Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings of Freedom from Torture's July 2020 report entitled Response to Country Policy and Information Note Sri Lanka: Tamil Separatism July 2020, of cases of 33 people tortured between 2015 and 2018; and if she will make a statement.

The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection.

All asylum and human rights claims from Sri Lankan nationals are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations.

Each individual assessment is made against the background of the latest available country of origin information and any relevant caselaw.

The key caselaw for Sri Lanka is GJ & Others (post –civil war: returnees Sri Lanka CG [2013] UKUT 00319 (IAC) (5 July 2013) (heard on 5-8 and 11-12 February 2013, 15 March 2013 and 19 April 2013), and our CPIN is focused around this. This acknowledges there are factors to be considered when deciding a case.

We do not consider pieces of information in isolation. We review a range of evidence to ensure balance and a complete picture is considered.