Expressing concern over rights violations in the North and East, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), in its update of the Country of Concern Corporate report on Sri Lanka, highlighted clamp downs on freedom of religion and expression, impunity for sexual violence and the intimidation of journalists on the island.
The latest revision of the 3rd quarter update on Sri Lanka, expressed concern at threats made to journalists in the North and East, interrogation of schools principals in the North by the Sri Lankan Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), unsolved court cases of Sri Lankan navy personnel suspected of gang raping Tamil children and state surveillance of politicians in the North-East.
Attempts to disrupt work by Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to train journalists were also noted, including attempts by the Sri Lankan military to stop Tamil journalists travelling from the North to a workshop in Colombo.
Highlighting attempts by monks to disrupt civil society events with activist and journalists, in the presence of international diplomats, the FCO update noted, "A group of monks stormed and disrupted a private session between civil society and representatives of families of the disappeared. Diplomats were present at the meeting. We strongly condemned the incident alongside other EU countries."
The update drew further attention to the fact that prosecutions had not taken place for the communal violence between Buddhist and Muslims in Aluthgama earlier this year, and that there were still reports of sporadic targeting of Muslim and Christian places of worship by Buddhist monk led initiatives.
The update stated that “the human rights situation remains largely unchanged from the previous quarter.”
See full update here.
The latest revision of the 3rd quarter update on Sri Lanka, expressed concern at threats made to journalists in the North and East, interrogation of schools principals in the North by the Sri Lankan Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), unsolved court cases of Sri Lankan navy personnel suspected of gang raping Tamil children and state surveillance of politicians in the North-East.
"Concerns remain over the situation in the north and east. Two young girls (aged 9 and 11) from Jaffna were allegedly gang raped for 11 days by Sri Lankan Navy personnel; the court case continues. On 25 July, journalists covering court proceedings were allegedly threatened and evicted from the court room by intelligence personnel. In Jaffna, similar threats were allegedly made to journalists on 11 July when they attempted to document the survey of private land to be appropriated by the Sri Lankan Navy. On 3 September, a Catholic priest was questioned by intelligence personnel over poetry he wrote about the war. The spokesman of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union noted that three principals from northern schools were questioned by the Terrorism Investigations Department (TID) over their role in distributing the poetry. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of the Northern Province alleged that he was spied on by members of the intelligence service," reads the FCO update.
Attempts to disrupt work by Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to train journalists were also noted, including attempts by the Sri Lankan military to stop Tamil journalists travelling from the North to a workshop in Colombo.
Highlighting attempts by monks to disrupt civil society events with activist and journalists, in the presence of international diplomats, the FCO update noted, "A group of monks stormed and disrupted a private session between civil society and representatives of families of the disappeared. Diplomats were present at the meeting. We strongly condemned the incident alongside other EU countries."
The update drew further attention to the fact that prosecutions had not taken place for the communal violence between Buddhist and Muslims in Aluthgama earlier this year, and that there were still reports of sporadic targeting of Muslim and Christian places of worship by Buddhist monk led initiatives.
The update stated that “the human rights situation remains largely unchanged from the previous quarter.”
See full update here.