Human rights in Sri Lanka
The government of Sri Lanka and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as well as various other paramilitaries and marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) rebels are accused of violating human rights.
The repression of the second JVP revolution in the Southern Sri Lanka by government forces and paramilitaries has led to many human rights violations.
In 1971, an unsuccessful armed revolt was conducted by the communist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) against the Government of Ceylon under Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
JVP members are accused of killing its political rivals and civilians who disobeyed their orders by beheading and shooting during these insurrections.
Charred dead bodies of suspected JVP members burnt using tyre pyres were a common sight in Sri Lanka during this period.
[15] On April 19, 1986, Ramanujam Manikkalingam, an MIT physics graduate, was arrested by government security forces in his native country of Sri Lanka under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The European Union also condemned Sri Lankan security forces in the year 2000 concerning human rights, after fighting displaced 12,000 civilians.
Most disappearances of various critics, journalist and others who had disputes with members of the Rajapaksa government as well as kidnapping for ransom has been associated with the "white vans" which were believed to be operated by military personnel.
Sahadevan was shot dead inside his house during nighttime curfew in an area heavily guarded by the Sri Lankan Army.
[24][25] People who were previously in, or who assisted, the Tamil Tigers have alleged that the government has been continuing to torture them after the formal end of hostilities.
The report states that "they [LTTE] continued to control large sections of the north and east and engaged in politically motivated killings, disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, denial of a fair public trial, arbitrary interference with privacy, denial of freedom of speech, press, of assembly and association, and the recruitment of child soldiers".
Further a Claymore antipersonnel mine attack by the LTTE on June 15, 2006 on a bus carrying 140 civilians killed 68 people including 15 children, and injured 60 others.
[31][32][33] The TMVP was also involved in kidnappings for ransom of wealthy, predominantly Tamil, businessmen to raise money in Colombo and other towns.
The prime ministers of India, Canada, and Mauritius refused to attend due to concerns about Sri Lanka's human rights record, including "ongoing allegations of abuse of opposition politicians and journalists".
[39][40] On 2015 October 11, Former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan of the former paramilitary group TMVP was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department in connection with the killing of former TNA parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham who was shot dead on December 25, 2005 in Batticaloa.
[41] He was allowed to be detained till 4 November for further questioning[42] The 2014 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka were religious and ethnic riots in June 2014 in south-western Sri Lanka that were sparked by the assault of a senior Buddhist monk, Ayagama Samitha, and his driver by Muslims in Dharga Town on the holy day of Poson.
[50] Moderate Buddhist monk Watareka Vijitha, who had been critical of the BBS, was abducted and assaulted in the Bandaragama area on 19 June 2014.
Article 365 of the Sri Lankan Penal Code, which dates from the time of colonial British Ceylon, criminalizes sexual acts deemed "against the order of nature".
[60][61] Asylum seeker organisations and human rights NGOs have reported that police and government workers used the threat of arrest to assault, harass, and sexually and monetarily extort LGBTQI individuals.
Husbands can also get quick divorces without having to offer any explanation while the wife has to endure a long process that requires her to produce witnesses and attend hearings.
[71] Supporters of the MMDA such as the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, a union of male Islamic scholars claim that child marriages are rare.
Activists have expressed fears to even engage in daily tasks such as travelling and sending children to school due to regular threats.
