SRI LANKA: FORTY NEW CASES OF POST-WAR TORTURE DOCUMENTED IN PAST 8 MONTHS

September 24, 2014

Some of the almost 50,000 files of torture survivors referred to Freedom from Torture (REUTERS/Dylan Martinez)

In light of its latest evidence, published today, Freedom from Torture is calling on Sri Lanka to allow free and unfettered access to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a matter of urgency and for the new Commissioner Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein to include ongoing torture in his investigations.

Freedom from Torture is one of the world's largest torture rehabilitation centres, providing psychological treatment and other services to over 1000 torture survivors each year.

As the new High Commissioner prepares to update the Human Rights Council on the Sri Lanka inquiry, the medical charity revealed that in the last eight months its doctors have documented 40 new cases of post-war torture perpetrated between 2009 and 2013. Of these new cases:

• 13 date from 2013
• 10 date from 2012
• 7 date from 2011, 2 from 2010 and 8 from 2009

Added to the organisation's previously released data, this means that Freedom from Torture has now forensically documented* 160 cases of individuals tortured since Sri Lanka's civil war ended in 2009.

The overwhelming majority of these cases are ethnic Tamils, and the key factor that led to their detention and torture appears to be a real, or perceived, connection to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – either their own, or that of a family member or acquaintance.

Of these 160 cases, 35 were detained and tortured in 2012 and 2013. In 2013, as in 2012, Sri Lanka was the top referral country to Freedom from Torture for torture cases with almost a quarter of all referrals to the organisation comprising Sri Lankan nationals.

Dr Juliet Cohen, head of doctors at Freedom from Torture, said:

"Our doctors are seeing first-hand that targeted torture continues in Sri Lanka. We are treating individuals displaying physical and psychological consequences of torture techniques that regularly include suffocation and sexual torture, and presenting with horrific scarring caused by 'branding' with hot metal rods – a technique that ensures an individual can be easily identified by the authorities in the future."

Susan Munroe, Chief Executive, Freedom from Torture, said:

"The forensic reports our doctors produce indicate strongly that torture is still very much part of the Sri Lankan's government's repression machinery almost five years after the end of conflict. This cannot be ignored. While the UN inquiry into human rights violations and possible war crimes during the closing stages of the civil war is a vital step towards accountability, the international community must face up to the reality that abuses continue today.

"The Council should mandate the UN High Commissioner to specifically include a focus on ongoing torture in his inquiry and Sri Lanka should allow him free and unfettered access to conduct it urgently."