Sri Lanka urged to step back from brink of setting up ‘Xinjiang-style’ military-run reeducation centres

Similar measures were used during 26-year bloody civil war in Sri Lanka, activists say

Anti-government protesters hold placards and national flags during a protest against the current economic and political crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 07 October (EPA)

Human rights groups are demanding Sri Lanka withdraw a draft law that would give the government powers to set up military-run “reeducation centres” that have been compared to China’s Uyghur detention centres in Xinjiang.

On Monday, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court began hearings on six petitions filed by civil society activists and opposition party lawmakers against the Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill, deemed as unconstitutional and arbitrary.

The contentious Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill was released by Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government and was submitted to parliament on 23 September 2022.