Abuse in Sri Lanka’s military is on a "systematic level", Human Rights Watch's Asia advocacy advisor, John Sifton, said in an interview with Frances Alonzo of Voice of America regarding recent video evidence showing abuse of female military recruits by their seniors.
"If this is how they treat their own recruits, one can only imagine how bad the abuses are against ordinary Tamil civilians," Sifton said, stating that there was near complete impunity, with almost no interest in accountability.
See extracts of the interview below:
“This [abuse of recruits] is indicative of the fact that the Sri Lankan military has a terrible record of sexual violence against the general population. And if this is how they treat their own recruits, one can only imagine how bad the abuses are against ordinary Tamil civilians and Sri Lankan civilians. There was a very big report that came out recently about sexual violence by the military. Quite simply put, the Sri Lankan military has a terrible record,” Sifton said.
“Generally speaking, of course, the Sri Lankan military and the Sri Lankan government don’t have a great record of transparency or accountability for abuses. These allegations have not been made in a vacuum. Incredibly serious violations of sexual abuse have been made against the Sri Lankan military last month, last year, the year before, in context of the final conflict against the Tamil Tigers in 2009. And there is a whole slew of allegations against them that have yet to be investigated properly.”
“There is a military justice system and one can hope that perhaps the fact that there was a video of these attacks and that it is unambiguous that they occurred and that they have been admitted that perhaps some members of the military will be held accountable. But the problem is really on a systemic level. Regardless of who committed these specific abuses, a bigger question is, will any high level officials in the Sri Lankan military ever be held accountable for the fact that they allow their forces to engage in abuses as a matter of course, as a systemic issue, and fail to hold them accountable. People who allow an entire military structure to enjoy almost complete impunity in terms of rape, sexual abuse, and other abuses against Tamil civilians, they should be held accountable for that as well, not just for the actual physical acts of soldiers, but for their dereliction of duty and their failures hold their own forces accountable,” he said.
“Unfortunately, this is all too common with Sri Lanka. I mean, there was a study published in March by the South African human rights lawyer and UN advisor, Yasmin Sooka, who was also on a UN committee that is investigated crimes by Sri Lanka during the civil war. And it alleged a whole set of incredibly terrible sexual abuse cases of ethnic minority Tamils. I mean it was really disgusting stuff. This is all after the civil war that raged until 2009. And to quote directly from her report, she says quote, “the highest levels” of Sri Lanka’s government were complicit in the crimes. Unfortunately this is all too common with the Sri Lankan military. They rack up these terrible allegations against them and they show almost no interest in holding anybody accountable.”
“Unfortunately, nothing will happen if the norm carries on. The fact that there was video footage and they’ve pledged to investigate, suggest that perhaps a few low level soldiers will be held accountable. But almost certainly there won’t be any higher level accountability. But with that said, governments from the United Kingdom, to the United States, to Australia - all governments that have regular dealings with Sri Lanka are beginning to realize that this is a country with a government that has no interest in holding its own agents accountable for human rights abuses and it’s starting to have an impact on the country’s bilateral relationships across the board.”