Police Scotland has put a controversial scheme to train officers in troubled Sri Lanka on hold amid criticism from global watchdogs.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch last week called on the Scottish national force to “suspend assistance programmes until there is progress on accountability and reform” on the Indian Ocean island.
The global watchdog has reported a surge in police abuses in Sri Lanka during the pandemic, including extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary detention.
Its South Asian director, Meenakshi Ganguly, said: “Sri Lanka’s police seem intent on building on their past record of serious abuses, instead of cleaning up their act. The UN, UK and others working with Sri Lankan law enforcement should recognise that without the political will to reform on Sri Lanka’s part, their engagement risks appearing to endorse abusive agencies.”
Police Scotland has long been criticised for its links with Sri Lanka, where it has worked to develop community policing and support the victims of sex crime. The force, however, has always insisted it trains overseas officers under UK government oversight, as part of an effort to improve policing abroad.
The pandemic has effectively stalled such programmes over the past year. However, The Times understands it pressed pause on its programmes as early as May — long before being asked to do so by Human Rights Watch — pending a review of its work it will carry out together with the Foreign Office.
Gary Ritchie, the assistant chief constable, said: “Police Scotland’s values of integrity, fairness, respect and a commitment to upholding human rights are at the heart of everything we do. This includes our work in Sri Lanka, which supports the realisation of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, particularly gender equality, reduced inequality, peace and justice, strong institutions and partnerships to achieve the goals.
“All UK assistance is subject to robust overseas security and justice assistance [OSJA] assessments to ensure that it supports our values and is consistent with our domestic and international human rights obligations. The OSJA relating to Police Scotland’s current activity in Sri Lanka is currently under review and all our activity is paused for the time being. Officers have not travelled to Sri Lanka since the start of the coronavirus pandemic for public health reasons.”
Early this year The Sunday Post revealed that Police Scotland had renewed its training contract with the Sri Lankan authorities for another two years. It is not known how much this work would be worth, but the force has previously received £700,000. It has sent trainers to the island on about 100 occasions, the paper said.