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UPDATE (SRI LANKA): Torture victim's family flees home due to police threats

November 6, 2003

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

Update on Urgent Appeal 6 November 2003

[RE: UA-50-2003: Torture of 14 year old child by police officers, UP-37-2003: The family of 14-year-old torture victim threatened by the police and a local politician]

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UP-47-2003: SRI LANKA: Torture victim's family flees home due to police threats

SRI LANKA: Update on torture of 14-year-old boy Dawundage Pushpakumara

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Dear friends

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) notes with grave concern that the father and mother of torture victim Dawundage Pushpakumara (14 years old) have left their home due to threats from the police. It was reported to the AHRC previously that they have been threatened by the police and a local politician after they made a complaint to the human rights organization. On 17 September 2003, the AHRC issued a previous Urgent Appeal regarding the case of Dawundage Pushpakumara, who was tortured by the officer in charge and other officers of the Saliyawewa Police Post in Putlam. Your urgent action is required to urge the local authorities to immediately intervene in this case in order to ensure the security of victim's family.

To see our previous urgent appeals regarding this case, please visit:

[ UA-50-2003: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2003/539/

UP-37-2003:http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2003/529/]


Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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Torture victim's family flees home due to police threats

14-year-old torture victim Pushpakumara¡¦s father and mother have left their home due to threats from the police.

Dawundage Pushpakumara, 14, was severely tortured by the Officer In Charge (OIC) of the Saliyawewa police post, (Puttalm) and other police officers from 1 September to 2 September 2003. When he was released from the police station, the police impeded the victim's obtaining medical treatment because they were afraid that the medical record of the victim's injuries would be used against them in court. With the help of the Child Rights Authority of Sri Lanka and human rights organizations he was taken to Colombo for medical treatment. Thereafter he has been living in hiding for fear of returning back home due to threats from the police.

Meanwhile a fundamental rights violation case was filed on his behalf in the supreme courts of Sri Lanka. Now the father and the mother of Pushpakumara allegedly have been constantly threatened by the police and the others coming on behalf of the police who threatens the parents to withdraw the case filed against the police. In an affidavit filed by the father of Pushpakumar, D.K. Kularatne, has set out the details of harassment by the police and stated that his wife has left the house in fear on 31 October 2003. Thereafter the Saliyawewa police post asked him to report to the police station on 3 November 2003. For fear of being harassed and tortured he has also fled his house and sought protection.

Complaints regarding such threats have been made earlier to the National Police Commission and the National Human Rights Commission and the Attorney General of Sri Lanka. However no effective action has been taken to guarantee the security for this family which is very poor and powerless. The officer in charge of the police station who is alleged to be the main perpetrator in the torture of Pushpakumara still continues to hold his post.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send a letter, fax or e-mail to the addresses below and express your concern of this serious case.

1. Hon. Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe
Prime Minister
Cambridge Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454
E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk

2. Hon. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436 421
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net or counsel@sri.lanka.net

3. Mr. Shaveendra Fernando
Senior State Counsel

Torture Prosecution Unit

Attorney General's Department

Colombo 12

SRI LANKA

Fax: +94 11 2 327 765

4. Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya PC
Chairman National Police Commission
69-1 Ward Place, Colombo 7
Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 11 2 669 128 (need to ask to change to fax mode) / 691 926
Fax HOME: +94 11 2 674148

5. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy

Director

National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
No. 36, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

6. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917-9016

Sample letter:

Dear

Re: Torture victim's family flees home due to police threats

I am writing to bring to your attention a severe threat made by the police to the family of a 14-year-old torture victim. 14-year-old torture victim Pushpakumara¡¦s father and mother have left their home due to threats from the police.

Dawundage Pushpakumara, 14, who was severely tortured by the Officer In Charge (OIC) and other police officers of the Saliyawewa police post (Puttalm) on 1 September 2003, has been living in hiding for fear of returning back home due to threats from the police. Meanwhile a fundamental rights violation case was filed on his behalf in the supreme courts of Sri Lanka. Now the father and the mother of Pushpakumara allegedly have been constantly threatened by the police and the others coming on behalf of the police who threatens the parents to withdraw the case filed against the police.

In an affidavit filed by the father of Pushpakumar, D.K. Kularatne, has set out the details of harassment by the police and stated that his wife has left the house in fear on 31 October 2003. Thereafter the Saliyawewa police post asked him to report to the police station on 3 November 2003. For fear of being harassed and tortured he has also fled his house and sought protection.

Complaints regarding such threats have been made earlier to the National Police Commission and the National Human Rights Commission and the Attorney General of Sri Lanka, however, no effective action has yet been taken to guarantee the security for this family. More seriously, the officer in charge of the police station who is alleged to be the main perpetrator in the torture of Pushpakumara still continues to hold his post.

Therefore, I urge you to take immediate and appropriate action to protect the victim's family and the victim so that they can go home. I also urge you to suspend the officer in charge of the Saliyawewa Police Post and other police officers who were involved in torturing of the victim, from their job until disciplinary action is taken against them.

Sincerely yours

 

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Thank you.

Kim Soo A

Urgent Appeals Programme

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-47-2003
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.