(Asian Human Rights Commission announcement)

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has announced the launch of a Hunger Alert, to create awareness and generate regular action on poverty-related issues, with particular stress on hunger and malnutrition.

Hunger Alert aims to publicise the stories of individuals or groups either currently facing hunger and related problems, or the threat of hunger. Once verified, these stories will be shared with a large audience throughout the world by way of email networking and websites. The approach will be modelled on AHRC's Urgent Appeals system (ua@ahrchk.net, www.ahrchk.net/ua.)

We need Hunger Alert because today we need a new type of e-news, by which actual problems faced by ordinary people in different parts of the world can be shared with as large an audience as possible in order to create quick responses. This is a more effective method than the publication of reports from time to time. Stories of actual problems are shared without delay, to generate action locally, regionally and internationally by individuals and organisations. In this way opinions can be made constantly and a public debate kept up daily on these problems. We need ongoing people's debates on people's problems. This can happen only if information on people's problems is shared constantly.

For example, at a recent meeting of Asian human rights groups it was reported that in recent years in some parts of India people have had to eat rats due to lack of food. This is not an area where the eating of rats is a traditional practice; those eating the rats have done so out of desperation. In some rubber plantations, the rats are reported to have completely disappeared. However, concerned people in other parts of the world do not know of this situation; it has gone unnoticed and the people have suffered in silence. Hunger Alert aims to break this silence and make such matters issues of public concern.

Stories or reports can be sent to hungeralert@ahrchk.net.

The individual or organisation sending the information should give sufficient contact details for AHRC to reach them and others, by which to verify the news and obtain further information as necessary. However, the sender may request to not be mentioned in the alert itself.

For further details, contact Basil Fernando at the Asian Human Rights Commission.

(South China Morning Post, April 2, 2004, by Peter Kammerer)

Allegations of police brutality and injustice have human rights observers fearful that an election deadlock will destroy social and political order, writes Peter Kammerer.

A Vote for Justice

Tony Fernando is unsure whether he will vote in elections in Sri Lank's today, although he would love to cast a ballot to change a system that has brought him and his family so much misery. From his hiding place, away from the people who wish him dead, he says his contribution may be limited to hoping, Praying and listening to the results on his portable radio. "I can-vote, but the risk is mine," the father of two said this week. "Killing has been going on and candidates who had police protection have been shot. In the circumstances, they could eliminate me easily."

But even if he does risk it and vote, Mr Femando's circumstances seem unlikely to change soon. Those he says are behind an attempt on his life and three death threats to stop court cases involving human rights abuses are in the highest echelons of government and seem certain to stay in office. The secretary-tuned-activist's circumstances are not unusual, according to legal experts and human rights groups. They say rule of law has collapsed in Sri Lanka and that the parliamentary election will only exacerbate the problems.

Central to their allegations is Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva, who is also at the heart of Mr Fernando's cases.

During her electioneering in Colombo earlier this week., President Chandrika Kumaratunga, with Mr Silva at her side, accused the judiciary of being corrupt. She did not, however, refer to the much-criticised official, whom she has strongly supported.

Opinion polls show the likely result of the election will be a deadlocked parliament, stymying efforts to bring about much-needed legal and political reforms and end the 20-year civil war with Tamil separatists. Whatever the outcome, Mrs Kumaratunga, who sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government and called the snap poll, will retain absolute power. Her term does not end until next year.

Mr Fernando's worst scenario would be for the president's United People's Freedom Alliance to take office from Mr Wickremesinghe's United National Party.

"After the elections, if things become worse, perhaps I will have to seek political asylum," he said, his voice quivering.

His case is one of 31 detailed in a report on police brutality in Sri Lanka released in Hong Kong last week by the Asian Legal Resources Centre. It claimed beatings and torture of people in police custody were commonplace and that authorities were ignoring the practice.

Despite laws being in plate, little or no preventative action was being taken. International law and demands by the United Nations Human Rights Commission were being disregarded by the government.

Legal and human rights experts point to Mr Fernando as a prime example of the collapse of basic safeguards in Sri Lankan society. A trade unionist and human rights activist, his case stems from a workers' compensation claim he made in 1997, after being injured in a fall while working for the YMCA. He rejected the compensation offered and took the claim to higher courts.

On February 6 last year, he objected to Mr Silva being among judges hearing a petition he was presenting to the Supreme Court. The chief justice found him in contempt of court and sentenced him to a year in prison.

"I quoted the constitution Sri Lanka, article 12 on, where equal status should be given before the law to every citizen," Mr Fernando, 49, said. " I begged that the case be transferred to another court and that the respondent - the chief justice - not be named to hear the case. When I read that in English and Sinhalese, immediately he said it was contempt of court and sent me to prison.

Shortly after arriving at Welikada Prison, he suffered a severe asthma attack and was taken to hospital. On February 8, according to the Asian Legal Resources Centre's report, he was taken from the intensive care unit and put in a ward, but had to sleep on the floor with his leg chained. Two prison guards where assigned to him.

He developed a chill and his condition worsened, so he was given a bed. Tossing and turning in his sleep, he fell and injured his back. Despite being unable to walk as a result of the pain, he was transferred back to prison on February 10. While being put into a police van for the journey, he was beaten and kicked by the guards for refusing their orders to walk, the report claimed. At the prison, he was again kicked and left lying on a toilet floor. A guard told him: "If you cannot get up, stay there."

In agony and unable to move, his pleas for help were ignored. After the first day, his soiled clothes were removed and he lay naked for another 24 hours without food or drink. Only after a guard noticed blood in his urine was he moved back to hospital.

Mr Fernando was treated and taken back to jail, where he stayed until his release on October 17. Since then, "he has been subjected to continuous threats due to his active campaigning for his rights", the report said.

Several cases since filed against the prison guards who tortured him had been postponed. A communication had also been before the UN Human Rights Committee challenging the validity of the Supreme Court judgment as having no basis in law and as a violation of fundamental rights.

The former UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Param Cumararswamy, has denounced the Supreme Court's ruling as "act of injustice".

On January 9, the UN Human Rights Committee instructed Sri Lanka's government to take all necessary measures to "protect the life, safety and personal integrity" of Mr Fernando, but it has so far failed to act.

He claimed that a group of men tried to kill him on February 2. As he was walking from his home, a man ran up and sprayed chloroform in his face. During the attack, a van pulled up and men came out, but he escaped and was taken by a friend to hospital. He stayed there under police protection until February 7, but being denied full-time security, went into hiding.

"I am undergoing mental torture," Mr Fernando said. "I am separated from my family - my son is crying on the phone asking me why I am not coming home. I can't answer him - but he's five years old and can understand. He's asking my wife whether I am chained to the hospital bed again."

Police torture was commonplace in Sri Lanka, but the legal system was not adequately dealing with the problem, human rights lawyer Kishali Pinto Jayawardene said. While the Supreme Court had given judgments against police officers, follow-up action was rarely taken.

"There is a peculiar, bizarre situation where judgments are being made against particular police officers and they remain in their posts," Ms Pinto Jayawardene said from Colombo." The law is being made a mockery of."

As incredible, she said, was that no convictions had yet been made under a law put in place in 1994 to meet international standards, the Convention Against Torture Act.

Ms Pinto-Jayawardene and other Sri Lankan lawyers, such as the Asian Legal Resource Centre's director. Basil Fernando, said torture had long been present among police in the country. They said police were clearly behind the disappearance of 40,000 people in the country's south during the 1980s.

But they agreed the problem, along with other rule of law matters, had gotten steadily worse in the past decade, more so in recent years.

Former deputy inspector-general of police, Kingsley Wickremasuriya, in an article in Sri Lanka's DailyMirror newspaper in January, said torture and deaths in police custody had been discussed for decades by officials. He believed the police system in every country was a reflection of the society it served.

"If society is violent, so are the police," Mr Wickremasuriya said. "If society is corrupt, so are the police. But if the society is tolerant, literate and humane, police will also act accordingly."

Attempts to contact government officials to answer the allegations were unsuccessful this week. Mr Wickremesinghe's government, though, tried to reorganise the police force in an attempt to make it more accountable.

Such efforts had been negated by Mrs Kumaratunga's hold on power, legal analyst with the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Rohan Edrisinha, claimed. The chief justice was not seen as independent and was beholden to the president, he said.

Constitutional provisions, which had allowed for the politicisation of key institutions - such as the police - had furthered the decline in standards. An attempt to address concerns was made in 2001 with the so-called 17th amendment to the constitution, but provisions such as the creation of an election commission had yet to be enacted.

Given that observers do not expect today's election will bring about much change, Mr Femando and others in his situation may yet have to rely on outside forces to make a difference.

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Brutality Cases Linked to Policing Crisis

The Hong Kong-based Asian Legal Resource Centre presented 31 cases of torture and brutality in police custody in its report, Endemic Torture and the Collapse of Policing in Sri Lanka, released last week.

The centre's director Basil Fernando, said one of the cases that had the most shocking effect on him involved a men suspected of having tuberculosis being forced by a police officer to spit into the mouth of another detainee.

"Such incidents show that supervisors have clearly lost their control," said Mr Fernando, a lawyer from Sri Lanka.

The report said artisan Koralaliyanage Palitha Tissa Kumara, a 31 year-old father of two, had been taken by police from his home in Matugama to a police station on February 3 and accused of possessing bombs and other weapons. He was allegedly beaten 80 times with a cricket bat and another detainee, who was said to have tuberculosis, was forced to spit into his open mouth.

Mr Kumara was held for three days in cell before police took him to hospital for treatment of his injuries. Later, back in the prison, he was allegedly forced to sign a statement admitting guilt, and his fingerprints were put on a grenade. Mr Kumara has since appeared before magistrates several times, and cases have been filed against him for possession of a grenade and robbery.

He has lodged a fundamental rights application in the Supreme Court.

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(Kyodo, March 26, 2004, by Agnes Cheung)

An Asian human rights group charged Friday that torture and other abuses by police in Sri Lanka have become "endemic" and urged immediate reform of that country's law-enforcement agencies to end the plight.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Legal Resource Center said it has documented 31 cases involving 46 people allegedly tortured or killed while in police custody there between January 2003 and February 2004.

The cases reported are believed to be just a small fraction of the total abuse happening daily in the South Asian country, the rights group said in its new 100-page report on torture by Sri Lanka's police.

The group slammed the Sri Lankan government for turning a blind eye to the issue.

"What we are emphasizing in this report is that the gruesome torture still being practiced in police stations across Sri Lanka indicates the almost total breakdown in policing in the country," said Basil Fernando, executive director of the group.

"To describe policing in Sri Lanka as being in crisis would be to understate the current situation; it is nearing collapse," Fernando said.

The report documented that in one case, a policeman was accused of pouring boiling water slowly down a suspect's leg for 10 minutes. In an extreme case, a 23-year-old woman was reportedly assaulted, burned with cigarette butts and then gang-raped by 12 policemen while in custody and was forced to admit that she belonged to the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. One of the youngest victims was a 7-year-old boy, who was beaten. His mother was told by police to pay for items allegedly stolen by the boy in return for his release, the report said.

'

'These officers are obviously psychologically unbalanced, and yet they are allowed to function as criminal investigators, exercising enormous power over the people they arrest," it said.

"That such officers retain their posts even after their cases have been reported to the highest authorities suggests a degree of tolerance of such behavior that is difficult to comprehend."

To improve the situation, the rights group has recommended measures including police reforms,

elimination of impunity, strengthening of bribery control and state prosecutions against officers accused of wrongdoing.

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(Asian Human Rights Commission press release, AHRC-PL-40-2004, May 17, 2004)

(Hong Kong, 17 May 2004) -- An independent inquiry ordered by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka has found that the Ankumbura Police illegally arrested, detained and tortured 17-year-old Chamila Bandara during July 2003.

The one-man Inquiry Committee report, authored by Dr V Irwin Jayasuriya of the University of Peradeniya, found that the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Ankumbura Police, W M Uvindasiri, and three other officers subjected Mr Bandara "to torture and degrading punishment". In so doing, it states, the officers violated articles 11, 12(1), 13(1) and 13(2) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

With regards to OIC Uvindasiri, Dr Jayasuriya writes, "He has to accept total responsibility for the collective actions of all of the officers of Ankumbura Police Station as Head of the Institution and also... for the part he played in the torture and harassment of the Petitioner. I believe that he is individually responsible for the violations referred to."

Having studied the report, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has today written to the Chairperson of the HRC of Sri Lanka. In its letter, AHRC urges the HRC to recommend that the Attorney General criminally prosecute all perpetrators without delay, and further, recommend that the matter of compensation await the determination of the Fundamental Rights case pending in the Supreme Court.

AHRC has also called upon the HRC to see that the rehabilitation needs of the victim are met, and that disciplinary action be taken against its Area Coordinator in Kandy, who defended the police perpetrators.

"We have written before about the urgent need to do this, and the Chairperson has initiated an inquiry, but in light of this report there can be no question as to the fact that the Area Coordinator has behaved in a deceptive and heinous manner," writes Basil Fernando, Executive Director. "To keep such a person in office any longer will cause a public scandal."

Finally, AHRC has suggested that the HRC make general recommendations to the government of Sri Lanka on the basis of the findings of the Inquiry Committee report.

Mr Bandara's case has been widely reported on since he was illegally detained on 20 July 2003, and brutally tortured before being released on bail on July 30. The torture he was subjected to included being hit with posts while hung from the ceiling by his thumbs. In October 2003 he approached the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva, where he narrated his case. Independent medical experts there also confirmed his allegations of torture, despite a baseless report by the HRC Area Coordinator in Kandy to the effect that Mr Bandara had manufactured his story. Criminal charges laid by the Ankumbura Police against Mr Bandara, filed at the time of torture, are still pending.

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(Asian Legal Resource Centre press release, ALRC-PL-21-2004, April 2, 2004)

(Geneva, 2 April 2004) -- The written statement of the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) on 'Enforced or involuntary disappearances in Sri Lanka' (E/CN.4/2004/NGO/39) was distributed on the 31 March 2004 at the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

The full text of the statement follows.

This year, ALRC submitted 30 written statements to the Commission, on topics as diverse as caste discrimination in Nepal, food scarcity in Myanmar, custodial deaths and torture in India, extrajudicial killings in Thailand, policing in Pakistan, the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and impunity in Asia.

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Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in Sri Lanka

1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre has brought the issue of massive enforced or involuntary disappearances in Sri Lanka to the attention of the Commission on Human Rights through numerous written and oral statements in the last few years, most recently at its fifty-ninth session (E/CN.4/2003/NGO/147). In its previous statements, the Asian Legal Resource Centre has emphasised that to date the Government of Sri Lanka has failed to implement most recommendations made by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance in its December 1999 report (E/CN.4/2000/64/Add.1). These relate in particular to the prosecution of perpetrators and the making of legislative changes.

2. This year, the Asian Legal Resource Centre draws the attention of the Commission to two reasons why the families of disappeared persons in Sri Lanka are yet to obtain justice:

a. The failure to promulgate a law to make enforced disappearances a crime, as recommended by the Working Group; and,

b. The absence of effective investigations or prosecutions of alleged perpetrators.

3. In its Concluding Observations on 1 December 2003 with regards to the periodic report of the state party Sri Lanka, the Human Rights Committee stated that

"It regrets that the majority of prosecutions initiated against police officers or members of the armed forces on charges of abduction and unlawful confinement, as well as on charges of torture, have been inconclusive due to lack of satisfactory evidence and unavailability of witnesses, despite a number of acknowledged instances of abduction and/or unlawful confinement and/or torture, and only very few police or army officers have been found guilty and punished" (CCPR/CO/79/LKA).

4. In the same document the Committee recommended that

"The State party should adopt legislative and other measures to prevent such violations, in keeping with articles 2, 7 and 9 of the Covenant, and ensure effective enforcement of the legislation. It should ensure in particular that allegations of crimes committed by State security forces, especially allegations of torture, abduction and illegal confinement, are investigated promptly and effectively with a view to prosecuting perpetrators."

5. The Government of Sri Lanka has at no stage explained why a law making enforced disappearances a crime has not been promulgated. No steps were ever taken to even begin drafting such a law. No instructions were ever issued by the government to carry out the recommendations of the Working Group. The lack of such indicates that Sri Lanka has no procedure for dealing with recommendations from United Nations human rights mechanisms. A procedure needs to be laid down, and made known both to the Commission as well as to the public, as an obligation under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

6. For the interim period, in the absence of a procedure, the Asian Legal Resource Centre suggests that the Government of Sri Lanka

a. Inform all members of parliament when such recommendations are received.

b. Direct the minister or ministers concerned to act on each specific recommendation without delay.

c. Ensure that the cabinet minister responsible takes steps to see that the persons concerned are acting as instructed.

d. Charge a competent body to carry out quarterly reviews of the above actions, and demand action where recommendations have not been pursued.

7. With regards to the making of a law on enforced disappearances in particular, the Asian Legal Resource Centre urges the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure that the Minister of Justice

a. Refers the matter to the law drafting commission without delay.

b. Directs the law drafting commission to prepare the said law in keeping with the spirit and letter of the Working Group recommendations.

c. Ensures that he receives a draft as soon as possible.

d. Places the draft before cabinet, and brings it as a bill before parliament immediately thereafter.

e. Takes all necessary steps so that the draft goes through the normal procedure of entering into law without undue delay.

8. The Asian Legal Resource Centre urges the Commission to raise these concerns with the Government of Sri Lanka so as to make the recommendations of the Working Group meaningful.

9. Unfortunately, the mass disappearances carried out in Sri Lanka are quickly receding into memory, while the government has taken no steps to prosecute offenders. The four Presidential Commissions of Enquiry into disappearances submitted lists of specific persons against whom there is sufficient evidence to warrant further investigation and prosecution, but no action has been taken. It follows that there are many persons in Sri Lanka against whom there are prima facie cases for being engaged in causing disappearances, but about whom nothing has been done, as is normally the case when there is sufficient evidence of a crime. This failure points to a serious gap in how the law is enforced in Sri Lanka, which relates to the investigation and prosecution of crimes: the police investigate crime, but in the case of mass disappearances in Sri Lanka, they are also the suspects. Therefore, it is obvious why they have not investigated these crimes, which occurred on such a colossal scale. At no time also did the government appoint an independent body with the power to investigate and prosecute these crimes. Therefore, the Working Group's recommendations were ignored.

10. As indicated above, there needs to be a procedure to act on the recommendations by United Nations human rights bodies, in this case, to ensure successful prosecution of alleged perpetrators. The government must appoint the necessary authoritative bodies to ensure that its obligations under the ICCPR be fulfilled. As no such body has been appointed, to date the Working Group's recommendations have been meaningless. Various commissions without powers to conduct criminal investigations were appointed, but these have only resulted in the granting of virtual impunity to the accused. The fact-finding inquiries made by the National Human Rights Commission also are inadequate. And as pointed out in previous submissions, the current prosecution system, functioning within the Department of the Attorney General, is defective because it depends entirely on criminal investigation files to be made available by the police for the department to begin action on any crime. This allows the Department the excuse that it has not prosecuted known crimes because the necessary files have not been brought to it by the police. For the Government of Sri Lanka to meet its obligations under the ICCPR, therefore, it must appoint a separate body with powers and resources to investigate and prosecute the alleged perpetrators without delay.

11. If the recommendations of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance are not to be forgotten altogether, the Commission and other relevant United Nations agencies should at once resume discussions with the Government of Sri Lanka on these matters. The Human Rights Committee in its concluding recommendations of December 1 itself recommended many measures to address disappearances in Sri Lanka. Not only the Committee but also other relevant bodies, including those under the special procedures of the Commission, need to pursue diligently these recommendations for them to have any effect.

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(Asian Legal Resource Centre press release, ALRC-PL-29-2004, April 5, 2004)

(Geneva, 5 April 2004) -- The written statement of the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) on 'The role of the National Police Commission of Sri Lanka in establishing an effective complaint procedure against police' (E/CN.4/2004/NGO/47) was distributed on the 31st March 2004 at the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

The full text of the statement follows.

This year, ALRC submitted 30 written statements to the Commission, on topics as diverse as caste discrimination in Nepal, food scarcity in Myanmar, custodial deaths and torture in India, extrajudicial killings in Thailand, policing in Pakistan, the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and impunity in Asia.

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The Role of the National Police Commission of Sri Lanka in Establishing an Effective Complaint Procedure against Police

1. In its concluding observations after considering the periodic report of Sri Lanka, dated November 2003, the Human Rights Committee stated that, "The National Police Commission complaints procedure should be implemented as soon as possible" (CCPR/CO/79/LKA [Future]).

2. The National Police Commission (NPC) was appointed at the end of 2002, to a warm public welcome. It was created by the 17th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, which aims to depoliticize important national institutions by appointing commissions with constitutional powers over appointments, promotions, dismissals and disciplinary control of employees. The NPC enjoys all such powers, except in relation to the Inspector General of Police. Article 155G2 requires that the NPC establish a procedure for entertaining, investigating and redressing complaints against police personnel and the police service. The Asian Legal Resource Centre has provided the NPC with a draft complaint procedure for its consideration, and understands that this draft is under review.

3. An effective complaint procedure requires clear written steps and practical measures for it to take effect. In its absence, the NPC initially had to refer complaints to the Inspector General of Police, who in turn referred the cases to his subordinate officers, or to a special investigation unit. As this involved police officers investigating other police officers, the procedure lacked credibility. Furthermore, the higher ranking officers who earlier oversaw the conduct of such inquiries are accustomed to making settlements between complainants and alleged perpetrators rather than conducting inquiries in an objective manner. Most complainants were rightly fearful and distrustful of these inquiries. As an interim measure, the NPC has selected and appointed about ten area coordinators to deal with complaints. Until they can establish independent premises, these persons are stationed at the area offices of the National Human Rights Commission.

4. It is claimed that the NPC still does not have adequate resources. While the government has a duty to provide such resources, the proper functioning of an effective complaint mechanism is a separate matter. Proper investigations are obstructed by widespread impunity, which has deep roots in the country's history that have spread since the early 1970s, when draconian powers were given to law enforcement officers on the pretext of curbing dissident elements. The police force in Sri Lanka has been engaged in mass enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings. To date it is this lifting of disciplinary procedures to make such impunity operative that remains the single biggest problem for policing in Sri Lanka.

5. To deal with this problem, the NPC will have to create a strong disciplinary procedure and enforce it. At the moment, hundreds of police officers--including senior police officers--who have been found by the Supreme Court to have violated the rights of citizens by way of torture, illegal arrest and illegal detention are still serving. Despite trenchant public criticism of this situation, there has to date been no serious attempt to deal with it. In several recent cases the Supreme Court has ordered the NPC to hold disciplinary inquiries. The Court also has pointed to the responsibility of higher-ranking officers to enforce discipline and prevent human rights violations by their subordinates. Notwithstanding, the police persist in committing grave abuses, and the manner with which they are dealt has not significantly changed.

6. The NPC needs to inculcate in the police force a serious understanding of the gravity of offences such as torture, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance. A clear disciplinary code is also urgently required, and should be included in any training programme for police. If such steps are taken they may begin a dramatic--albeit difficult--change within the police force, forcing it to decisively abandon past practices. Without an effective operating complaint procedure, however, no such change can ever be expected.

7. The above recommendation of the Human Rights Committee should be complied with as soon as possible. The Committee has required the Government of Sri Lanka to report on this and several other matters within a year. The Asian Legal Resource Centre sincerely hopes that the NPC will make every effort to establish an effective complaint procedure within this time.

(Asian Human Rights Commission press release, AHRC-PL-52-2004, July 8, 2004)

The chairman of the National Police Commission (NPC) of Sri Lanka should either uphold his constitutional duty and deal with public complaints of torture by the police or resign, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urged today.

The demand by the Hong Kong-based regional human rights group came after Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya, chairman of the NPC, failed to act on urgent information provided to him by an AHRC staff member about a police assault on a complainant in a torture case.

"We are now making it known to you that we are appalled by the manner in which you deal with complaints of torture," stated Mr. Basil Fernando, executive director of the AHRC, in a letter to Mr. Abeysuriya.

"You have been treating the enormous number of torture complaints reaching you--many of them extremely gruesome--as if they were trivial," Mr. Fernando said. "In fact, your casual approach is helping to perpetuate the routine torture being practiced in police stations in Sri Lanka. The record of your Commission on torture is shameful. It is an utter disgrace,"

Last night, July 7, a staff member of the AHRC telephoned Mr. Abeysuriya regarding a police assault on Saman Priyankara, a torture victim who lodged a complaint against officers of Matale police station in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. At the time of the telephone call, Mr. Priyankara was in the custody of the officers, and the AHRC sought Mr. Abeysuriya's urgent intervention to prevent further violence against Mr. Priyankara. Mr. Abysuriya failed to assist.

The AHRC earlier welcomed the inauguration of the NPC and has sought to cooperate with it at every opportunity, said Mr. Fernando. However, in recent times the AHRC had on a number of occasions expressed dissatisfaction at the manner in which complaints of torture have been handled by the NPC.

Mr. Abysuriya should uphold his constitutional duty to deal with public complaints against the police, particularly those relating to torture or resign, Mr. Fernando concluded.

A copy of the letter to Mr. Abeysuriya follows.

Provide Effective Protection to Torture Victims who Make Complaints, or if You Are Unable to Do Your Constitutional Duty, Resign

8 July 2004

Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya PC

Chairperson

National Police Commission

69-1 Ward Place

Colombo 7

Sri Lanka

Fax: +94 11 2 669 128 / 691 926 / 674148 (residence)

Dear Mr. Abeysuriya,

RE: PROVIDE EFFECTIVE PROTECTION TO TORTURE VICTIMS WHO MAKE COMPLAINTS, OR IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO DO YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY, RESIGN

I refer to the telephone conversation between yourself and the AHRC Programme Officer Ali Saleem, which took place last night (7 July 2004) regarding further assaults upon--and the baseless arrest of--J. V. Saman Priyankara, the petitioner in S.C.F.R. 78/2004. Mr. Priyankara had earlier complained to you of being cruelly treated by an officer of the Matale Police Station, who poured boiling water on his thighs on 5 January 2004.

You earlier wrote to the AHRC stating that the Kandy Area Coordinator of the National Police Commission (NPC) had taken effective action regarding this matter and that the officer concerned was facing a disciplinary inquiry. You also used the occasion to express your absolute confidence in the Kandy Area Coordinator whom, you said, you had been fortunate to recruit.

Ever since Mr. Priyankara made his complaint regarding the above mentioned incident he has faced severe threats to withdraw it, and in fact has made further complaints regarding the threats themselves. Regrettably, these threats were made good at around 5pm yesterday, July 7, when ten officers came to Mr. Priyankara's house and severely assaulted him in front of his family, before taking him away in their jeep. At the Matale Police station, two lawyers were unable to get access to him. One person who was able to speak with him found that he had lost hearing in one of his ears, and was finding it difficult to speak. He managed to say that he was arrested for no reason and mercilessly assaulted. Since about 11am this morning he has been transferred from police custody to court.

Mr. Saleem's call to you was to complain about this assault and request your urgent intervention, at least by making your concern known to the concerned authorities. Given your position as Chairperson of the NPC, we believe that some phone calls from you would have carried considerable weight and secured a torture victim from further violence at this very crucial stage.

However, to Mr. Saleem's surprise, you responded irritably that he was disturbing your dinner after a hard day's work, and your only advice was that he ought to contact the Inspector General of Police. We had in fact by then complained to higher police authorities, but informed you directly in deference to your position as Chairperson of the NPC. We had confidence that you believed in your constitutional mandate and that you would at least do the minimum possible to protect a victim of torture in grave danger at that very moment. You have maintained publicly that you are dissatisfied with how the police themselves deal with such complaints, and have even stated that you would prefer to have an independent investigatory unit under your command.

On April 30, I wrote to you to register dissatisfaction at the manner in which the case of Tissa Kumara--who was tortured and contracted tuberculosis due to the actions of one officer at the Welipenna Police--has been handled by your Commission. I also expressed dissatisfaction at your handling of other cases of torture in the past, and pointed out that the Commission is not a mere box into which we wish to drop complaints but get no reply.

We are now making it known to you that we are appalled by the manner in which you deal with complaints of torture. Torture is among the most heinous crimes under international human rights law, and is also a crime under Sri Lankan law. Yet, you have been treating the enormous number of torture complaints reaching you--many of them extremely gruesome--as if they were trivial. In fact, your casual approach is helping to perpetuate the routine torture being practiced in police stations in Sri Lanka. The record of your Commission on torture is shameful. It is an utter disgrace.

We now urge you to:

1. Either take appropriate action in terms of your constitutional duty to deal with public complaints against the police, particularly those relating to torture, and to maintain discipline in the police force; or,

2. If you feel that you are not up to the task and that you are unable to get the cooperation required from the police to do your duty, make this known to the nation and then, for the love of the people, please do resign.

We make this call only now, having welcomed the inauguration of your Commission and your appointment, and having made very serious efforts to support your Commission and cooperate with you personally in every possible way. I regret to say that this all appears to have come to nought.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,