No improvement in HR in Sri Lanka says UK

 Tuesday, 21 January 2014 

The UK has said that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka did not improve during the last three months.

The UK has stated that it remains concerned over the culture of impunity in Sri Lanka continue.

Issuing the quarterly update to the 2012 Human Rights and Democracy Report covering the October-December 2013 period, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has reportedly said that despite the international focus on the country’s human rights record intensified during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November there were a number of violations during the week of CHOGM.

The report has noted an incident where the security forces had prevented the family members of the disappeared and missing from the
North from attending human rights festival in Colombo.
It has also cited the protests held by the Sri Lankan public against the Britain’s Channel 4 news team preventing them from visiting the
North as an apparent government orchestrated plan.

Referring to the release of 12 Special Task Force personnel accused of killing five Tamil students in the eastern town of Trincomalee in 2006 on bail in October, the FCO has said concerns continued over the culture of impunity in Sri Lanka.

There were also a number of custodial deaths of suspects under questionable circumstances during the period, in addition to two reported abductions, the FCO update has also observed.