The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Colombo will support a pilot project for online phone calls for detainees in the coming weeks, officials said.

“The calls will allow detainees to maintain contact with their loved ones, amidst the administrative restrictions that have been put into place,” the ICRC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, it also said that since March 2020, the ICRC, in coordination with the Ministry of Health, supported the efforts of the Sri Lankan detaining authorities to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading amongst the detainee population.

It has provided health and hygiene items and disinfection material that has benefited almost 33,000 people in over 23 prisons, a prison hospital, five police stations and the Mirihana Immigration Detention Centre.

“People who are detained are likely to be more vulnerable during a medical emergency of this scale. We adapted our activities at the start of the pandemic and we are in coordination with prison
authorities ever since”, said the head of the ICRC delegation in Sri Lanka, Loukas Petridis.

“We are committed to continue supporting the detaining authorities to ensure humane conditions and dignified treatment to all detainees in such challenging times”, concluded Loukas Petridis.

The ICRC also donated fabric and accessories to the Department of Prisons to produce reusable masks for detainees. Over 30,000 reusable masks have been produced so far, out of the 40,000 planned in total.