Photograph HRW

Next week, the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict is due to take place in London, co-hosted by the UK's Foreign Secretary, William Hague and the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie.

In the run up to the ESVC summit, we revisit the mounting evidence which documents the widespread, systematic and on-going use of sexual violence by Sri Lanka's military against Tamils, that occurs with absolute impunity.

See our full feature: 'Sexual Violence in Conflict: Sri Lanka'
 
Despite the end of the armed conflict, the use of sexual violence by Sri Lanka's military against Tamil women and men continued, with Tamils routinely arrested and detained indefinitely using the country's draconian anti-terror laws.

There are on-going reports of sexual violence against Tamils in detention to the present day, with many victims recounting sexual violence used as a means of torture to extract confessions.

In 2012, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), examined witness testimonies of Tamils deported back to Sri Lanka. In its report 'Returnees at Risk: Detention And Torture in Sri Lanka', TAG noted:

“The majority of the cases that reported abuse reported similar forms of physical torture, with 6 verified as having experienced additional forms of sexual torture. In all of the cases reviewed, judges found legitimate claims of severe torture to be “supported by photographic evidence and the medical reports” as well as through “psychological assessment”. Several of the applicants suffer from continued physical pain as well as forms of mental illness caused by severe trauma.”

Early last year, Human Rights Watch, in a 141-page report entitled “We Will Teach You a Lesson” - Sexual Violence against Tamils by Sri Lankan Security Forces’, detailed 75 cases of rape, including that of 31 men, 41 women, and three boys aged under 18. All cases were reported to have occurred from 2006-2012 in both official and secret detention centres across Sri Lanka.

HRW stated that the report only accounts for “a tiny fraction of custodial rape”. Many of the cases followed similar patterns of detention, followed by torture and rape by security forces, whilst being interrogated about “LTTE activities”.

Victims reported being forced to sign confessions in Sinhalese, a language they did not understand, as well as being forced to identify and name other potential “suspects”. Some of the victims recounted that they signed ‘confessions’ and pointed out people as LTTE cadres, knowing that they were not, simply to put an end to the torture.
Tamils returning from abroad were also shown photographs of anti-government protests that took place in Paris and London, and forced to identify those in the images.

HRW noted: "In all of the cases documented, the acts of rape and sexual violence were accompanied by other forms of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by state security forces."

One 32-year-old woman, detained in Kilinochchi in April 2012, told HRW:

“I was beaten up and tortured continuously. On the second day, a man came to my room and raped me. I was raped by different men on at least three days. I can’t remember how many times. They would always touch my private parts after they raped me. They spoke in Sinhala but also spoke some broken Tamil. I signed a confession statement as I wanted the rapes to stop. While I was in detention, my family tried to lodge a complaint with the NHRC [National Human Rights Commission] but they refused to register a complaint. My family also approached some members of parliament. Nobody helped us.”

A 17-year-old Tamil boy, detained in Jaffna in November 2009, said:

“One officer performed sexual acts in front of me. He then raped me. I lost consciousness. I was bleeding heavily from my anus.”

In November last year, the BBC reported on 12 cases of men and women who were subjected to sexual violence in detention in 2013.

See here for the BBC report, by former correspondent to Sri Lanka and author of 'Still Counting the Dead', Frances Harrison.

The latest evidence emerged from a report published as recently as February this year - 'An Unfinished War: Torture and Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka 2009—2014' - by Yasmin Sooka, an author of the UN Panel of Experts report on mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) and The International Truth & Justice Project, Sri Lanka, detailed reports of sexual violence in detention carried out from 2009, till the beginning of this year.

The report includes 40 sworn statements from Tamil witnesses, recounting abductions and torture that all occurred within the time frame of May 2009 to February 2014, with over half of the abductions having taken place during 2013 and 2014.

“All detainees were sexually assaulted, with many witnesses quite young and having no experience of sexual intercourse. Some detainees were mothers of babies or young children. Most detainees, male and female, were raped, confirming that they had experienced vaginal or anal penetration or both. Many were raped on more than one occasion with most sexual violence occurring in their private holding cell. Most were raped after enduring repeated physical torture in the torture chamber. Witnesses report being raped violently, usually amid verbal abuse and derision by one or two men, sometimes more. Witnesses allege that the men did not wear condoms when raping them.”

An 18-year-old male detainee said:

“The door to where the women were kept was slightly open. I saw a female cadre lying on her back on the floor. She was totally naked. I clearly saw a soda bottle shoved inside her vagina. Her arms were spread out wide, as were her legs. The door was not open enough to see the other two girls. I could not tell if the girl or the others were alive. None of them was making any sound and the girl I saw was not moving.”

Detention locations are mainly in the North-East, including Mannar, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, PTK, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, where arbitrary arrest and disappearances continue despite the passing of five years. A number of victims also describe facing sexual violence whilst detained in Colombo.

Extracts from the report published below:

“The evidence of the witnesses suggested that the security forces were working together and in most instances there was more than one branch involved in the detention and torture. Given that the abductors sometimes travel to high security zones or military camps they would require inter-agency cooperation amongst the various branches of the security forces, as well as orders and clearances from superiors to enter these areas. More broadly travelling through heavily militarised areas with frequent checkpoints would also require the involvement of other units of the security forces."

"Interrogation was almost always about LTTE involvement despite the interrogators, in many cases, being in possession of the answers and often already having the evidence to prove it.

What they purported to be looking for usually appeared to be a wider understanding both of the status of existing networks as well as historical events. They wanted informers. Another key motive appeared to be the punishment of those who testified before the Lessons Learned Commission or whose families reported cases to the Human Rights Commission, or those who had peacefully protested war crimes and human rights abuses from abroad.

Most detainees are tortured every time they are interrogated. Indeed, almost all witnesses reported torture continuing after they had admitted their involvement with the LTTE."

A male victim recounted the torture he experienced:

"He used one hand to squeeze my neck while I was standing and then he reached down with his other hand and squeezed my penis and testicles. He told me “you are a Tamil dog and should not have any future generations”. He squeezed hard and it caused me terrible pain. He told me to hold his penis. When I refused he slapped me and told me “Tamil dog you will be dead if you do not hold it”. In fear I held it. … On one occasion one of the army guards came in and urinated on me. While doing so he told me, “you Tamils need a separate state. If you want a separate state you will have to take a bath in our urine.”