{"id":1651,"date":"2017-07-22T05:19:55","date_gmt":"2017-07-22T05:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/?p=1651"},"modified":"2017-07-22T05:19:55","modified_gmt":"2017-07-22T05:19:55","slug":"corbyn-deeply-concerned-over-ongoing-torture-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/corbyn-deeply-concerned-over-ongoing-torture-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Corbyn \u2018Deeply Concerned\u2019 over ongoing torture in Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leader of the UK\u2019s main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn<\/a> Friday expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d over the reports of ongoing torture<\/a> of Tamils by the Sri Lanka security forces, and stressed that the UK\u2019s foreign policy on Sri Lanka should be focused on accountability, not just promoting trade and investment.<\/p>\n

Referring to the recent report<\/a> by the Johannesburg-based International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP<\/a>) titled \u201cUnstopped: State torture & sexual violence in 2016\/17 in Sri Lanka\u201d, he said that the lack of accountability for the crimes of the past has enabled these horrific violations to continue in the island nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply concerned about the evidence presented in this ITJP report about the ongoing torture of Tamils; it is the lack of accountability for the crimes of the past that has enabled these horrific violations to continue and we are all culpable if we don\u2019t speak out loudly,\u201d Corbyn said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

The ITJP\u2019s latest report is based on detailed testimony from 57 Tamil victims of illegal detention and torture under the Sirisena-Ranil government \u2013 24 of them tortured in 2016 or 2017.<\/p>\n

Releasing the report in London last week, the ITJP said that the abduction and torture of Tamils by the Sri Lankan security forces \u201cremain systematic because in 30 months the new Government has failed to dismantle the networks of the \u2018deep state\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

The ITJP said the ongoing torture \u201cis not the conduct of a few \u201crotten apples\u201d in the Sri Lankan security forces as it includes senior officers who themselves participate in the torture which is systematic and condoned\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the basis of this report, the Home Office must immediately revise its country guidance on Sri Lanka \u2013 so that the risk categories match what\u2019s clearly going on there rather than some wish believe view from London,\u201d the Labour Party leader said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time our foreign policy on Sri Lanka focused on accountability not just promoting trade and investment. I intend to call for an independent audit of DFID funding for training of the Sri Lankan
\npolice \u2013 we need to know if this funding has helped diminish torture or just made the perpetrators better at covering it up,\u201d Corbyn said in a hard-hitting statement.<\/p>\n

Corbyn\u2019s statement has come within a day after the outcome of the UN Special Rapporteur\u2019s recent visit to Sri Lanka was raised in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n

In response, Leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom told the Members of the House of Commons that government MP representing the Cities of London and Westminster Mark Field has \u201cregistered our serious concern about the Special Rapporteur\u2019s finding with Sri Lankan High Commissioner\u201d for the UK.<\/p>\n

The Leader of the House of Commons also assured the House Commons that the British Government would \u201ccontinue to encourage the Sri Lankan government to deliver against all their UN Human Rights Council Commitments.<\/p>\n

Courtesy: Colombo Telegraph<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leader of the UK\u2019s main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn Friday expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-srilankan-news","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltamilnews.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}