 Amnesty International (AI) yesterday called on members of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to seek opportunities during its upcoming sixth session to take action to address the rapidly deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka.
The human rights organization said it was also gravely concerned that civilians have not only been caught in the crossfire, but have also been deliberately targeted by security forces, the LTTE and other armed groups operating in the country.
A Government delegation led by the Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe will take part in the session to put forward Government views on issues to be raised against Sri Lanka.“Unlawful killings, abductions and enforced disappearances of civilians are daily occurrences in Sri Lanka. Several hundred cases of enforced disappearances and several hundred unlawful killings have been registered in the first six months of 2007,” AI said.
Amnesty said there was an urgent ongoing need for sustained and effective protection for civilians noting that at least 4,000 people have perished in the conflict since late 2005, also referring to the death of at least nine civilians including two children over the weekend in Mannar where over 4,000 persons have allegedly been displaced in recent days.
“At least 290,000 civilians have been displaced due to ongoing military operations by both sides. The majority of those displaced are women and children. Humanitarian access to civilians has been severely curtailed and over 30 humanitarian workers have been killed since 2006. While the Government has condemned acts of violence against humanitarian staff, there has been a marked absence of impartial, effective investigations leading to the prosecution of those responsible. Amnesty International urges the authorities to ensure the provision of appropriate assistance to the civilian populations in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and to cooperate fully in facilitating the work of humanitarian agencies,” AI said.
AI said many internally displaced persons (IDPs) continue to live in fear, sustained in part by the LTTE’s continued involvement in widespread human rights abuses including unlawful killings and abductions.
In addition to the threat of LTTE reprisals, many IDPs said they were reluctant to return to their places of origin because of the threat of forced LTTE recruitment of both adults and children.
Over many years Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed concern about certain provisions of the Emergency Regulations (ER) that threaten to impose unjustified and disproportionate restrictions on freedom of expression.
The new set of regulations, according to AI, allows the Government to deploy the military and detain without charge anyone suspected of terrorist activities. For example, Regulation 6 of the 2006 ER criminalizes, not only ‘terrorism’ and ‘any specified terrorist activity,’ but also ‘any other activity in furtherance of any act of terrorism or specified terrorist activity committed by any person, group or groups of persons.’ Regulation 7 provides, among other things, that ‘no person shall promote, encourage, support, advise, assist, act on behalf of; or organize or take part in any activity or event of, any person, group, groups of persons or an organization which acts in contravention of regulation 6 of these regulations.’
Many provisions are very vaguely and generally worded, and therefore may be interpreted as criminalizing a wide range of activities, including media investigations and reporting. The organization is also concerned of their allegedly discriminatory application with regard to Tamils, it said.
Daily Mirror
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