HRW World Report 2012 - Chapter on Sri Lanka

8/3/2019 HRW World Report 2012 - Chapter on Sri Lanka

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WORLDREPORT | 2012E V E N T S O F 2011

H U M A N

R I G H T S

W A T C H


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H U M A N

R I G H T S

W A T C H

WORLD REPORT

2012E V E N T S O F 2011


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Copyright 2012 Human Rights Watch

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-60980-389-6

Front cover photo: Egypt Fatma, 16, joins a pro-democracy protest in Tahrir Square,

Cairo, on February 8, 2011. President Hosni Mubarak resigned on February 11.

2011 Yuri Kozyrev/NOOR for Time Magazine

Back cover photo: Kenya Women widowed by clashes between the insurgent Sabaot

Land Defence Force and Kenyan government in 2006-2008 have formed a collective to

support one another in the aftermath of their husbands disappearances and deaths. 2011 Brent Stirton/Getty Images for Human Rights Watch

Cover and book design by Rafael Jimnez

www.hrw.org


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Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the

human rights of people around the world.

We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination,

to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane

conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice.

We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold

abusers accountable.

We challenge governments and those who hold power to end

abusive practices and respect international human rights law.

We enlist the public and the international community to

support the cause of human rights for all.


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WORLD REPORT 2012

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Human Rights Watch is one of the worlds leading independent

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By focusing international attention where human rights are violated,

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

The staff includes Kenneth Roth, Executive Director; Michele Alexander, Deputy Executive

Director, Development and Global Initiatives; Carroll Bogert, Deputy Executive Director,External Relations; Jan Egeland, Deputy Executive Director, Europe; Iain Levine,

Deputy Executive Director, Program; Chuck Lustig, Deputy Executive Director, Operations;

Walid Ayoub, Information Technology Director; Pierre Bairin, Media Director; Clive Baldwin,

Senior Legal Advisor; Emma Daly, Communications Director; Alan Feldstein, Associate General

Counsel; Barbara Guglielmo, Acting Operations Director; Peggy Hicks, Global Advocacy

Director; Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel; Aisling Reidy, Senior Legal Advisor; James Ross,

Legal and Policy Director; Joe Saunders, Deputy Program Director; Frances Sinha,

Global Human Resources Director; and Minky Worden, Director of Global Initiatives.

The division directors of Human Rights Watch are Brad Adams, Asia; Joseph Amon, Health and

Human Rights; Daniel Bekele, Africa; John Biaggi, International Film Festival; Peter Bouckaert,

Emergencies; Richard Dicker, International Justice; Bill Frelick, Refugees; Arvind Ganesan,

Business and Human Rights; Liesl Gerntholtz, Womens Rights; Steve Goose, Arms;

Alison Parker, United States; Graeme Reid, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights;

Jos Miguel Vivanco, Americas; Lois Whitman, Childrens Rights; and Sarah Leah Whitson,

Middle East and North Africa; and Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia.

The advocacy directors of Human Rights Watch are Philippe Bolopion, United Nations

New York; Juliette De Rivero, United NationsGeneva; Kanae Doi, Japan; Jean-Marie Fardeau,

Paris; Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia; Lotte Leicht, European Union; Tom Malinowski,

Washington DC; and Wenzel Michalski, Berlin.

The members of the board of directors are James F. Hoge, Chair; Susan Manilow, Vice Chair;

Joel Motley, Vice Chair; Sid Sheinberg, Vice Chair; John J. Studzinski, Vice Chair;

Hassan Elmasry, Treasurer; Bruce Rabb, Secretary; Karen Ackman; Jorge Castaeda;Tony Elliott; Michael G. Fisch; Michael E. Gellert; Hina Jilani; Betsy Karel; Wendy Keys;

Robert Kissane; Oki Matsumoto; Barry Meyer; Pat Mitchell; Aoife OBrien; Joan R. Platt;

Amy Rao; Neil Rimer; Victoria Riskin; Amy L. Robbins; Shelley Rubin; Kevin P. Ryan;

Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber; Javier Solana; Siri Stolt-Nielsen; Darian W. Swig; John R. Taylor;

Marie Warburg; and Catherine Zennstrm.

Emeritus board members are Robert L. Bernstein, Founding Chair, 1979-1997;

Jonathan F. Fanton, Chair, 1998-2003; Jane Olson, 2004-2010; Lisa Anderson; David M. Brown;

William D. Carmichael; Vartan Gregorian; Alice H. Henkin; Stephen L. Kass;

Marina Pinto Kaufman; Bruce Klatsky; Joanne Leedom-Ackerman; Josh Mailman;

Samuel K. Murumba; Peter Osnos; Kathleen Peratis; Bruce Rabb; Sigrid Rausing;

Orville Schell; Gary Sick; and Malcolm B. Smith.


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WORLD REPORT 2012

T C

Time to Abandon Autocrats and Embrace RightsThe International Response to the Arab Spring 1

by Kenneth Roth

Before the Arab Spring, the Unseen Thaw 22by Eric Goldstein

After the FallHopes and Lessons 20 Years after the Collapse of the Soviet Union 29

By Rachel Denber

Europes Own Human Rights Crisis 41By Benjamin Ward

From Paternalism to DignityRespecting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 51

By Shantha Rau Barriga

A Landmark Victory for Domestic WorkersNew Convention Establishes First Global Labor Standards

for Millions of Women and Girls 60

By Nisha Varia and Jo Becker

Photo Essay: UPRISINGPhotographs from the Arab Spring 69

Africa 85

Angola 86

Burundi 91

Cte dIvoire 97Democratic Republic of Congo 104

Equatorial Guinea 110


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Eritrea 116

Ethiopia 121Guinea 126

Kenya 132

Malawi 139

Nigeria 143

Rwanda 150

Somalia 158

South Africa 165

South Sudan 173

Sudan (North) 179

Swaziland 186

Uganda 190

Zimbabwe 197

Americas 205

Argentina 206

Bolivia 211

Brazil 216

Chile 223

Colombia 228

Cuba 236

Ecuador 242

Guatemala 247

Haiti 253

Honduras 259

Mexico 265Peru 273

Venezuela 278


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WORLD REPORT 2012

Asia 287

Afghanistan 288

Bangladesh 294

Burma 300

Cambodia 307

China 314

India 328

Indonesia 334Malaysia 341

Nepal 347

North Korea 356

Pakistan 362

Papua New Guinea 370

The Philippines 376

Singapore 383

Sri Lanka 388

Thailand 394

Vietnam 401

Europe and Central Asia 411

Armenia 412

Azerbaijan 418

Belarus 424

Bosnia and Herzegovina 431

Croatia 436

European Union 441

Georgia 459

Kazakhstan 466

Kyrgyzstan 472

Russia 479


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Serbia 488

Tajikistan 498

Turkey 503

Turkmenistan 510

Ukraine 516

Uzbekistan 522

Middle East and North Africa 529

Algeria 530

Bahrain 535

Egypt 545

Iran 553

Iraq 560

Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories 567

Jordan 578

Kuwait 584

Lebanon 589

Libya 595

Morocco and Western Sahara 602

Oman 609

Qatar 613Saudi Arabia 617

Syria 624

Tunisia 632

United Arab Emirates 639

Yemen 644

United States 653

2011 Human Rights Watch Publications 667


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S L

The aftermath of Sri Lankas quarter century-long civil war, which ended in May

2009 with the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),

continued to dominate events in 2011. In April United Nations Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon released a report by a panel of experts that concluded that both

government forces and the LTTE conducted military operations with flagrant

disregard for the protection, rights, welfare and lives of civilians and failed to

respect the norms of international law. The panel recommended the establish-

ment of an international investigative mechanism. Sri Lankan officials respond-ed by vilifying the report and the panel members.

The government has failed to conduct credible investigations into alleged war

crimes by security forces, dismissing the overwhelming body of evidence as

LTTE propaganda. The governments Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation

Commission (LLRC), characterized as a national accountability mechanism, is

deeply flawed, does not meet international standards for such commissions,

and has failed to systematically inquire into alleged abuses.

In August the government allowed emergency regulations in place for nearly

three decades to lapse, but overbroad detention powers remained in place

under other laws and new regulations. Several thousand detainees continue to

be held without trial, in violation of international law.

Accountability

Sri Lanka has made no progress toward justice for the extensive laws of warviolations committed by both sides during the long civil war, including the gov-

ernments indiscriminate shelling of civilians and the LTTEs use of thousands

of civilians as human shields in the final months of the conflict. Since the war

ended the government has not launched a single credible investigation into

alleged abuses. The lack of investigation was especially conspicuous with

regard to several incidents featured in a June 2011 program on the British televi-

sion station Channel 4, showing gruesome images of what appear to be sum-

mary executions of captured and bound combatants. Incredibly, the govern-

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ment repeatedly has dismissed the footage as fabricated despite several inde-

pendent expert reports finding it authentic.

In May the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry held an international conference in

Colombo, the capital, on defeating terrorism that gave scant attention to gov-

ernment abuses. In August the Defense Ministry issued its own report, conced-

ing for the first time that government forces caused civilian deaths in the final

months of the conflict, but taking no responsibility for laws of war violations

and concluding peremptorily without further investigation that the deaths were

the unfortunate collateral damage of war.

Impunity for serious violations also continues for older cases. Despite strong

evidence of involvement by government forces in the execution-style slayings of

17 aid workers and five students in separate incidents in 2006, government

inquiries continue to languish and no one has been arrested for the crimes.

The government has repeatedly extended the deadline for the LLRC. The LLRCs

mandate focuses on the breakdown of the 2002 ceasefire between the govern-

ment and the LTTE, and does not explicitly require it to investigate alleged war

crimes during the conflict. The LLRC heard testimony but undertook no investi-

gations into such allegations. The LLRC was due to submit its report to

President Mahinda Rajapaksa on November 15. The government has stated that

the report will be made public but has not indicated when it will do so. The gov-

ernment has not acted on the LLRCs preliminary recommendations.

Torture, Enforced Disappearances, and Arbitrary Detention

While the government allowed longstanding emergency regulations to lapse inAugust, it failed to rescind other legislation granting police and other security

forces overbroad detention powers and it adopted new regulations that in effect

continue several of the emergency provisions. The president continues to issue

monthly decrees granting the armed forces search and detention powers.

Despite the end of the formal state of emergency, the government also contin-

ues to hold several thousand people initially detained under the emergency

regulations. Many have been held for years without trial, in violation of interna-

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tional law. The government has so far refused to even publish lists of those

detained.

The government has gradually released many, but not all, of the more than

11,000 suspected LTTE members detained at the end of the war and sent to so-

called rehabilitation centers. The government denied detainees important due

process guarantees, such as access to legal counsel, and thousands spent two

years or more in detention. There are reports that some people released from

the rehabilitation centers were harassed by security forces after they returned

home.

In 2011, new reports of disappearances and abductions in the north and the

east emerged, some linked to political parties and others to criminal gangs. The

government has lifted its restriction on travel to parts of the north, although it

maintains a very high security presence. Violence, including sexual assault, by

so-called grease devils, some of whom could allegedly be traced to military

camps, highlighted insecurity in the north and east.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act gives police broad powers over suspects in cus-

tody. Sri Lanka has a long history of torture by the police forces, at times result-

ing in death.

Civil Society and Opposition Members

Free expression remained under assault in 2011. Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan,

editor of a Jaffna-based newspaper, was beaten with iron bars by a group of

unidentified youths in late July. He was severely injured and required hospital-

ization. In July a team of Radio Netherlands journalists were harassed by policeand later robbed and attacked at gunpoint by a gang in a white van, a notorious

symbol of terror in Sri Lanka. Lal Wickrematunge, chairman of the Sunday

Leaderand brother of Lasantha Wickrematunge (who was gunned down in

2009), received a phone call from President Rajapaksa in response to an article

on high-level corruption in which the president said to Wickrematunge, You

are writing lies, outrageous lies! You can attack me politically, but if you attack

me personally, I will know how to attack you personally too.

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There have been no further developments regarding the killing of Lasantha

Wickrematunge or the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda, a contributor toLanka e-news, who has been missing since January 24, 2010.

Members and supporters of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), campaigning

ahead of local elections in Jaffna in June, were attacked by army personnel

wielding rods, batons, and sticks. Among the injured were TNA members and

police officers assigned to provide security to the parliamentarians. The results

of an investigation into the incident ordered by the secretary of defense are not

known.

In November the government blocked at least six news websites claiming that

they had maligned the character of the president and other top government

officials.

Reconciliation Efforts

Reconciliation efforts, meant to address longstanding grievances of the ethnic

Tamil population, have been slow at best. Local elections in March, July, and

October further consolidated the hold of Rajapaksas ruling alliance, although

the TNA garnered significant victories in the north. The TNA and the government

have been in negotiations to deal with, among other matters, devolution of

powers to the provinces, a key issue underpinning the civil war. The talks have

been rife with tension, with the TNA accusing the government of deceitful and

facetious behavior, and the government accusing the TNA of issuing LTTE-type

ultimatums as a result of its electoral victory in the north. The TNA left talks

with the government in August but has since returned.

In September the TNA reacted angrily to government statements at the UN

Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, saying government claims that reconcil-

iation efforts have been predicated on building trust and amity between the

communities is not supported by the experience of the Tamil people.

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Internally Displaced Persons

The vast majority of the nearly 300,000 civilians illegally confined in military-

controlled detention centers after the war have moved out of the centers back

into communities, although not necessarily into their original homes. About

110,000 persons still live with host families or in camps and several thousand

are not able to return because their home areas have not been demined. The

government has still not granted international demining agencies access to

several areas.

Key International Actors

Pressure on accountability from key international actors mounted following the

April release of a damning panel report commissioned by the UN secretary-gen-

eral. Several countriesincluding Britain, Canada, Australia, and the United

Statescalled on Sri Lanka to investigate the allegations contained in the

report. The European Parliament adopted a resolution in May urging Sri Lanka

to immediately investigate the allegations and the European Union to support

further efforts to strengthen the accountability process in Sri Lanka and to sup-port the UN report. Even India, which had largely stayed silent on alleged

abuses in Sri Lanka, added to the pressure in May when it called for investiga-

tions. Also in May the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbi-

trary executions called on the government to investigate textbook examples of

extrajudicial executions in Sri Lanka following a review of evidence related to

government execution of prisoners.

In September UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon submitted the panel report on

the war to the president of the HRC and, acting on one of the reports recom-

mendations, announced that the UN would undertake a separate inquiry into

the its own actions in Sri Lanka during the final months of the war.

While several countries called for accountability for laws of war violations dur-

ing the September HRC session, the Council failed to act following Bans trans-

mission of the panel report and has not yet taken steps towards establishing an

international accountability mechanism, the main recommendation in the

report.

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Several governments indicated that they will support an international accounta-

bility mechanism if the LLRC report fails to properly address accountabilityissues. US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake said during a trip to Sri

Lanka in September that unless there is a full, credible, and independent

accounting, there will be pressure for some sort of alternative mechanism.

The UK has likewise said that it will support the international community in

revisiting all options unless the Sri Lankan government demonstrates progress

by the end of 2011.

US legislation restricts military aid to Sri Lanka, subject to strict conditions

regarding progress on accountability and human rights.

At a Commonwealth summit in October, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen

Harper called for a boycott of a planned Commonwealth heads of government

summit in Sri Lanka in 2013, should Sri Lanka fail to improve its human rights

record by that time.

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH350 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10118-3299

www.hrw.org

H U M A N

R I G H T S

W A T C H

This 22nd annual World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than

90 countries and territories worldwide in 2011. It reflects extensive investigative work

that Human Rights Watch staff has undertaken during the year, often in close partnershipwith domestic human rights activists.

The introductory essay examines the Arab Spring, which has created an extraordinary

opportunity for change. The global community has a responsibility to help the long-

suppressed people of the region seize control of their destiny from often-brutal

authoritarian rulers. Standing firmly with people as they demand their legitimate rights

is the best way to stop the bloodshed, while principled insistence on respect for rights is

the best way to help these popular movements avoid intolerance, lawlessness, and

summary revenge once in power.WORLDREPORT|

2012

Front cover: Egypt Fatma, 16, joins a pro-democracy protest in Tahrir

Square, Cairo, on February 8, 2011. Mubarak resigned on February 11.

2011 Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time Magazine

Back cover: Kenya A collective of women, widowed by the 2006-2008

clashes between the insurgent Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) and the

Kenyan government, have bonded together to support one another in the

aftermath of their husbands' disappearances and deaths.

2011 Brent Stirton/Reportage for Human Rights Watch

Cover Design by Rafael Jimnez

SEVEN STORIES PRESS

140 Watts Street

New York, NY 10013

www sevenstories com US

/$30.00C

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