Human Rights Review: Amnesty says security trumped freedoms in SL

Amnesty International today (30) today launched its annual report on "Human Rights in Asia-Pacific: Review of 2019, which it said delivers the most comprehensive analysis of the state of human rights in the world's largest continent. 

Presenting the report, Amnesty said that as far as Sri Lanka is concerned, it finds that the fallout from the April bombings bred communal violence, endangered minorities and put freedoms in peril. Justice and reparations for the 30 year conflict seem to be increasingly out of reach for the victims, as even the limited but key gains of recent years appeared at risk of rollback given statements by the new government. 

"It was a difficult year for Sri Lanka. The tragic April bombings, which devastated hundreds of lives, led to the state adopting a heavy-handed security response that trumped people's human rights," said Brijaj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty International. 

"For the victims of Sri Lanka's decades-long conflict, there was little progress on disappearances and no accountability for other crimes," he further said. 

Pix by Indika Handuwala