HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF SRI LANKA, Annual Report 2020 persons who are geographically isolated. The Commission also advocated the Elections Commission to take necessary steps to avoid undue influence of voters at polling stations and to take steps to prevent harassment and violence against supporters of defeated parties at village and institution level post-election. The Commission also made appeals to the media to necessarily comply with the Media Guidelines issued by the Election Commission as media organizations have an obligation to provide accurate, balanced, and impartial information to assist the voting public. HRCSL also made a public appeal to political parties/independent groups and candidates contesting the election to abstain from hate speech. Perhaps as a result of the COVID-19 containment efforts, the total number of complaints received by the Commission plunged from 8983 in 2019 to 6417 in 2020. However, unlike in the previous years, both the head office and the regional offices received roughly the same number of cases. This could be attributed to the option made available for complaints to be submitted electronically during COVID-19 lockdown periods. As is usual, of the complaints received during the year, those relating to the infringement of personal liberty were the highest. It is interesting and perhaps concerning to note that this category of complaints has a higher number than the previous reporting period despite the overall drop in the number of complaints received by the Commission. Further, 502 out of 853 complaints against government inaction were against the police. The third highest number of complaints at 717 related to employment, which however, has declined considerably from the previous reporting year. Complaints against violations of education related rights such as admissions to schools remained comparatively low, displaying a similar downward trajectory since 2015. Within the broader category of violations of personal liberty, complaints relating to violations of arbitrary arrest and detention have increased from 775 in 2019 to 910 in 2020. Continued high numbers of complaints regarding torture in custody, and arbitrary arrest and detention concerns the Commission. Similarly, complaints of deaths in custody, of extra-judicial killings, and complaints regarding the violation of prisoners’ rights warranted closer scrutiny. The Commission made several interventions with relevant authorities on these areas. HRCSL reiterates the importance of sensitizing law enforcement and detention authorities on the law relating to the prohibition of torture and unlawful arrest and detention and strictly enforcing the law against errant officers including prosecuting wrongdoers, in order to eliminate the recurrence of these violations. 12