While conscription of child soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is condemnable, the Sri Lankan government sought to hide its failure in the administration of juvenile justice and maltreatment of the juveniles under the LTTE misdeeds...

Independence of judiciary: Sri Lanka faces serious crisis of independence of judiciary. The judiciary presently has little independence and is subservient to the attorney general and the defence minister under the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1979...For the last three years, the Sri Lankan government declined to extend invitation to the United Nations special rapporteur on independence of judges and lawyers to undertake a mission to Sri Lanka.

Freedom of movement: The right to freedom of movement is a classic example, which could only be exercised depending on the success of the peace process between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. Although the Supreme Court in early September 2002 declared that the military pass system, which was in force in Vavuniya, violated the provisions of the constitution relating to freedom of movement, it remains to be seen whether the government respects it if the peace process unfortunately fails.

Freedom of expression: Freedom of speech and expression are often suppressed during emergencies. Reporters, particularly those who cover human rights issues, corruption, or police misconduct, continue to face harassment, threats, and violent attacks in the hands of the police, security forces, government supporters and the LTTE. Although, the government abolished sections 479 to 482 of the penal code regarding criminal defamation in June 2002, the amendments to the Parliamentary Privileges Act, the repealing of the Public Performance Act to be replaced by a Film Review Board, amendments to the PTA and the law to enable the establishment of a media council are still pending.

Freedom of association and assembly: While the freedom of association and assembly is generally recognized in Sri Lanka, its exercise is restricted in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. The security forces do not exercise necessary restraints and use disproportionate force including firearms in violation of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

Indian origin Tamils: Only on October 7, 2003, the Sri Lankan parliament passed the Grant of Citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin Act to bring an end to over 50 years of systematic and institutionalized discrimination. The United States State Department reported that at the end of 2002, there were approximately 75,000 of these persons who do not qualify for either Indian or Sri Lankan citizenship and face discrimination. While Tamils in general have been adversely affected by Sri Lanka’s internal strife, the discrimination faced by Indian origin Tamils is more severe than that of the Ceylon Tamils and other Sri Lankan minority groups. Without national identity cards, they are vulnerable to arrest by the security forces, in addition to being denied access to university education, employment, health care etc. They are effectively denied the vehicle to be considered as persons before the law...

Internally displaced persons: In May 2003, an internally displaced people survey conducted by UNHCR and the ministry of rehabilitation, resettlement and refugees during 2002 showed that close to 150,000 IDP families...required some kind of assistance to achieve durable solutions.