The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders expressed concern over Sri Lanka's inaction to respond to threats against human rights defenders.
In a joint communication with other UN experts, Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, wrote to the Sri Lankan government, highlighting cases of alleged arbitrary detention, threats and intimidation against human rights defenders, journalists and trade union leaders Sudesh Nandimal Silva, Senaka Perera, Tharindu Jayawardhana and Joseph Stalin.
The Special Rapporteurs stated that they were “seriously concerned” by the allegations “which appear to be in response to their human rights, journalistic and trade union activities.”
Silva, the General Secretary of the Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners (CPRP), was a key witness of the 2012 Welikada prison riot where over 16 prisoners were massacred.
In recent years, Silva and his lawyer Senaka Perera have been intimidated and have had death threats levelled against them for their participation in a legal case over the riot. Earlier this year, two unidentified people had inquired with Silva’a neighbours about his movements and made statements which implied death threats to Silva.
In the letter, the human rights experts expressed their serious concern over the inaction by the government to “respond efficiently and effectively” to the threats or risks faced by Silva and Perera.
Jayawardhana, a journalist and founder of MediaLK news website, was threatened by Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Colombo Crime Division Deshabandu Tennakoon on social media. Jayawardhana had published a news report on his Facebook about the alleged negligence in preventing the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.
The Special Rapporteurs conveyed further concern over the threats levelled against Jayawardhana by a public official on social media “in response to his legitimate journalistic activities reporting on matters in the public interest and exercising his right to freedom of expression and freedom of association.”
The letter also highlighted that requests made by Jayawardhana to the authorities to guarantee his safety “have gone unanswered and unacknowledged.”
Earlier this year, Joseph Stalin, the General Secretary of Ceylon Teachers Union, participated in a demonstration to demand the withdrawal of the Kotelawala Defense Bill which seeks to change the governance structure of the University and pave way for greater military involvement in education policy and administration.
Stalin and 30 other demonstrators were arrested by Sri Lankan police for reportedly not adhering to coronavirus regulations. The demonstrators who were granted bail later that day were forced on to a bus and taken to the Sri Lankan Air Force Quarantine Centre even though the Magistrate had specifically denied the request for mandatory quarantine.
The UN experts expressed their “utmost concern” over the arbitrary detention of Stalin and the other demonstrators who were detained without a court order.
“Further concerning, is that their arrest and detention appears to have taken place under the pretext of alleged COVID-19 measures, indicating an alleged misuse of such public health measures to prevent the legitimate exercise of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression and assembly.”
Although Sri Lanka responded to the communication, Lawlor stated that the government “have not addressed most of the questions posed to them.”
In their response, Sri Lanka failed to outline the actions the authorities have taken or yet to take. Instead, they provided vague responses and urged “all parties” to submit their complaints to the “different national mechanisms that have the competence and jurisdiction to receive and investigate” the claims.
See Sri Lanka’s full response here.