Rights Groups Push UN to Act on Sri Lanka’s Violations

COLOMBO (News 1st); Five leading international human rights organizations have called on United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, to use his upcoming visit to Sri Lanka to reinforce international scrutiny and demand accountability for decades of unresolved human rights violations.

The letter, signed by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, and the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, expresses deep concern over the Sri Lankan’s continued failure to deliver justice for victims of war crimes, enforced disappearances, and systemic abuses.

The letter outlines a series of urgent recommendations for Türk’s visit including:

Publicly call on the government to ensure accountability for violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law, Visit mass grave sites associated with civil war rights abuses, such as that at Chemmani near Jaffna, as well as mass graves associated with the JVP uprising in the south.

Publicly call on the government to fulfill its manifest of commitment to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and introduce an immediate moratorium on its use. Any replacement counter-terrorism legislation should comply with international human rights law and standards, which previously published proposals, known as the Anti-Terrorism Bill, did not