The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) in its fifth periodic review report to the Committee Against Torture issued last month finds fault with the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for failure to take action against torture and cruel inhuman degrading treatment.
Highlighting the inefficiencies of the IGP, the report states, “In a case where a person’s whereabouts following arrest were unknown for six days the Commission informed the Inspector-General of Police of this case and requested an immediate inquiry be held and remedial action taken. To date the Commission has not received an update or take action.”
The report goes on to state that Attorney General’s Department has to date failed to provide the HRC with information requested pertaining to the number of indictments filed and convictions under the Convention against Torture Act.
“The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has requested information from the Attorney-General’s Department on the number of indictments filed and convictions under the Convention Against Torture Act, but to date is yet to receive the requested information.” the report said.
It draws the attention to individual incidents explicitly shows the systemic torture within the detention camps and police. It also illustrates that torture is routinely used in all parts of the country regardless of the nature of the suspected offense.
The commission has identified in its findings methods of torturing.
According to the information the HRC has obtained from the Department of Prisons for the compilation of this report, as at May, this year 29 persons who are still in remand custody has not been indicted. The longest period that a person was kept in custody without being served an indictment has been 15 years and the longest on-going trial is as of 2002; fourteen years. Among many other inadequacies and deficiencies the commission’s findings the shortage of Tamil interpreters in the justice system as well as at police stations has adversely affected the due process of law.
Usually when a death is reported while in custody investigations are frequently conducted by the same police station where the person was held in custody. The report states that too many cases have been reported where independent investigations are not carried out into custodial deaths.
The report which discusses on the victims and witnesses protection says their main concern is that it is the police that is tasked with providing protection and that it has created a lack of trust amongst the public regarding the effectiveness of this mechanism.