12 October, 2007 - Published 13:55 GMT

Police 'ignore' Presidential decree

An advisory panel to Sri Lanka government has accused the authorities of not implementing "at least the minimum safeguards" to protect human rights in the island.

Nimalka Fernando, a member of the panel, said Sri Lanka police have even failed to implement a presidential decree on arbitrary arrests.

List of detainees

Nimlaka Fernando, Sunila Abeysekara, Dr. Pakyasothy Saravanamuttu and Rohan Edirisinghe, on Friday tendered their resignations protesting government's lack of commitment to protect human rights.

"We continuously appealed to the minister to provide us with a list of detainees so that we could pass the information to the relatives," Nimalka Fernando told BBC Sandeshaya.

However, minister in charge of human rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, could not provide that information despite repeated requests, she added.

"We think either the government did not have a system in place," Fernando said, "Or if statistics were gathered, government would have to clarify them in front of the international community".

International outcry

The panel says a presidential decree issued in July this year ordered police to send a daily report on detainees held to the relevant ASP office.

President Rajapaksa has ordered police stations holding detainees to fax the details at 6pm every day.

"Our investigations revealed that all police stations have failed to implement this decree," Fernando told BBCSinhala.com.

She added that the government peace secretariat's constant accusations of providing wrong information to the international community while being members of a government advisory panel was another reason for their resignations.

"Our aim was to urge the government to take at least minimum measures to protect human rights and did not agree to shut our mouths because we were in the panel".

Arbour visit

The panel's decision comes as UN Human Rights Commissioner, Louis Arbour, visits Sri Lanka on a fact finding mission.

Arbour who met hundreds of relatives of those disappeared on Thursday was tight lipped on alleged abuses, Civil Monitoring Committee said.

CMC chairman, Siritunga Jayasuriya, told BBC Sandeshaya that she was even reluctant to meet the protesters outside the UN office in Colombo.