HRW calls on government to ensure safety of refugees and asylum seekers

Global rights organization Human Right Watch (HRW) has called on the Sri Lankan government to take steps to ensure the safety of refugees and asylum seekers.

Issuing a statement the organisation said, as part of broader measures to protect Muslims and other minorities from local reprisals, should ensure the safety of at-risk refugees and asylum seekers.  This includes providing adequate protection to mosques, police stations, and other locations where refugees are staying, transferring them to safer areas, and working closely with humanitarian agencies providing assistance, the statment said.

'Sri Lankan authorities not only have a responsibility to apprehend those responsible for the heinous Easter Sunday attacks, but also to protect all those now at heightened risk,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director.

“This means providing safe and secure shelter for refugees and asylum seekers, but also taking prompt legal action against anyone who threatens them.”

Further the statement said "The police have arrested about 100 people since the Easter Sunday attack and confiscated alleged bomb-making material and weapons. Sri Lanka’s abusive Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which has long been used to detain criminal suspects without charge or trial, remains in effect, despite pledges in a UN Human Rights Council consensus resolution in October 2015 to repeal and replace the law.

Suspects who are not brought promptly before a judge and given access to family members and legal counsel, as is common under the PTA, are at greater risk of torture and other abuse, Human Rights Watch said.

All of those apprehended should be promptly brought before a judge and charged with a criminal offense or released.

“Sri Lankan authorities have a responsibility to arrest and prosecute all those involved in the Easter Sunday attacks and prevent further extremist violence,” Ganguly said.

“But as Sri Lanka’s civil war history makes clear, doing so without ensuring basic rights will be counterproductive. Fostering cooperation by all of the country’s religious and ethnic groups is crucial for the safety of all.”