The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) has called for “a credible international forensics team” to be allowed in to Sri Lanka, to document evidence remaining in secret torture centres in the island.

Responding to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID) confirming the existence of such government run centres on the island, the ITJP said the government must now “bring in a credible international forensics team to document evidence (such as blood stains) remaining in the underground torture cells and attempt to match this with survivors in Sri Lanka and abroad”.

“We note the new Government of Sri Lanka has so far failed to investigate the allegations regarding the site in Trincomalee,” said the ITJP in a press release on Friday.
“This raises serious concerns about the pervasive clime of impunity and the Government of Sri Lanka’s reluctance to investigate and reform its own security forces, despite promises to the international community to do so.”

“The Sri Lankan Prime Minister, who has denied the existence of secret detention sites, should now publicly acknowledge their existence and outline in detail what steps he intends to take to address this problem,” it added.

The ITJP also called on governments across the world to “review naval cooperation, joint exercises and training with the Sri Lankan navy given the credible allegation by WGEID that naval personnel were involved in systematic torture over several years”.

The call comes as a Nigerian navy delegation met with the Commander of the Sri Lankan navy this week, reportedly expressing interest in their Inshore Patrol Craft.

See the full ITJP press release below.

Tamil civil societies across the North-East have called for the United Nations to be allowed to participate in a Sri Lankan government victim consultation process (VCP), in order to gain credibility and to ensure a UN Human Rights Council resolution is implemented.

In a letter sent to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, civil society organisations said “the participation of the UN representatives as set out above is important for the credibility of the VCP and for ensuring that the UN is accountable to the victims and civil society for the implementation of the UNHRC Resolution”.

The letter detailed steps that the Sri Lankan government should take, including at least 50% representation for women, the “close consultation and concurrence of civil society actors who are seen to be credible by victim communities” and independent monitoring of the process by representatives “drawn from countries who co-sponsored the Geneva resolution and from international and local human rights and civil society actors”.

The note added “we recognize and acknowledge that the victims of the conflict in Sri Lanka are to be found in all communities throughout Sri Lanka”. “However, the suffering of the Tamil victims in the North and East must be given due recognition as should the structural impediments to them enjoying full rights as citizens.”

Popular opposition MP Udaya Gammanpila questioned the motives of the US Ambassadr to the UN, Samantha Power's visit to Sri Lanka, and said it would be better if she stayed away.

Mr Gammanpila, who came third in Colombo during the general election and is the secretary of the Buddhist hardline PHU, told media on Tuesday that her visit was "mysterious" and questioned whether the US saw Sri Lanka as recently conquered territory.

"She has the right to travel all over the US, which is fair enough as she is the US envoy to the UN. She may present the situation in her country to the UN as that is her job. But why is she touring Sri Lanka? Is it because the Americans see Sri Lanka as a colony which they recently conquered? Do they assume that Sri Lanka is the 51st State of the US?" he asked.

The PHU leader also said Ambassador Power would be meeting with LTTE-sympathisers while in the North-East.

The Sri Lankan government will investigate the findings by the UN Working Group for Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which discovered a secret torture facility and suspected the existence of further unofficial detention centres.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mahishini Colonne said the UNWGEID had briefed Ministry officials on the conclusions and findings of their investigation.

“During the discussions held with the ministry, the working group briefed us on their findings inclusive of certain cells maintained in the past. They don’t exist anymore. We have told them that the government is willing to investigation whatever the incidents of intimidation and harassment that existed and consider what measures should be taken after further consultations,” Ms Colonne told a weekly media briefing.

The Thandikulam Agriculture Farm School in Vavuniya held a ceremony to mark the 9th anniversary since the massacre of 5 students by Sri Lankan security forces.

On the 11th of November 2006 Sri Lankan troops raided the school and lined up the students, before executing them.

School principal Kumuthiny Chandrakanthan lit a memorial flame, with other school officials, students and relatives of those killed present at the ceremony. A blood donation event was also held in memory of those killed.

“These soldiers fired indiscriminately at a group of students who had thrown themselves on the ground seeking safety after an LTTE (Tamil Tiger) claymore mine blast nearby," said Helen Olafsdottir, spokeswoman for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to Reuters at the time.

"Witnesses say that soldiers jumped over the fence, into the agricultural school premises, and opened fire," she added. "They shot from close range, five of the students were killed and at least 10 others were injured."

The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID) called on the Sri Lankan government to bring about truth, justice and reparations to victims of enforced disappearances, stating that “the time for action has come”.

In a statement released to mark the end of the group’s visit to the island, the UN WGEID said the “extensive use of enforced disappearances, followed by an almost complete lack of judicial accountability and decisive and sustained efforts to secure the truth about the disappeared - including the determination of their fate or whereabouts – as well as the absence of a comprehensive reparation program and social, psychological and economic support for the relatives, have left profound wounds in society and a deep sense of mistrust among the relatives”.

It further added “this context of mistrust is exacerbated by the continued and extensive presence of the military in the North and East of the country”.

Calling on the Sri Lankan government to “translate that announced commitment into concrete and urgent specific measures to address disappearances,” the statement added:

“The time for promises is over. The time for action has come.”

Sri Lankan opposition MP and Pivithuru Hela Urumaya General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila warned that the Sri Lankan government had agreed to sign the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India next year, in an address to a Young Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Colombo.

Mr Gammanpila claimed that an agreement had been reached for the trade deal to be signed in May 2016, and warned that Sri Lanka would “definitely become an Indian colony”.