• Cites unauthorised searches, targeting of poor neighbourhoods, arbitrary arrests/detentions
• Strip searches in public, cavity searches, intimidation of lawyers, detention in compulsory treatment centres/overcrowded prisons

Human rights advocate and attorney Ambika Satkunanathan, this week, drew the international community’s attention to the alleged unlawful acts committed during the ongoing anti-drug and anti-organised crime operation Yukthiya (Justice).

In a statement to the 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which was widely circulated on social media platforms, the former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka pointed out a number of rights and law related concerns pertaining to human rights, individuals and public health. “These violations range from unauthorised searches, the targeting of poor neighbourhoods, arbitrary arrests and detentions, strip searches in public, cavity searches, the intimidation of lawyers, and the detention (of persons) in compulsory treatment centres and overcrowded prisons. This is particularly concerning given that people detained in drug treatment centres, some of which are managed by the military, suffer physical and psychological violence, inhuman conditions of detention, and a lack of evidence based treatment. These violations are enabled and exacerbated by laws that contravene international human rights standards,” she stressed. She urged the Government to adopt a human rights and health centred approach to drug laws and policies, to abide by a zero tolerance policy on torture, to investigate all deaths in custody, and to ensure that those found responsible are held accountable. Moreover, during her speech, Satkunanathan urged the importance of ensuring that Sri Lanka adheres to international human rights standards and principles.

Her statement comes in a context where the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has urged the Sri Lankan Government to undertake credible accountability measures to investigate and prosecute past and present human rights violations and economic crimes. In his update on human rights in Sri Lanka at the 55th Session of the UNHRC, Turk added that that he remains, “concerned about recurring, credible accounts received by his Office of abductions, unlawful detention and torture, including sexual violence, by the Sri Lankan Police and security forces, some of which allegedly took place last year (in 2023), mainly in the North and East of the country.” 

He further raised concerns about the recent appointment of the new Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon, despite the Supreme Court’s finding that he was implicated in the torture of an individual in 2010.