The Human Rights Actions Network
www.derechos.org/human-rights/actions/
ACTION REQUEST
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
LKA 100899.VAW
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your urgent intervention
in the following situation in Sri Lanka.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat has been informed by reliable sources of the
alleged rape and killing of Ms Fahreen Ida Carmelitta Laila or Ida
Caremelitta, a 21 year old woman, by 5 soldiers in the night of 12 July
1999 in Pallimunai village on Mannar Island.
According to the information, five masked men, heavily armed, entered
the house of Ida Caremelitta, while the family was sleeping, took her out
of the house and violently raped and killed her. The post mortem report
submitted by Dr Emmanuel Pieries, the district medical officer of Mannar
observed that Ida Caremelitta had been repeatedly raped. Her lips and
breast were bitten off and she was shot through her sexual organ.
In an identification parade, two people, of which one brother of Ida
Caremelitta, have identified two of the offenders. They have been
arrested and taken to Anuradhapura Jail.
According to the information, the eldest brother of Ida Caremelitta is in
army custody for joining the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Ida
Caremelitta herself was a refugee in India from 1990 to 1994. She returned
to Pallimunai village to continue her studies in 1994. Two months after
her arrival, two of her brothers were killed by militants of Tamil Eelam
liberation Organisation (TELO), an anti LTTE group.
In order to save Ida Caremelitta, her mother took her to Pandivirchan
village near Madhu where she was recruited to join the LTTE. Last year,
Ida Caremelitta expressed her wish to leave the LTTE and to join her
family. In May 1999, she was staying in Adampan near Madhu in a
Convent. On 15 June, she went to her family in Pallimunai, which is under
the army control, and surrendered. After exhaustive enquiry the
intelligence department released her and issued her a temporary stay
pass.
The International Secretariat expresses its grave concern over the
continued reports of torture, including rape, of both women and young
girls by Sri Lankan soldiers during the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka.
Previous cases suggest that many rapes often go unpunished and
without any remedies.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities of Sri Lanka urging them to
i. guarantee an impartial and exhaustive inquiry into the rape and
killing of Ms Ida Caremelitta, bring those responsible before a
competent and impartial tribunal and apply the penal, civil and
administrative sanctions provided by law;
ii. guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the family
of Ms Ida Caremelitta and ensure them the right to adequate
reparation;
iii. adopt immediate measures to put an end to these acts of torture
and killings;
iv. ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms in accordance with national laws and
international human rights standards.
Addresses
Her Excellency President Chandrika B. Kumaratunga, Presidential
Residence, Colombo 3, Sri Lanka
Fax94 - 1 - 333 - 703
Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and
Media, Old CTO Building
Lotus Rd, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka
Inspector General of Police, Police Headquarters, New Secretariat,
Colombo 1, Sri Lanka
Hon. Ambassador, Permanent Mission and Consulate General of Sri
Lanka, 56, Rue De Moillebeau,
5th Floor, 1 209, Geneva 19, Switzerland, Fax(41-22) 734 9084, E-mail
mission.srilanka@itu.ch
Hon. High-Commissioner, The High Commission of the Democratic
Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 13
Hyde Park Gardens London W2 2LU United Kingdom Fax(0171) 262-
7970, E-maillancom@easynet.co.uk
Geneva, 10 August 1999
