The Men Now Patrolling: Joint Report By ITJP And JDS
On Easter Sunday 2019, a series of coordinated bomb blasts struck hotels and churches in Sri Lanka killing more than 250 people, including many tourists. The targets were churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa and five star hotels in the capital. The attacks are thought to have been suicide bombings carried out by a local Islamist group Lanka but Amaq News Agency, a propaganda outlet for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), later claimed responsibility. Following the attacks there was considerable fear and panic about whether all the perpetrators had been apprehended and the possibility of further bombings. As a result security was stepped up considerably.
The army is quoted by media sources as saying 10,000 troops were deployed in the wake of the tragic Easter Sunday bombings[1]. As in the war period, these troops enjoy extraordinary powers to detain any suspect. The re-imposition of the Emergency Regulations confer on the army and police sweeping powers of search and seizure, detention or arrest of any person without a warrant or court approval[2]. The Emergency Regulations are in addition to existing counter-terrorism legislation, overdue to be reformed to bring it in line with international standards[3]. Worryingly, there has already been a proposal for an immunity provision from prosecution for the Sri Lankan military and especially intelligence services[4]. Shockingly, this call comes from a number of senior military figures who were involved in the 2009 war and who have yet to be held accountable for the alleged war crimes they committed then.
This is a short dossier examining the background of the army commanders currently in control of the deployment of thousands troops in Sri Lanka engaged in the search and seizure of homes and buildings, enforcing curfew and patrolling civilian areas. While the situation in Sri Lanka after the Easter bombings is extremely tense and more security is needed to prevent any further attacks, there is also a need to ensure that the Rule of Law is maintained and that the human rights of all are secured. This question is relevant because the current legal framework in Sri Lanka and the heightened security environment creates a situation where abuses of human rights may occur if there is not careful oversight and control of those who are responsible for the protection of civilians.
Several of the army generals now in charge of deployments played a pivotal role as commanders in the final phase of the civil war in the north of the island when there were grave violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. Two are even named in the 2015 investigation report of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights[5]. One was in charge of the “rehabilitation programme” for Tamil suspected ex combatants, which the UN subsequently said constituted arbitrary detention. Two others were present as commanders in Haiti during the years when there was systematic child sexual exploitation by Sri Lankan peacekeepers there.
DEPLOYMENTS
