Human Rights Watch has published a statement calling on Sri Lanka to introduce a moratorium on the use of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and for the “release of those unjustly jailed in its application”.

“Cosmetic interventions won’t suffice”, writes EU Advocate Claudio Francavilla.

In his statement, he highlighted how EU officials met with their Sri Lankan counterparts in Brussels and made it clear that “important elements had not been included in the Amendment Bill” and urged “further steps to make the PTA fully compliant with international norms.”

During the meeting, EU officials called for “practical and administrative steps to release on bail those detained under the PTA without charges.” Whilst some high-profile detainees have been released on bail but HRW notes that an estimated 300 remain in custody without trial.

In their detailed report they further highlight that an estimated “84 per cent of PTA prisoners are tortured after their arrest, and over 90 per cent of those were forced to sign a document in a language, Sinhala, they could not understand”. Tamils and Muslims have been disproportionately subject to abuse under this legislation.

Francavilla notes that UN experts have stressed identified five “necessary prerequisites” for Sri Lanka’s counterterrorism legislation to comply with international standards. These are:

1. Employ definitions of terrorism that comply with international norms
2. Ensure precision and legal certainty, especially when this legislation may impact the rights of freedom of expression, opinion, association and religion or belief
3. Institute provisions and measures to prevent and halt arbitrary deprivation of liberty
4. Ensure preventative measures are in place to prevent torture and enforced disappearance and adhere to their absolute prohibition
5. Enable overarching due process and fair trial guarantees, including judicial oversight and access to legal counsel

Numerous civil society organisations and Tamil survivor communities have castigated the reforms as failing to meet these minimal requirements. The Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives maintained that these reforms were “grossly inadequate”.

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HRW further criticised the government’s “grossly inaccurate and threatening statement against recent testimony by a prominent human rights lawyer, Ambika Satkunanathan, to the European Parliament”.

European diplomats have responded to the attack on Satkunanathan by stressing the need for critical engagement rather than hostility by the State.

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Francavilla concludes by maintaining that the EU “should continue to insist that those benchmarks be met: the freedom of countless Sri Lankans hangs in the balance, as does the country’s GSP+ status, which is vital to the economy”.

“To safeguard it, the Rajapaksa government needs to uphold its human rights obligations, starting with genuine reform of the PTA, accompanied by a moratorium on its use and the release of those unjustly jailed in its application”.