TGTE I UN Human Rights l Ministry of Human Rights Mass Atrocities and Prevention of Genocide - TGTE

Statement for the 46th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by Minister Mahinthan Sivasubramaniam ( Ministry of Human Rights Mass Atrocities and Prevention of Genocide - TGTE)

Following his visit to SriLanka in 2017 Ben Emmerson, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights stated that the “use of torture has been and remains today endemic and systermatic". He further noted that 80% of the Tamils arrested in late 2016 complained of torture and physical ill treatment following their arrests. The Freedom House in their 2017 Report stated that “the Sri Lankan Security Forces continued to engage in arbitrary arrests, extra judicial execution, forced disappearance, custodial rape, torture and prolonged detention without trial, all of which disproportionately affects Tamils.” Torture is in the DNA of the Sri Lankan State. The US State Department in their annual reports have repeatedly stated that impunity for torture in Sri Lanka remains a serious problem. Thus accountability for torture can be achieved only through international prosecution. We call upon States to exercise universal jurisdiction and prosecute Sri Lankan political and military leaders. In Sri Lanka and in many other countries the torture is orchestrated and facilitated by the states themselves. Thus, states themselves should be held accountable for torture committed by their armed forces. Thus we call upon all the democratic countries to change their sovereign immunity laws and permit victims to sue the states for damages.