Sri Lanka accused of failing to ensure accountability for attacks on refugees, asylum-seekers
(FASTNEWS | COLOMBO) – Six-months after they were violently forced out of their homes, there has been no Police investigations into and no accountability for the threats and violence faced by refugees and asylum-seekers in Sri Lanka, Amnesty International and Minority Rights Group International said in a new report published today (01).
Sri Lanka: Amnesty’s new briefing Unsafe at Home, Unsafe Abroad highlights the lack of investigations and accountability on the threats and violence faced by refugees and asylum-seekers in #SriLanka, in the aftermath of Easter Sunday Attacks in April.https://t.co/4j4arSWW2H
— Amnesty International South Asia (@amnestysasia) November 1, 2019
In the days after the Easter Sunday massacre, where an armed group killed more than 250 people in 3 Churches and 3 hotels in Sri Lanka, armed mobs mounted reprisal attacks on refugees and asylum-seekers from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. Even after they sought shelter in nearby Community Centres and a Police Station, the mobs attacked them, hurling stones in one case.
In the report, Unsafe at home, unsafe abroad: State obligations towards refugees and asylum-seekers in Sri Lanka, Amnesty International and the Minority Rights Group International stated that the Authorities failed to offer the refugees and asylum seekers adequate protection and living conditions and failed to investigate the attacks and bring all those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair trials.
Source: Amnesty International