Sri Lankan authorities have subjected at least seven people to forced physical examinations since 2017 in an attempt to provide proof of homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch and EQUAL GROUND said today. The exams, which include forced anal examinations and a forced vaginal examination, are a form of sexual violence as well as cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment that can rise to torture.
The Sri Lankan government should end abusive physical examinations and stop prosecuting people for consensual same-sex conduct, Human Rights Watch and EQUAL GROUND said.
“No one should be arrested, let alone subjected to torture and sexual violence, because of their perceived sexual orientation,” said Neela Ghoshal, associate LGBT rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Sri Lanka’s Justice Ministry should immediately bar judicial medical officers from conducting forced anal examinations, which flagrantly violate medical ethics as well as basic rights.”
A lawyer told Human Rights Watch and EQUAL GROUND that he along with other counsel represented six defendants in the last 12 months accused of male homosexual conduct. In all cases prosecutors submitted reports of anal exams in court as evidence of past anal penetration. He said the accused alleged having been subjected to other abuses, including being whipped with wires. The court ordered three of the men to undergo HIV tests without their consent, the results of which were made public in court.
Sections 365 and 365A of the Sri Lankan Penal Code prohibit “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and “gross indecency between persons” commonly understood in Sri Lanka to criminalize same-sex relations between consenting adults, including in private spaces. Human Rights Watch has documented that other laws, including a vaguely worded Vagrancy Law and a penal code provision banning “cheating by personation,” are also used to target transgender and gender non-conforming people for arrest. In the last few years, Sri Lankan police have raided hotels and other locations to arrest people for offences including consensual same-sex conduct. A police performance report indicates that in 2018 police brought charges against nine men for “homosexuality,” arrested in five such raids. Read more via HRW