"The UNHRC has tried to nudge Sri Lanka towards rebuilding civilian lives through resettlement, reducing the military presence in the north and east, and delivering accountability for past crimes through a credible judicial process with international participation. However, the update presented by High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein in Geneva does not present an encouraging picture. He expressed concern about the “heavy military presence” in Tamil areas, noting that the process of the military returning land to its civilian owners has been tardy. There is a lack of urgency in coming up with tangible measures to build confidence among minorities and victims of human rights violations. In turn, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has informed the ongoing session in Geneva that the government has instructed the military to release by 2018 all civilian land it holds. He has promised that the proposed judicial mechanism will inspire confidence among the stakeholders, but has drawn attention to the “divergent views” in the country on it, perhaps a hint of further delay."

Updated 0430GMT

Sri Lankan intelligence operatives have reportedly tortured a Tamil man from Mannar, after abducting him from a church on Wednesday morning, reports Ceylon News.

Photograph: Ceylon News

Santhiyogu Anton Dani was abducted from Uyilankulam church in Mannar, where he had sought sanctuary after frequent harassment from Sri Lankan intelligence officers for the past two months.

Mr Dani fled to the church after hearing Sri Lankan intelligence operatives were looking for him. He went missing on Wednesday morning and was subsequently found at Nochchikulam later that evening, at an area some 2 kilometres from the church. 

He was found blindfolded with his body bearing the marks of severe torture.

The victim’s wife Mathuvanthy Anton, said he had been burnt with heated metal sticks and severely beaten. During several hours of torture, he was also hung by his neck and is currently unable to speak properly, she said.

Ms Anton has reported the incident to local police in Mannar.

Photograph: @Mari_deSilva

Mr Anton told his wife that abductors had walked into his room in the church, tied his hands and bundled him into a vehicle before taking him away and torturing him. He added that he had seen another person being badly tortured by his abductors.

Santhiyagu had been previously arrested in 2001 on suspicion of aiding the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam. After undergoing torture in government custody, Mr Anton was later released by Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court without any charges. He has reportedly been frequently tortured by Sri Lankan security forces since at least 1998.

A United States State Department report on human trafficking said that official complicity in human trafficking in Sri Lanka remained “a serious problem”, as it placed Sri Lanka on the Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth consecutive year in its annual report on trafficking.

“The Government of Sri Lanka does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” said the report, noting that “it is making significant efforts to do so.”

The State Department report said that Sri Lanka was granted a waiver that would have allowed it to downgrade a tier as the government had “devoted sufficient resources to a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the minimum standards”.

Yet implementation of that plan was missing, according to the report.

“Despite these measures, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous reporting period,” it stated.

A number of countries voiced their support for the High Commissioner’s oral update today and re-asserted their commitment to ensuring full implementation of Resolution 30/1. While welcoming the positive steps taken by the Sri Lankan government, several countries expressed concern with ongoing human rights violations and the pace of progress.

The need for international participation

Many countries specifically reiterated the necessity of international participation in a judicial mechanism as per the Resolution.  

“International participation in the accountability mechanism will…be important in ensuring that the process is both credible and perceived as such by all sides in line with the October commitments,” said the Netherlands on behalf of the European Union.

See statement here:

In addition to pointing to the need for international judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and investigators in a judicial mechanism, Estonia once again called on the Sri Lankan government to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Stressing operative paragraph 6, Norway said:

“It is further our expectation that Sri Lanka adheres to OP 6 in the resolution, regarding the planned judicial mechanism to investigate allegations of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and of the importance of participation in the judicial mechanism of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorized prosecutors and investigators.”

Macedonia also stated the importance of international participation in the form iterated by the Resolution, as did Ireland.

Canada reiterated that international involvement in a judicial mechanism was importance to “enhance its credibility, especially to victims.” 

The need for tangible steps on human rights violations

The United States encouraged Sri Lanka to make continued tangible steps in fulfilling their commitments under the Resolution.

“Protecting human rights in this post-conflict context is central, and we urge Sri Lanka to work to further improve the human rights situation, especially in the North and East," said Denmark.

The Sri Lankan military has constructed a new Buddha statue besides a Hindu temple in Mannar, in a move decried by locals as yet another government sponsored act of Sinhalisation of the Tamil North-East.

The statue was built on an area of land by Manthai junction located in front of the ancient Thiruketheeswran temple. The five acres of land is currently occupied by the Sri Lankan military.