Commenting on Sri Lanka's planned lifting of emergency laws, US State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, warned Sri Lanka to make further progress on human rights and humanitarian law: 

"We continue to urge the government of Sri Lanka to meet its international humanitarian law and international human rights law obligations."

"And we continue to say that if they cannot do this nationally, then the international community will have to step in. Bob Blake will be talking about all these issues on his visit."

Robert Blake, US assistance secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, will be visiting Sri Lanka from 29-31 August. Nuland confirmed that as part of his visit, he will be travelling to Jaffna.

Along with the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the Emergency Regulations have long been criticised by international human rights groups for the immunity they grant to security forces who commit rights abuses.

Amnesty International says of the ER and PTA:

"Successive governments have used national security as an excuse to introduce a range of broad of emergency regulations."

"This has led to the erosion and even suspension of people’s rights to freedom of thought, conscience and expression, as well as their right to live free from arbitrary arrest and detention."

"The national security laws grant state authorities sweeping powers of detention and permit people to be held in secret locations.

"Security agents, often without proper uniforms or identification, can detain and hold suspects for months or years without a warrant or being produced before a magistrate."

See the statement, and find a link to the briefing paper 'Forgotten prisoners: Sri Lanka uses anti-terrorism laws to detain thousands', here.

Sri Lankan security forces have an overbearing presence in many Tamil-speaking areas where 'grease devils' - night prowlers - are terrorising villages.

Until very recently, the term ‘grease devil’ had not appeared in international reportage on Sri Lanka. However in the past few weeks it has been associated with an epidemic of terrifying attacks and attempted attacks by night prowlers on women, largely in Tamil-speaking areas. Wearing masks or face paint, they either break into female-only houses and residences, or loiter in areas frequented by women.

The incidents have not only caused panic amongst residents in Tamil, Muslim and Upcountry Tamil villages (mainly, but not exclusively), but also anger - which has been directed, tellingly, at the security forces who are seen to be protecting the prowlers.

Sri Lanka has been making much of supposed local superstitions. But people are terrorised by the attacks themselves, not paranormal readings of the perpetrators. Indeed, they have often chased after - and sometimes apprehended - the prowlers when they encounter them.

It is no coincidence the wave of attacks comes as Sri Lanka’s authorities are under international pressure to repeal draconian Emergency Regulations and reduce the overbearing military presence in the war-shattered Tamil areas. In short, the ‘grease devil’ phenomenon has emerged as an all too convenient justification for Sri Lanka’s security establishment to continue its massive deployment in Tamil areas.