By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Tuesday alleging that Sri Lankan military forces used rape and sexual torture to get confessions out of suspected Tamil rebels during the bloody civil war between the central government and the Tamil separatist movement from 2006 to 2012.

The report documented roughly 75 cases of rape which include 41 female victims, 31 male victims, and at least three juvenile boys under the age of 18.  The victims stated that their torturers’ brutality did not cease until they confessed that they had ties to the Tamil separatist movement.

One male victim, who was a rebel fighter in the conflict and surrendered in 2009, said the Sri Lankan military inserted a metal rod along with metal balls inside his private parts.  The foreign objects were later surgically extracted from his body only after he had escaped from Sri Lanka.

Another male victim says that he suffered at the hands of the Sri Lankan military when he was still a juvenile.  The man said that he was beaten, raped, and then hung upside down while he was only 17 years old.  A female victim says she was raped as recently as one year ago in the Colombo Criminal Investigation Department.

Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to New Delhi, spoke on behalf of the Sri Lankan government.  The High Commissioner says there is no evidence to support the statements and allegations made by the victims in the HRW report.

Kariyawasam stated that the 75 victims could possibly be economic refugees attempting to fabricate a good sob story to gain asylum into countries like Britain.  He believes that until Sri Lanka executes a proper, domestic inquiry into the allegations, the HRW report cannot be legitimate.

The HRW report, however, contained numerous medical reports on the alleged victims which confirmed their stories.  The medical reports showed evidence that the 75 victims had been subjected to sexual torture.  The victims had cigarette burns on their inner thighs, breasts, and there was also evidence that the victims had been bitten in the buttocks and breast regions.

Kariyawasam maintains that these alleged war crimes have been publicized at a convenient time because the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva will be voting on a U.S. supported resolution criticizing Sri Lanka’s human rights track record later this week.

The U.S. supported resolution will urge Sri Lanka to bring suspected war criminals to justice.  Sri Lanka is believed to be protecting their own military personnel who have been suspected of killing civilians during the armed conflict with the Tamil separatist movement.  Displaced Tamil refugees in Britain, Canada, and the European Union are expected to show strong support for the U.N. resolution.

For further information, please see:

BBC – Sri Lankan forces ‘raped’ Tamils in custody, study says – 26 February 2013

The Guardian – Sri Lankan military ‘still raping and torturing suspected rebels’ – 26 February 2013

Reuters – Sri Lanka security rape, torture Tamil detainees: HRW – 26 February 2013

The Star – Sri Lanka security forces rape, torture Tamil detainees – group – 26 February 2013