Jailing Activists & Pardoning Murderers- Monitoring Ten Issues Of Concern In Sri Lanka In 2021

Monitoring issues of concern

Friday, 4 February 2022 

In March 2021, the UN Human Rights Council passed Resolution 46/1: Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. The resolution identified ten emerging legal and political trends it described as representing “a clear early warning sign of a deteriorating situation of human rights in Sri Lanka”:

1. Accelerating militarization of civilian government functions;
2. Erosion of the independence of the judiciary and key institutions responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights;
3. Ongoing impunity and political obstruction of accountability for crimes and human rights violations in “emblematic cases”;
4. Policies that adversely affect the right to freedom of religion or belief;
5. Increased marginalization of persons belonging to the Tamil and Muslim communities;
6. Surveillance and intimidation of civil society;
7. Restrictions on media freedom and shrinking democratic space;
8. Restrictions on public memorialization of victims of war;
9. Arbitrary detentions;
10. Alleged torture and other cruel, inhuman degrading treatment or punishment, and sexual and gender-based violence.

Our latest report report examines these trends over the past year and highlights the key developments. Despite its frequent claims to the contrary, the government of Sri Lanka has continued its trajectory towards authoritarian, militarised, and increasingly racist governance.

FINAL Jailing Activists and... by Thavam Ratna