Sharryn Aiken, Associate Professor, Queen’s University Faculty of Law, Canada Maarten Bavinck, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Amarnath Amarasingam, Assistant Professor, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada Cheran Rudhramoorthy, Associate Professor, University of Windsor, Canadaĭr. Ashwini Vasanthakumar, Associate Professor, Queen’s Law School, Canadaĭr. Professor David Ludden, Department of History, New York UniversityĪrjun Guneratne, Professor Anthropology, Macalester College, U.S.A.ĭr. Kanchana N Ruwanpura, Professor of Human Geography, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Vasuki Nesiah, Professor of Human Rights and International Law, The Gallatin School, New York University, USA Farah Mihlar, Lecturer, University of Exeter, United Kingdom The Sri Lankan constitution guarantees Sri Lankans fundamental rights including freedom of speech, expression and peaceful assembly in addition, these are internationally guaranteed rights which Sri Lanka is committed to protect.ĭr. We call on the government to respect the right of all Sri Lankans to protest and protect protest spaces. The government must investigate the use of extreme force and torture and hold accountable those found guilty of committing these crimes. We call on the President and government of Sri Lanka to immediately desist in the use of any force against protestors and reduce the current extreme military presence around the protest site at the Galle Face Green in Colombo and around the country including the north and east. It is disheartening and telling that one of his first actions in office was to attack the people rather than take steps to address the suffering of the people. His decision to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors is deeply alarming and does not offer the prospect of Sri Lanka progressing beyond the current crisis it is in. Wickremasinghe was elected by parliament to take on the presidency, which was vacated due to the non-violent pro-democracy movement against authoritarianism and failed governance. The reference to protestors as “fascist” is totally inaccurate, inappropriate and damaging it weaponizes the term to provide an excuse for the use of extreme force. This space for resistance has also been used for educational purposes, with a university and library, advancing knowledge to all groups of people. Over the last several months the protestors have been inspiring and disciplined in exercising basic democratic rights to call attention to the crisis.
That such a brutal attack against non-violent protestors was ordered by the country’s new President Ranil Wickremasinghe, less than 24 hours after taking office, is shocking and sends distressing signals of his method of governance. Nine protest leaders were also arbitrarily arrested and detained by the police. We are aghast at reports that five of the protestors were abducted and tortured by security force personnel violently beaten, forced to kneel on rocks and perform extremely tedious exercises whilst being threatened with death if they tried to escape. We, the undersigned academics who work on Sri Lanka and South Asia more broadly, fully condemn the violent assault on peaceful protestors in Colombo by the Sri Lankan security forces on 22 July 2022. In a statement issued on Tuesday, they said that they were aghast at reports that five of the protestors were abducted and tortured by the security forces.