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SL to issue formal response to UN report on torture
View(s):The Government will issue a formal response to a damning UN report that found that a “culture of torture” was still used by various security agencies, when the report is submitted at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) sessions in March, a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman said.
The report was compiled by Juan Mendez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment following his fact finding mission to Sri Lanka last year on the invitation of the government.
“Torture and ill-treatment, including those of a sexual nature, still occur, in particular in the early stages of arrest and interrogation, often for the purpose of eliciting confessions. The gravity of the mistreatment inflicted increases for those who are perceived to be involved in terrorism or offences against national security. The police resort to forceful extraction of information or coerced confessions rather than carrying out thorough investigations using scientific methods,” the report found. The report also details the flaws in the judiciary as most Srilankan judges were overly passive and did not seek exculpatory evidence. “In criminal cases, that means they rule almost exclusively on the basis of evidence gathered by police,” the report added.
Dismissing the report as being solely based on statements made by individuals without any substantial evidences, a senior Defence Ministry official said the government would study the report but never agree to comply with any of its recommendations.
“The report focused mainly on torture by police. If anyone is tortured by police in custody, he could inform the magistrate when he is produced in court. But nobody is doing that,” he said. The UN report will be taken up for debate at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) scheduled to be held from February 27 to March 24.