Scores of people were extrajudicially killed and several hundred “disappeared” in Sri Lanka during 1991. Torture of detainees appeared to be used systematically. Thousands were detained without trial under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and other legislation. In the northeast, the background to these violations by the security forces was the continuing fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and government forces. The LTTE were responsible for the execution-style killings of hundreds of civilians, including Sinhalese and Muslims, as well as those Tamils deemed “traitors”. Abuses in the south occurred in a context of continuing political unrest. Attempts by the government to prosecute alleged violators appeared to make little progress.
