Uproar over military-run rehabilitation center plans

COLOMBO: An international human rights group is urging Sri Lanka’s government to withdraw draft legislation that would create military-run rehabilitation centers, saying it would give authorities broad powers to detain people without charge and place them at risk of abuse.

Rights activists and opposition lawmakers have strongly criticized the bill, saying it aims to suppress people seeking political reform and accountability during the country’s unprecedented economic crisis. A lawyer and an opposition legislator have challenged the legislation in the Supreme Court.

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch said on Monday that the Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill would allow compulsory detention in “rehabilitation centers” of “drug dependent persons, ex-combatants, members of violent extremist groups and any other group of persons.”

The group said the bill, which was presented to Parliament last month, would create an administrative structure controlled by the Defense Ministry to operate centers staffed by military personnel.

“The Sri Lankan government’s proposed ‘rehabilitation’ efforts appear to be nothing more than a new form of abusive detention without charge,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, the group’s South Asia director.