Tamils raped in Sri Lanka custody - HRW

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 12:34 GMT]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released this week that Sri Lankan security forces have committed crimes of sexual violence against ethnic Tamils in state custody between 2006 and 2012. The said detainees were arrested because of their suspected links to the LTTE. The report gives 75 accounts of alleged sexual abuse and torture, saying most of them are backed by medical evidence.

Noting that the sex crimes committed by government security forces "sharply increased" following a ceasefire breakdown in 2006, the report said most of the abuses were politically motivated.

"Rape was one of the unlawful tools used by the military and police against suspected LTTE members or supporters to gather intelligence during the fighting and immediately after the conflict ended in May 2009, as well as to obtain information about any remnants of the LTTE since then, whether in Sri Lanka or abroad," BBC said quoting the report.

The research was carried out secretly because of government access restrictions, the organisation says. As a result, it was able to speak only to ex-captives and not to current detainees, whose "fate is of urgent concern," the Rights group said.

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Sri Lankan forces 'raped' Tamils in custody, study says