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SRI LANKA: A woman is unlawfully arrested, detained and degraded by Kochchikade officers

October 22, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-139-2009



22 October 2009
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SRI LANKA: A woman is unlawfully arrested, detained and degraded by Kochchikade officers

ISSUES: Arbitrary arrest and detention; women
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that officers at Kochchikade officers have arrested and detained a woman without cause or complaint, only releasing her due to pressure from her friends. While in custody she was subjected to an unnecessary, aggressive strip search and verbally abused and threatened. She has made official complaints but no investigations have been started into the misconduct.

CASE DETAILS:

On 22 August two police officers entered and searched the home of Miss Galoluge Olivia Quincy Fernando (53) without a search warrant, before taking her to Kochchikade Police Station where she was detained. No reason was given for her arrest.

At the police station Olivia reports being aggressively questioned over a three hour period by two police officers, who threatened to beat her with a baton, and abused her with obscene language. She was then taken to another room and forcibly stripped naked and further humiliated by two female officers. She was reportedly told to lift her breasts with her hands, her petticoat was pulled off and she was threatened with a beating.

Olivia was allowed to leave at 6pm when friends challenged her detention, but she was told to return the following morning, which she did. After being unlawfully detained for a further two hours, pressure from Olivia's friends again secured her release, but she was still told to return the next day. She did so, and when she asked about allegations against her, she found that there were none.

At no time was a reason given for Olivia's arrest and questioning and at no point was she told of any complaints or charges against her, as required by the Sri Lankan Constitution and police code. Olivia also reports that no written statement was taken and that she was not asked to sign any legal document; no case was later filed by police at the Magistrate’s Court to suggest that a crime had been committed. Indeed the process seems simply to have been used as an extended, unlawful act of intimidation under the guise of law enforcement. As a result, while abandoning police procedure, officers at Kochchikade Police Station have violated her right to be protected from degrading treatment, unlawful arrest (without notification of reason) and detainment, as guaranteed under Articles 11, 13 (1) and 13 (2) of the Sri Lankan Constitution respectively.

Olivia has complained about her treatment to the Senior Superintendent of Police, directly to the Kochchikade Police station and the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the authorities below, asking that they fully investigate and monitor the conduct of the officers at Kochchikade police station, regarding this case and in the future.

The AHRC has informed the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, of this case.

To support this appeal please click here: 

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SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

SRI LANKA: A woman is unlawfully arrested, detained and degraded by Kochchikade officers

Name of victim: Miss Galoluge Olivia Quincy Fernando, 53.
Name of alleged perpetrators: Officers attached to Kochchikade Police Station,
Date of incident: 22 August 2009
Place of incident: Kochchikade Police Station, Negombo division, Western Province (North) Range.

I am writing to express my concern at the illegal treatment of a woman by police officers at Kochchikade station.

I am informed that at around 14:30 on 22 August two police officers entered Olivia’s home and illegally searched it. She was then arbitrarily apprehended and taken to Kochchikade Police Station.

Once at the police station Olivia reports that she was illegally detained, aggressively questioned and threatened, before being forcibly stripped naked by female officers, humiliated and threatened further. She was instructed to lift her breasts, and her underskirt was dragged from her body. I am informed that the police officers released Olivia only after strong objections from her friends, but instructed her to return twice to the station, which she did.

Throughout the incident, no reason was given for Olivia's arrest or questioning and at no point was she told of any complaints or charges against her, as required by the Sri Lankan Constitution and the Police Code. Olivia reports that no written statement was taken and she was not asked to sign any legal document. No case was later filed by police at the Magistrate’s Court to suggest that a crime had been committed.The process indeed seems simply to have been used as an extended, unlawful act of intimidation under the guise of law enforcement. As a result, while abandoning police procedure, officers at Kochchikade Police Station have violated her right to be protected from degrading treatment, unlawful arrest (without notification of reason) and detainment, as guaranteed under Articles 11, 13 (1) and 13 (2) of the Sri Lankan Constitution respectively.

I find this shocking and disappointing, and in the interests of preventing further such abuses I strongly urge an investigation into the incident. Officers found to have breached protocol must be disciplined and considered for retraining. I also ask that compensation and legal redress is ensured for the victim.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

Mr. Jayantha Wikramaratne
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk

2. Mr. Mohan Peiris
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk

3. Secretary
National Police Commission
3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers
109 Galle Road
Colombo 03
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 395310
Fax: +94 11 2 395867
E-mail: npcgen@sltnet.lk or polcom@sltnet.lk

4. Secretary
Human Rights Commission
No. 8 Barned Place
Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

5. Senior Superintendent of Police
Office of the Senior Superintendant of Police
Negombo Division
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 31 2 224342
Fax: +94 31 2 224394

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Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)


Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-139-2009
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.