Tag: human rights

Bringing Justice and Relief to Torture Victims

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Today is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture That Sri Lanka is a country where torture is rife has been well documented by several international organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) and Freedom From Torture. According to Freedom from Torture, despite being a top holiday destination, Sri Lanka has consistently been the country from where it receives the most clients. Although the civil war ended in 2009, that has not ended human rights violations. Most at risk of torture…

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SRI LANKA: Two big lies told about the 1978 Constitution

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By Basil Fernando Two great lies have been propagated about the 1978 Constitution. When a lie is repeated many times by many persons, often such a lie begins to be treated as a conventional truth. The first of these lies is that the 1978 Constitution was created on the model of the French Constitution and the American Constitutional tradition. This was first propagated by Professor A.J. Wilson who called it a Gaullist Constitution. At the time, he was the advisor to President J.R. Jayewardene, a role which he publicly lamented…

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Permission to hear the Fundamental Rights Petition against the Baduraliya Police

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The Supreme Court yesterday(16) granted leave to hear a fundamental rights petition filed by Suranjith Wickremanayake alleging that he was brutally beaten and arbitrarily arrested by officers of the Baduraliya Police Station. The Supreme Court has allowed the petition to be heard in violation of the Constitution’s right to refrain from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, as well as the right to arbitrary arrest and impunity. Attorney-at-Law Shelomi Daniel appeared before the Supreme Court on behalf of the petitioner along with Attorney-at-Law Armisa Tigel on the…

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Are you abusing children in a modern way?

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Date – 2021 / February Location – Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital Ward 63 Baby Name: XX Age of child: 10 years Disease – Chronic abdominal pain Date – 2021 / March Location – Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital Ward 63 Baby Name: YY Age of child: 9 years 7 months Disease: Sudden knee pain The two patients I wrote about above are two very nice, wonderful kids. The first girl comes to us with her mother. Complaining of a chronic stomach ache… After months of testing, she was unable to diagnose any urinary…

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protect the right to report, protest and speak.

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STATEMENT ON ARRESTS, DETENTION AND TORTURE OF PERSONS AT THE MIRIHINA PUBLIC PROTEST ON 31st  MARCH 2022 The Sri Lanka Collective Against Torture (SLCAT) condemns the arrests, detention and torture of protestors and by-standers at the public protest at Mirihana, Nugegoda on the night of 31st March 2022. These persons had gathered to exercise their basic civic right to highlight the devastating impact of the economic crisis which has led to island wide power outages and a fuel shortage which has impacted essential services and the supplies of food and…

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contempt of court and legal framework

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The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is a regional human rights organization. The organization seriously monitored and studied the law on contempt of court and its application in Sri Lanka. The AHRC is deeply concerned about the violation of Sri Lankan Constitution, which is in line with international law, by depriving the accused of the protection of the law. The AHRC pays special attention to the interpretation of international law as well as the Constitution of Sri Lanka by Article 105 (3) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka. The logic…

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A guidebook for lawyers.

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a guidebook for lawyers

It is important for lawyers dealing with torture complaints to act promptly and efficiently against the backdrop of increasing in police and state torture. To support them, The Right Life Organization has teamed up with Attorney – in – law Ms. Armisa Tigel, the organization has long campaigned against torture, inhuman acts and degrading treatments to develop guidelines for lawyers dealing with torture cases and to launch in collaboration with the human right lawyers association. The key points are addressed by Mr. Saliya Peiris, President’s Councel, and President of the Bar Association of Srilanka and other points were…

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Forensic evidence of torture found on murdered Tamil youth

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A second autopsy on a Tamil youth from Batticaloa who was “beaten to death” Sri Lankan police, has reportedly revealed signs of torture according to lawyers for the murdered man’s family. 22-year old Chandran Vithusan was tied to a tree and assaulted in front of his family members by Sri Lankan police officers, before being taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on June 3rd. He was pronounced dead the following morning. Tamil lawyer Sugas Kanagaratnam and Vithusan’s family had demanded a second autopsy, after an initial autopsy…

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