As revealed by our recently published 2012/13 Annual Review, Sri Lanka surged ahead to become the top country of origin for those referred to Freedom from Torture for clinical services in 2012.

Keith Best

Of 1,301 people referred to us for torture rehabilitation and forensic documentation services in 2012, 228 were of Sri Lankan nationality. The vast majority of these were ethnic Tamils and most were referred to us by concerned GPs or solicitors representing them in their asylum claims.

Our Medico Legal Report Service, which documents physical and psychological evidence of torture, produced more expert reports for Sri Lankans than for any other nationality during 2012 and the first quarter of 2013. We produced 79 Medico-Legal Reports for Sri Lankan survivors of torture in this period, compared with a total of 110 reports prepared for Sri Lankans in 2010-2011.

These alarming statistics mean that for the first time in years, Sri Lanka has replaced Iran at the top of the shameful table that tallies the country of origin for the thousands referred to us each year for clinical services here in the UK.

These figures bear testimony to Sri Lanka’s disturbing record of torture, a record that remains dire despite the end of the civil war in May 2009. Only this week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, issued a hard-hitting statement, chastising the Sri Lankan government following a fact-finding mission to the country.

Ms Pillay noted that “although the fighting is over, the suffering is not” and said she was “deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction.”

Ms Pillay also lamented the “profound trauma” among survivors of the conflict and the relatives of the missing and the dead. She noted the “desperate need for counselling and psychosocial support” in northern Sri Lanka and condemned restrictions on NGOs working in this sector.

Keith Best, Chief Executive of Freedom from Torture, said:

“We welcome the High Commissioner’s recognition that peace in Sri Lanka has been undermined by an increasingly authoritarian government and that grieving communities continue to suffer on the island.

Large numbers of Sri Lankan torture victims, most of them Tamil, are still coming to Freedom from Torture for rehabilitation and other clinical services and our doctors attest that many were tortured long after the government declared victory in the civil war. In 2012 alone, 228 Sri Lankans were referred to us, more than any other nationality. Sri Lanka was also the top country of origin for torture survivors whose injuries were documented by our world-renowned medico-legal report service. The UN Human Rights Council must stand ready to take tougher action when it meets to discuss the situation next March.”

In the meantime, Callum Macrae’s new feature documentary – No Fire Zone – premieres tonight at the Curzon Cinema in Soho. Detailing the shelling of up to 400,000 Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan authorities in the final months of the civil war, it is a timely reminder for British Prime Minister, David Cameron, as he readies himself to shake the hands with the men who ordered this massacre at the next meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, due to be held in Colombo in November.

You can find out more about Sri Lanka and how to contribute to Freedom from Torture by reading Madu’s story.

*This story appeared in http://m.freedomfromtorture.org