Rights group urge government to enact meaningful change; call for the dismantling of oppressive security infrastructure

The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice has released a report based on interviews with 27 war-affected individuals and human rights activists from the North and claim the report's findings reinforce the view that the climate of fear  has not lifted "evenly or consistently over the past three years, with those living in war-affected areas continuing to bear the brunt of oppressive state practises."

A statement published by Transconflict said "Our analysis suggests that the use of overbearing tactics by the state are having a deleterious impact on the liberty and welfare of those targeted. But perhaps even more worryingly, they would appear to pose a serious threat to Sri Lanka’s prospects of building a sustainable peace: by eroding the kind of trust within minority communities that will be needed to achieve lasting reconciliation, reproducing the grievances at the root of the ethnic conflict, and raising the possibility of future crackdowns against those who have spoken out in recent times. As we caution in the report, measures adopted by the Sri Lankan security agencies in the name of preventing violence may in fact be hastening its return."

"In the context of ongoing impunity for serious human rights abuses, and with some of the most egregious abusers now threatening a return to power, the report is as much a warning about Sri Lanka’s future as it is an examination of present realities.

"Unless the current government uses the window of the opportunity before it to enact meaningful change – by bringing perpetrators of past crimes to account, dismantling the oppressive security infrastructure that has accumulated during thirty years of war, and building and strengthening the institutions needed to protect human rights – the worst aspects of Sri Lanka’s recent history could yet repeat themselves"

Read the full report