Sri Lanka: Authorities continue to target activists, stifle protests and silence journalists, as elections draw near

The state of civic space in Sri Lanka is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. The rating was downgraded in December 2023 due to reports of restrictions and disruption of peaceful protests, at times with excessive use of force, and the stifling of journalists. Activists have also been targeted and criminalised using defamation and counter-terror laws and there has been a systematic failure to address past crimes against them.

In April 2024, Amnesty International issued its annual report which highlighted that in 2023 the government continued to use draconian counterterror laws and attempted to bring in new laws to counter dissent and threaten freedom of expression, resulting in arbitrary arrests and detentions. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly was restricted amid continued use of excessive and unnecessary force against protesters. Impunity remained entrenched, with the government making no notable progress around the right to truth, justice and reparation for those affected by war.

In May 2024, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report on accountability for enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. It found that in 15 years there has been no “tangible progress in realising victims’ rights,” and therefore “there remains a real risk of recurrence.”

Sri Lanka will hold its presidential elections on 21st September 2024. In recent months, human rights groups have documented a clampdown on commemorations around the anniversary of the end of the civil war, Tamil activists summoned by the anti-terrorism division and how the anti-terror law has been used to target activists, critics and minorities. There are also concerns about a restrictive NGO law that has been proposed that could restrict freedoms. The authorities have restricted gathering and protests, including arresting worshippers around a festival and brutally attacking thousands of protesting teachers. A report showed the unlawful use of weapons in policing of protests. Sri Landa’s press freedom ranking has plunged and journalists continue to face arrest and prosecutions.

Association

Clampdown on commemorations around the anniversary of the end of the civil war

In May 2024, human rights groups documented arrests and threats around commemorations marking the 15th anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s internal armed conflict.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), prior to the 18th May 2024 anniversary, police in Sri Lanka’s north and east attempted to disrupt commemoration events. In Trincomalee, they detained four people for seven days for serving “kanji,” a rice porridge symbolic of the starvation conditions many civilians suffered at the end of the war. The authorities also obtained court orders to prevent some relatives of forcibly disappeared people and others from attending events. At some locations, police intervened to prevent events from proceeding, or to block people from reaching them.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International said: “Ahead of this event, we have witnessed clampdown on the memory initiatives, including arrests, arbitrary detentions and deliberately skewed interpretations of the Tamil community’s attempts to remember their people lost to the war.”

During the internal armed conflict from 1983 to 2009, Sri Lankan government forces and their armed political affiliates committed extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and acts of torture against Tamils suspected of links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE also launched indiscriminate suicide attacks on civilian targets, assassinated politicians and critics, and forcibly recruited children as fighters.

Violations of international human rights and humanitarian law peaked in the final months of the conflict, most notably in May 2009 when some 300,000 displaced civilians were trapped between the warring parties. It was at Mullivaikkal, a small village in Mullaitivu district in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, where the final offensive between the Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE took place, killing at least 40,000 civilians according to UN estimates.

Each year, on 18th May, a memorial event at Mullivaikkal brings together thousands of war-affected Tamils to commemorate those lost to the war and demand justice and accountability.

Tamil activists summoned by anti-terrorism division

On 13th June 2024, it was reported that the Terrorism Investigation Division had summoned at least seven Tamil political activists in the North-East for questioning in the last three months.

According to the Tamil Guardian, the former chairman of the Batticaloa district youth wing of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), Lohitharaja Deepakaran, and the coordinator of the Tamil Youth People's Movement, Jeevarathinam Thaveswaran, had been instructed to appear at the police office in Batticaloa on 11th and12th June 2024 respectively.

The latest summons issued to Thaveswaran came from the acting Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Kokkadicholai Police Station. The notice directed him to appear at the TID's Batticaloa Sub-Division and to bring documents related to the Tamil Youth People's Movement for "investigative purposes".

Thaveswaran believes this action is politically motivated, especially in light of his movement's support for a Tamil public candidate in the upcoming Sri Lankan presidential election. The activist took to Facebook to condemn what he perceives as a violation of rights and threatening activities.

The intimidation of Tamil political activists has become routine across the North-East, where the Sri Lankan security forces maintain a massive military and police presence.

Anti-terror law used to target activists, critics and minorities

On 17th July 2024, HRW reported that the Sri Lankan authorities continue to use the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to target perceived opponents and minority communities without credible evidence to support the allegations despite repeated pledges to end the practice.

Since it first came into force in 1979, the PTA has primarily been used to target members of the Tamil minority during the conflict. While many long-term PTA prisoners have been released in recent years, at least eight who were first detained between 1996 and 2011 remain in prison.

Numerous human rights defenders in the Northern and Eastern provinces told HRW that members of police and intelligence agencies routinely warn that they will be accused of terrorism because of their work.

Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch said: “Sri Lanka’s extensive domestic security apparatus routinely uses baseless accusations of terrorism to target innocent people, silencing critics and stigmatising minority communities.”

The law, widely known as the PTA, has provisions allowing for extended administrative detention, limited judicial oversight, and inadequate protections against torture. Following government promises to repeal the PTA since 2015, draft legislation to replace it, known as the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB), was published in March 2023. While the new bill contains some improvements, it includes provisions that could facilitate abuse.

Restrictive NGO law proposed that could restrict freedoms

There are concerns that a proposed Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) (Registration and Supervision) Act of 2024 (which currently remains a Bill) to replace the Voluntary Social Service Organisations Act of 1980 (VSSO), could curtail freedoms available and pave the way for the governmental authorities to unjustifiably interfere with their work.

The bill has been criticised by activists due to the complete lack of a meaningful consultative process in the formation of the Bill. In a meeting convened in January 2024 to engage stakeholders, only a hard copy of the draft was shared. No Sinhalese and Tamil translations were made available. The government refused to make the draft publicly available online, and the Secretariat insisted that feedback be provided within three weeks regardless of the fact that civil society representatives requested three months.

In a commentary by activists, from February 2024, a number of concerns were highlighted with the bill including the definition of an NGO which is overly broad; requirement for mandatory registration shuts out informal, voluntary collectives from legal recognition; that the registration, supervision and regulation will be political; and the extensive powers given to the authorities.

According to HRW, the bill does not address any evident need, but instead seeks to subject civil society organisations to invasive government scrutiny and interference, and threatens civil society members with prison if they don’t comply with cumbersome administrative procedures.

Peaceful Assembly

Arrest of worshippers around festival

In March 2024, eight Tamil Hindu worshippers were arrested by police while engaging in festival rituals and were detained for more than 10 days and allegedly abused. A magistrate released them on 19th March.

The eight were arrested at the Veddukkunaari temple near Vavuniya, a Hindu shrine that Buddhist monks, backed by the government’s Department of Archaeology, say is an ancient Buddhist site. It is one of numerous temple sites in northeastern Sri Lanka claimed by nationalist Buddhist monks, frequently with the support of government agencies and the security forces.

According to HRW, the Vavuniya magistrates court had earlier ruled that the rituals for the festival of Shivaratri, the principal festival day of the god Shiva, could go ahead at Veddukkunaari. However, on the evening of 8th March 2024, police arrived and assaulted worshippers, including an opposition member of parliament. Rights activists told Human Rights Watch the detainees said they were beaten in custody and their families denied access to them for the first three days.

On the night of the festival, riot police were deployed, and police placed roadblocks preventing devotees from parking near the vicinity of the temple.

Report highlights unlawful use of weapons in policing of protests

A report released by Amnesty International in April 2024, highlighted how Sri Lanka’s law enforcement officials engaged in the violent repression of protests and must be held accountable.

The report, ‘Ready to suppress any protest’ in Sri Lanka: Unlawful use of weapons during protests’, analysed the use of force during policing of 30 protests that took place in Sri Lanka between March 2022 and June 2023. It showed a pattern in the unlawful use of tear gas and water cannon and the misuse of batons by Sri Lankan law enforcement officials, with video evidence revealing that in at least 17 protests – more than half of those analysed – the conduct of law enforcement officials fell well short of international law and standards on the use of force.

Meanwhile, according to Amnesty International, in the Northern and Eastern provinces of the country, security forces and intelligence agencies regularly carry out surveillance, intimidation, harassment, and obstruction of largely peaceful protests that have continued to take place since 2017 by the relatives of people forcibly disappeared during the internal armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

The report found that the police used large quantities of tear gas against peaceful or largely peaceful protesters repeatedly in the same area without giving them an adequate opportunity to disperse, and without making any reasonable effort to limit risk of injury.

The police also fired tear gas grenades from behind the protesters while the protesters were trying to disperse, in breach of international human rights standards. They also repeatedly failed to take adequate precautionary measures when using tear gas, and fired into areas that had no clear exit such as near schools and on the street.

The police also used water cannon at close range against peaceful or largely peaceful protesters and in situations where protesters posed no threat to police officers and were attempting to disperse.

Despite widespread human rights violations by law enforcement agencies and security forces, not a single police officer or member of the army has been prosecuted or convicted for the unlawful use of force during protests in Sri Lanka in 2022 and 2023.

Police brutally attack thousands of protesting teachers

On 26th June 2024, police allegedly attacked a protest involving around 10,000 teachers outside the Fort Railway Station and adjacent roads in Colombo. Three teachers were hospitalised and others were injured in an assault involving water cannon and tear gas.

According to reports, the protests were around demanding payment of a long outstanding salary increase, and involved 250,000 educators, including teachers, principals and instructors. The action was called by the Teachers and Principals Trade Union Alliance (TPTUA), a collective of more than 20 teacher unions, including the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) and the Ceylon Teachers Services Union (CTSU).

The government mobilised hundreds of police officers, riot police personnel and military forces, some armed with rifles, others with batons and tear gas, and stationed water-cannon vehicles nearby.

The police arrived with an order from the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court prohibiting the demonstration from moving along certain roads. Demonstrators, however, defied the court directive and marched towards a nearby junction road which led to the finance ministry’s head office. They chanted slogans such as, “Provide promotions in teacher and principal services,” “Provide children school supplies at low prices,” “Stop the privatisation of education” and “Solve the teacher-principal salary anomaly!”

Without warning, police started firing teargas and using water cannon. One teacher told the media that some 50 people were injured in the attack. The eye of one teacher and both eyes of another were wounded by high-pressure water cannon and they had to undergo surgery.

Expression

Press freedom ranking plunges

Sri Lanka's press freedom ranking has plummeted by 15 positions to 150, down from 135 in the previous year, according to the annual release of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

According to RSF in May 2024, state-owned media dominate the sector and lack almost all independence. Journalists in the private sector are in essentially the same situation, as most owners of the major media outlets have clear political affiliations.

The authorities often use the prevention of terrorism law to silence journalists, especially those who try to investigate the living conditions of the Tamil minority in the north and east of the island. Further, covering issues involving the Tamil or Muslim minorities is extremely sensitive. Journalists and media outlets who have risked doing so in recent years have been subjected to arrests, death threats and coordinated cyber-attacks.

Journalists are also subjected to systematic surveillance and harassment by the police and army and there are still unpunished crimes of violence against many journalists from when the Tamil rebellion was being crushed.

Arrest and prosecution of journalists

Journalists have continued to face arrest and prosecution.

On 29th March 2024, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported on the cases of a journalist who was facing investigations. On 5th March 2024, officers with the Sri Lanka police service’s Criminal Investigation Department arrested G.P. Nissanka, owner and editor of the news site Ravana Lanka News, from his home in the Pallebedda area of the southern Sabaragamuwa Province.

The journalist was held in police remand until he was released on bail on 20th March 2024. His mobile phone was seized during his arrest. Nissanka’s arrest followed a complaint by Vikum Liyanage, commander of the Sri Lankan army, after Ravana Lanka News published an article accusing the commander of corruption and malfeasance.

Nissanka stands accused of violating section 6 of the Computer Crime Act related to offences committed against national security and a section of the police ordinance related to spreading false reports to create alarm and panic.

On 19th April 2024, a Tamil journalist who had attended a public meeting chaired by Sri Lanka’s Fisheries Minister and government-aligned paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda was threatened by the minister’s security personnel for filming an argument between residents and the minister.

The incident took place in the Manduvil area when journalist Rajaiah Udayakumar was attending a public meeting that was open to the press. He was prevented from recording the incident and the journalist was then threatened and told that if he published the news they would search his home.

On 10th July 2024, The Tamil Guardian reported that the legal case involving Mullaitivu Media Association President and Mullaitivu District journalist Shanmugam Tavaseelan has continued in the courts. Tavaseelan has been accused by a naval officer on baseless charges of assault in 2019.

In April 2019, Tavaseelan was covering a rally held by the Tamil families of the disappeared in Mullaitivu when an unidentified individual was filming and threatening the families of the disappeared and members of the press. Tavaseelan intervened to question the individual on his identity and why he was filming when the individual fled and was later apprehended by protesters, upon which he admitted he was a naval officer. The naval office subsequently filed a case with the Sri Lankan Police in Mullaitivu against Tavaseelan which led to his arrest.

Case dropped against two around video of comedy performance

On a positive note, on 19th June 2024, a standup comedian Natasha Edirisooriya and Bruno Divakara, the owner of SL-VLOG, were released from a case related to allegedly making controversial statements on Buddhism.

As previously documented, Edirisooriya was arrested in May 2023, and accused of hate speech and insulting Buddhism for two jokes made during a comedy performance published on YouTube three days earlier. An edited clip of the performance was circulated, resulting in severe social media backlash. She retracted the video the same day and publicly apologised. She faced trolling and serious threats of violence and rape.

She was then investigated under Section 3 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act No. 56 of 2007, Section 291A (deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person) and 291B (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of persons) of the Penal Code of Sri Lanka and the Computer Crimes Act.

Bruno Divakara, the owner of the YouTube channel ‘SL VLOG’ was also brought in for questioning in May 2023 around the video by Edirisooriya, as it was initially published on the YouTube channel of ‘SL VLOG’. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) also arrested Divakara under the ICCPR Act.