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Demand Sri Lanka’s government complies with human rights standards

The people of Sri Lanka are bearing the brunt of a collapsing economy. Government corruption and impunity have imperiled lives and livelihoods, and squandered the country’s resources. In March 2022, Sri Lankans across the country responded with protests and calls for accountability.

The Sri Lankan government responded to these largely peaceful protests with excessive and unnecessary force and used a draconian anti-terror law, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), to crack down on protesters.

People in Sri Lanka have the right to take peaceful action and make their voices heard. The United States must use all diplomatic means to ensure the government of Sri Lanka protects the right to peaceful protest and refrains from detaining peaceful demonstrators, student activists and journalists (among others) under the PTA.

The PTA has been used for over four decades to enable prolonged arbitrary detention, extract false confessions through torture, and target minority communities and political dissidents in Sri Lanka. We can’t allow these human rights violations to be swept under the rug. The repeal of the PTA is long overdue.

Send a message to your members of Congress asking them to call for the immediate repeal of the PTA.

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As a constituent of {user_data~City}, {user_data~State} and supporter of Amnesty International, I write with deep concerns about the safety of the people of Sri Lanka who have been protesting for their rights to an adequate standard of living during a period of economic crisis.

The country is facing unprecedented economic hardship with little promise of quick resolution. As the longer-term impacts of economic instability take hold and without a resolution to defuse the crisis, it is imperative that the people of Sri Lanka are allowed to express dissent, demonstrate for their rights, and call for accountability. The government’s long history of weaponizing the Prevention of Terroris Act (PTA) to crush dissent makes it impossible for the people of Sri Lanka to exercise their right to protest without fear of violent retribution. Repealing the PTA  is a critical step in ensuring the government ends its efforts to silence and intimidate Sri Lankans.

The relentless repression of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, movement and expression speaks to the Sri Lankan government’s legacy of suppressing dissent. Detaining protesters on terror charges is a clear violation of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly guaranteed by the Constitution of Sri Lanka and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sri Lanka is a state party. The Sri Lankan authorities should immediately end their suppression of people’s right to protest.

I call on my Senators and Representative in Congress to speak out about the Sri Lankan government’s abuse of protestors and to work with the Biden Administration to take action to defend the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association in Sri Lanka by insisting that any counter-terror legislation adopted by the Sri Lankan government is compliant with international human rights standards.

Thank you,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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