The Sri Lankan government is using the discredited Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to commit prolonged arbitrary detention and torture, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Monday.
The rights group said the European Union, other trading partners, and donors, should press for time-bound action to repeal the abusive law and reject the government's proposed amendments, which would not end widespread abuses.
The 59-page report, "In a Legal Black Hole': Sri Lanka's Failure to Reform the Prevention of Terrorism Act," documents the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration's misuse of the PTA against the minority Tamil and Muslim communities, and to suppress civil society groups.
The administration rejected pledges by the previous government to repeal the law after it was readmitted to the EU's Generalized Scheme of Preferences plus (GSP+), which grants Sri Lanka special tariff-free access to EU markets.
"Sri Lankan authorities continue to use the Prevention of Terrorism Act to sweep away targeted people's basic rights, reneging on past government promises to repeal the law," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at HRW. "Proposed government changes to the PTA appear aimed to assuage the concerns of the EU and other governments, without ending abuses."
This report is based on HRW research on the PTA carried out since 2018, interviews conducted between January and December 2021, and a review of newly available court documents.
According to the rights group, the PTA allows the authorities to arrest people without warrants for unspecified "unlawful activities," and to detain suspects for up to 18 months without producing them before a court.
This denies suspects' basic due process rights and removes safeguards that would help protect them from abuse, effectively creating a legal black hole, HRW said.
"Under the government's proposed amendments, published on January 27, 2022, this period of detention without judicial oversight would be reduced to 12 months. Between 1983 and 2009, during the civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the authorities used the law primarily against suspected members or supporters of the LTTE or other armed groups," the HRW said.
The rights group said the Rajapaksa administration has used the PTA to detain or intimidate the families of victims of past abuses, human rights activists and lawyers, and journalists. "When we talk to the families of the disappeared, they say they can be arrested at any time," said an activist working with the Tamil community. "Police are arresting people for posting pictures on Facebook. They can arrest you for anything."
The EU had removed Sri Lanka from GSP+ in 2010 amid rights violations at the end of the civil war, but readmitted the country in 2017 after the then-government renewed commitments to adopt and implement 27 human rights and other international conventions, and in particular to repeal the PTA.
This followed a consensus resolution of the UN Human Rights Council in 2015, in which Sri Lanka agreed to ensure accountability and reparations for war crimes, to investigate enforced disappearances, and to repeal this law. Most of these pledges have yet to be fulfilled, according to HRW.
In June 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission to "push for advancement on Sri Lanka's human rights obligations and demand the repeal or replacement of the PTA" when assessing Sri Lanka's eligibility for GSP+ status.
A review is currently underway, and is expected to be completed later this year.
( With inputs from ANI )
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