Frances Harrison Profile picture
Ex #BBC Correspondent, Journalist & Author of Still Counting the Dead - book on #Tamils who survived #SriLanka's 2009 war. #lka

Jun 2, 2021, 10 tweets

Landmark UK immigration case slams lead agency in Reparation process in #srilanka @IOMSriLanka 4 lack of impartiality. IOM reportedly said allegations of discrimination against #tamils were just 'put forward to serve their own ends' Even Home Office called this "quite stark"!

@IOMSriLanka This is what the excellent ICJ 2010 Beyond Constraints report on 'rehabilitation' had to say regarding the risks of .@IOMSriLanka being involved in profiling inmates - noting thousands were arbitrarily detained in these military run camps.

@IOMSriLanka A/HRC/39/45/Add.2
Rehabilitation - The UN working group on arbitrary detention in 2018 called for apology and compensation. It never happened.

@IOMSriLanka UN OISL also said 'There was no clear indication of the legal or policy basis on which shorter or longer rehabilitation was based'.

Also that those released were picked up again and tortured:

@IOMSriLanka #torture occurred in the so called 'rehabilitation' camps AND after the IOM "reintegrated" Tamils into the community. Many torture and rape victims abroad have the IOM cards, ICRC attestations & GOSL rehabilitation certificates.

@IOMSriLanka However .@IOMSriLanka said in 2010 that inmates were well looked after & "we are not here to monitor human rights".

@IOMSriLanka In 2011 inmates of the rehabilitation camps were made to dance for the army at an IOM reception that IOM said was to show their gratitude to the government with whom they'd worked so closely for many years.

@IOMSriLanka Here is one such 'rehabilitation' ex cadre dance showcased by the Rehabilitation programme - but not the above mentioned @UNmigration #lka show.

@IOMSriLanka @UNmigration So then the question arises who thought it ok to make .@IOMSriLanka the lead agency for reparations in #srilanka given their involvement in the now discredited rehabilitation process - whose victims should be getting reparations for arbitrary detention & in many cases #torture?

@IOMSriLanka @UNmigration & how telling - their website reconciliation page - under construction!
srilanka.iom.int/resources/iom-…

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