The United Nations has called on Sri Lanka to give the country’s human rights commission ‘unimpeded access’ to all prisons, following deadly violence at one of its jails.
Sri Lanka said an investigation had begun into clashes last Sunday between two rival groups of inmates at Negombo prison, north of the capital Colombo, in which 20 inmates and eight prison guards were killed, the news agency AFP reported from Geneva.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, welcomed the decision to investigate, saying it must be ‘prompt, independent and transparent’.
She described reports of ‘reprisals against inmates by guards’ at Negombo and other prisons as ‘deeply concerning’.
‘The families of the several inmates and guards who were killed and injured have the right to know the truth and to see those responsible held accountable,’ Shamdasani said.
Appealing to the Sri Lankan authorities, she said: ‘The country’s human rights commission must be given unimpeded access to Negombo prison and to all prisons and detention centres where inmates have been transferred and where there are allegations of torture and other ill-treatment.’
She said the violence at Negombo underlined the need to quickly resolve structural problems in Sri Lanka’s detention system, pointing in particular to prolonged pre-trial detention, prison overcrowding and inadequate facilities for inmates.
‘An unusually large number of people are also imprisoned for drug-related offences,’ Shamdasani added. ‘In many of these cases, they should benefit from health-centred approaches rather than incarceration.’
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report