HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF SRI LANKA, Annual Report 2018
such complaints. The division also visited places of detention for
purposes of investigation, in addition to the monitoring visits of the
Commission.
▪
Action taken in Response to Communal Riots in the Kandy
District
The Commission was actively involved in monitoring the human rights
situation relating to the anti-Muslim riots in Theldeniya and Digana in
the Kandy District in March 2018. The Kandy Regional Office of the
Commission, on the instructions of the Commission, played an active
role in monitoring the situation and making representations to relevant
authorities to provide protection to those harmed and rendered
vulnerable by the violence. Subsequently, the Commission held town
hall meetings bringing in representatives of all religious communities
and relevant government officials in the Theldeniya/Digana area with a
view to providing a forum for inter-community dialogue and
reconciliation.
The Commission also conducted a 4 day inquiry from 9-12 May 2018
into the violence. Victims of the violence, civil society and community
leaders including religious leaders and officials from the Police, Special
Task Force (STF) and the Sri Lanka Army, Administrative Officers within
the Kandy District headed by the District Secretary testified at the
inquiry. The Commission is in the process of finalizing a comprehensive
report on the findings of this inquiry, which contain recommendations
to ensure such violence does not recur.
▪
Disability Rights in the Education Sector
The Commission also issued a ground breaking recommendation
pertaining to equal access to higher education to students with
disabilities. The Commission entertained a complaint from a female
student with disabilities who had gained admission to the Institute of
Indigenous Medicine, University of Colombo. The complaint was on the
failure of the Institute to provide necessary facilities for her to engage in
educational activities as a person with disabilities and also against the
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