(Hong Kong, January 19, 2012) A workshop was held for the undergraduate students of the Criminology Department of the Sri Jayawardanapura University on December 19 and 20 2011 on rule of law and prevention of police torture. The workshop was held at the auditorium of the Help Age Institute at Gangodavila.
Janasansaya , a human rights organization conducted workshop.
A total of 37 2nd and 3rd year students participated in the workshop. Prof. Mayura Samarakoon and Mrs. Niranji Wijewardana, a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Criminology, also participated in the event. Chiral Perera, the coordinator of Janasansadaya, led the discussions and Mr. WAL Weerasinghe, Ex-Prison Commissioner of Welfare and Mr. E K Ariyadasa, Ex-Assistant Commissioner of Probation were the resource persons.
The first day of the workshop mainly dealt with the education process and an introduction to the current domestic laws pertaining to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments and punishment. The fundamentals of such laws, international recognitions and ratification of those laws in Sri Lanka were the main subjects of the study.
The second day covered the actions of the Sri Lanka Police on the basis of the judgments of the the Supreme Court on allegations of torture, cruel inhuman and degrading treatments and punishments. The problems prevailing in the judicial system were highlighted and critically discussed.
Throughout the two day workshop, audio and visual technologies were used to demonstrate the prevailing problems with live illustrations. The clarification of ideas about the rule of law was the main purpose of the discussions of the workshop. The crisis of the rule of law in Sri Lanka was highlighted.
The YouTube presentation on the workshop may be seen here.
