Freedom from Torture, a human rights organization based in the United Kingdom, has documented recent cases of torture in Sri Lanka. The release of this information coincided with visits to Sri Lanka by a pair of United Nations (U.N.) Special Rapporteurs.
Here's a paragraph from a Freedom from Torture blog post:
In 2015, for the fourth year running, Sri Lanka was the top country of origin for people referred to our services. Freedom from Torture's report, Tainted Peace, published in August 2015, reported on 148 Sri Lankan cases forensically documented by its Medical Legal Service between May 2009 and August 2014. Since then the charity has completed medico legal reports (MLRs) on a further 100 cases.
The following paragraph is key:
In addition, Freedom from Torture has received 17 referrals, to either its Medico-Legal Service or its therapeutic treatment services, for people - including a child in one case - tortured after President Sirisena's election in January 2015. They have reported torture by a range of state actors, including the Criminal Investigation Department, the Terrorism Investigation Department, the police, "security" and the army.
Towards the end of his visit to the island nation, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Méndez also mentioned that torture remains ongoing, though more torture cases were reported during the country's civil war -- which lasted from 1983 to 2009. Additionally, Méndez cited the culture of impunity surrounding these egregious human rights violations.
This discouraging news is yet another reminder of the troubling continuities which have persisted since two-term president Mahinda Rajapaksa was thrown out of office in January 2015. It's time for the coalition government to prove that it's serious about deeper reform. If not, concerns about the depth and pace of change in the country will continue to grow.