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The Center for Human Rights & Development (CHRD) is a Sri Lankan NGO founded by a group of human rights lawyers and activists. It has facilitated the release of approximately 400 political prisoners by widely sharing stories of political prisoners and their relatives.

After their meetings with political detainees at prisons and subsequent meetings with members of victims’ families, CHRD produces lobby documents which detail the arrest, imprisonment duration, and family background of the detainee. The documents also describe the social and financial cost of detention, and the torture and humiliation suffered by the detainee. Additionally CHRD circulates memorandums during campaign meetings to obtain signatures of support, which has resulted in later tabling in Parliament by members representing minority communities. The case of prisoner is analyzed in detail, followed by a media campaign highlighting the unlawful arrest and the human, social and financial losses resulting from their long-term detention without conviction. In order to draw media attention CHRD especially publicizes prisoner hunger strikes, postponements of a long-due case, or discovery of prisoners having been tortured. Copies of these documents are regularly distributed to the human rights commission, the international community, the president, respective ministries and attorney general’s departments.

At an initial stage, CHRD also conducted community level legal awareness education programs targeting vulnerable groups of people, which provoked individuals to come in numbers to report about atrocities committed against their community. The increase in reporting has helped expedite the release of political prisoners by pressuring the government and showing support for the prisoners.

The plight of Tamil political prisoners is crucial, given the context of on-going peace talks between the Government and the Tamil militant group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Over the last two decades a gruesome ethnic war has claimed 60,000 lives, and there have been hundreds of Tamil political prisoners who have been arbitrarily arrested, tortured and retained without conviction by the Sri Lankan Government under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency Regulation. Some of these political detainees have been languishing more than 7 or 8 years. Some of the prisoners have agitated for their early release or indictment, which has culminated in fatal hunger strikes. On many occasions there have been clashes between prison guards and political detainees, resulting in prison riots and eventually massacres of political detainees by prison authorities.

CHRD makes regular prison visits, records prisoners’ stories, and appoints lawyers to represent these victims.

They also help family members of victims and witnesses appear in court safely by arranging transport and safe lodging for the duration of the hearing. These services are facilitated by a network of churches and NGOs in the North of Sri Lanka, established by CHRD. Representatives of the Center for Human Rights & Development accompany witnesses to courts, monitor and record proceedings of these hearings, and assist victims and families in receiving compensation. They coordinate programs to rehabilitate and reintegrate the released detainees through counseling and community awareness programs.

In recent years CHRD has been successful in facilitating hearings of 14 landmark cases, involving mainly civilian massacres. CHRD officers travel frequently to the North and Eastern parts of the Island where most of these mass murders have taken place in order to collect information about victims and possible locations of mass graves, and then press releases are issued with details of victims’ stories. Tamil parliamentarians are given records of victims and pressured to raise these issues in parliament sessions, while the international community is called upon to apply additional pressure. When a committee is appointed by the government to look into these cases, CHRD continues its work by identifying possible witnesses and bringing them to each hearing until the conclusion of the case. CHRD helps strengthen the independence of the judiciary by recording the proceedings of these cases and making them public. They also use the same records to appeal against any unfair verdicts.

CHRD’s systematic documentation of court proceedings of these civilian massacres has been used by international organizations like Amnesty International to demand fair play and justice from the Sri Lankan government in inquiring and punishing perpetrators, who are mostly government military figures.

In light of on going ceasefire and peace talks between the Tamil tiger rebels and Sri Lankan government, CHRD is now actively involved in campaigning for the repeal of Prevention of Terrorism Act and the release of all political prisoners. To achieve these tasks CHRD is closely linked with parliamentarians, political parties, religious dignitaries, journalists, legal community, NGOs and members of civil society.

In many cases this work is dangerous, but CHRD’s reputation and connection with the international community, political parties, reputed lawyers and HR activists help them continue. The Sri Lankan government has also reduced its HR violations since 1999, particularly given the change of ruling power from the United National Party to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

CHRD’s work requires a great deal of expertise and resources. Long delays in court hearings and heavy charges and indictment of these political detainees forces CHRD to retain skilled lawyers for the entire case duration, which is very expensive. International donor assistance, a fair amount of political clout, and close linkages with civil society groups and the media are some of the key factors to their success.