report, September 1991
10. Ibid
11. Ibid
12. Amnesty International Report, October 1991
13. Amnesty International Report, September 1991
14. Impeachment motion against President
    Premadasa submitted by opposition MPs and some
    former Ministers in his cabinet.
15. Asia Watch, 12 March 1991
16. Amnesty International, September 1991

17. Asia Watch, 12 March 1991
18. Amnesty International, September 1991
19. World Council of Churches Pastoral Team
    Visit, November 1990
20. Amnesty International, September 1991
21- 36 . Ibid
37. Asia Watch, 12 March 1991
38. Amnesty International, September 1991
39. Bulletin, Article 19, November 1991
40. Asia Watch, 12 March 1991
41. US Comrnittee for Refugees, October 1991
42. Ibid
43. Amnesty international, September 1991
44. Asia Watch, 12 March 1991
45. Presidential Commission on NGOs by
    Dr.Stephen Neff, International Commission of
    Jurists, November 1991
46. Ibid
47. Three Tamil militant groups: Eelam Peoples
    Democratic Party(EPDP); Peoples Liberation
    Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE); and
    Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO)
48. Amnesty International, September 1991
49. Ibid