‘Why has the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict forgotten survivors in Sri Lanka,' asked a well-known human rights activist , Bianca Jagger.

Writing in the Huffington Post today, the founder of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, expressed regret at the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague’s and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie's omission of Sri Lanka from the conference agenda.

“The team is working on both ongoing (DR Congo, Syria) and historic (Libiya, Bosnia, Rwanda) cases of sexual violence in conflict—and has recently expanded its remit to cover more countries including Burma..Yet Sri Lanka, where rape has been a weapon of war for many years of brutal civil conflict, is not being examined,” she wrote.

See further extracts from her statement below.

“ I was very shaken by the brutal accounts of sexual violence in Sri Lanka. Rape is systematic and widespread against both men and women. Horrific crimes are being committed with total impunity by police and armed forces. The evidence reveals a chilling pattern -- not opportunistic individual soldiers but a sanctioned coordinated program with different wings of Security forces cooperating in secret camps for torture and sexual violence.”

“I cannot fathom why the UK government is not denouncing the Sri Lankan government's atrocities. Why are they not demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice? Why are they deporting survivors of torture and rape back to Sri Lanka, and endangering their lives?”

“The March 2014 report, "An Unfinished War: Torture and Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka, 2009 - 2014," was produced by human rights lawyer and co-author of the UN Panel of Experts report on mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, Yasmin Sooka. The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales and the International Truth and Justice Project, "Sri Lanka," is a collection of 40 sworn testimonies from witnesses who had been subject to detention in Sri Lanka, now in the UK. The statements are supported by medical and hospital records, and the report was conducted by nine independent, international lawyers. The report found that "the targeting ... was not random and that the patterns of the use of torture, rape and sexual violence makes it likely, we believe that the experiences described a small sample of those crimes likely to have been committed against the Tamil population in Sri Lanka." I urge you to read the report. It states, ‘Almost half the witnesses interviewed for the report attempted to kill themselves after reaching safety outside Sri Lanka.’"

“The only mention of Sri Lanka in the three-day agenda of the Summit is the participation of Yasmin Sooka, co-author of 'An Unfinished War,' in the panel "Investigating and Documenting sexual violence in conflict." There is no country specific focus on Sri Lanka -- Ms Sooka will speak generally about investigation. There is no mention of Sri Lanka in any of the documents about the official sessions, and no case studies on Sri Lanka.”

"I hope Foreign Secretary William Hague and UN Envoy Angelina Jolie will seize this historic opportunity. I have written them both personal letters urging them to include Sri Lanka in the agenda for the Summit, to shine a light on the plight of the victims of sexual crimes and torture in Sri Lanka, and asking them to meet with survivors."

"I am afraid that at the moment, the Sri Lankan survivors are still treated as "outcasts." They are being relegated to the edges of society. Their plight is being ignored by the support systems of the state -- by the Agenda for the Summit and, I am afraid to say, by the UK government. As Mr Hague said in his opening statement to the Summit: 'What would it say about Britain if we chose not to act -- now that we know the facts, how can we turn aside?'"