Batticaloa marks day against torture

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 1999, 17:41 GMT]
The International Day in support of Victims of Torture is to be observed in the eastern town of Batticaloa on June 26 with a cultural pageant. Four organisations are co-ordinating the pageant and public meeting to be held on the same day.

Victims of torture are expected to participate in the cultural pageant.

At a press conference held on Tuesday the organisers said that according to official documents 364 people, including 50 women, had been tortured in Batticaloa since 1990.

There are no figures to say how many people died in detention due to torture, they added.

The pageant will start on the morning of the 26th from Keerimadu Sri Sithivinayagar Temple and the public meeting will be held at the William Auld Hall in Batticaloa.

The United Nations Assembly declared June 26 as the International Day in support of Victims of Torture in December 1997 as it prepared to mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The day aims to eradicate torture through the effective implementation of the 1984 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.