The Sri Lankan government has taken “minimal steps to identify, investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who committed human rights abuses” said the US State Department in its human rights report for 2021, highlighting the level of impunity still present on the island.
The report, released last week, broadly highlighted human rights issues across the island, from the lack of accountability for conflict-era abuses to ongoing torture, arrests, land grabs, press intimidation and racism.
The report stated there was a “lack of accountability for conflict-era abuses, particularly those conducted by government officials, military, paramilitary, police, and other security-sector officials,” adding there was resistance from the government and courts to act against the security forces.
State-enforced disappearances during and after the war remain unresolved, it added, noting that impunity for perpetrators remained.
Concerning torture and inhuman treatment and punishment, interviews conducted by human rights organizations found that torture and excessive use of force by police remains “endemic”.
It went on to note that by the end of 2021,
“according to civil society activists, those remaining in detention under the PTA included approximately 300 individuals who they reported identified as Muslim, approximately 70 Tamils held for years for alleged links to the LTTE during the civil war, and more than 110 Tamils arrested for social media posts critical of the government and alleged activities to revive the LTTE”.
The report noted that the Sri Lankan government has designated several Tamil diaspora organizations and individuals, all ethnic Tamils and Muslims, as ‘terrorists’. Some diaspora leaders have condemned such listings calling them “arbitrary and attempting to silence the Tamil diaspora,” said the State Department.
“The military seized significant amounts of land during the war,” it continued, noting that there have also been reports of Buddhist statues being placed in lands that Hindu and Muslim groups have said is a tactic of “colonization”.
Reports of harassment and intimidation of journalists were also raised, with the report raising Tamil journalists being disproportionately interrogated in May. Police obstructing protests organized by families of the disappeared with the Pottuvil to Polikandi (#P2P) protest was raised as an example of the deterioration of peaceful assembly. Several courts across the North-East also issued orders banning protestors from taking part in March.
Corruption remains rampant, including at the highest levels of government.
And finally, the report added that Tamils “suffered long-standing, systematic discrimination in university education, government employment, housing, health services, language laws, and procedures for the naturalization of noncitizens”.
The whole country report on Human Rights Practices for 2021 in Sri Lanka can be found here.