A/HRC/30/61 15. While President Sirisena appointed new civilian governors for both the Northern and Eastern Provinces, and the major security checkpoint leading to the North was removed in August 2015, the Government is still to embark on any comprehensive process of demilitarization. Local civil society sources recorded 26 cases of harassment and intimidation by military and intelligence services in the North and East during the period from January to August 2015. This figure highlights the reality that the structures and institutional cultures that created the repressive environment of the past remain in place and will require much more fundamental security sector reform. 16. Six years after the end of the war, many displaced populations have yet to achieve durable solutions, particularly with regard to livelihoods. One major continuing problem is the military occupation of private land, although the Government has proceeded with some land releases in Thellipallai and Kopai in the North and in Sampur in the East. 17. Land issues have been further complicated by secondary occupation by civilians; loss, destruction and damage to land documents; competing claims; landlessness; and unregularized land claims. Care must also be taken to ensure that land distribution does not exacerbate existing intra- and inter-community tensions, since land disputes have become increasingly politicized and ethnicized in return areas. 18. Women head nearly 60,000 households in the Northern Province.1 Owing to food insecurity, rising inflation and lack of livelihood opportunities, such households are pushed further into debt, thereby increasing their vulnerability to exploitation. In the militarized context in conflict-affected areas, they are extremely vulnerable to sexual harassment, exploitation and violence. 19. The Government has been slow to clarify the number and identity of detainees still held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and emergency regulations. At the time of writing, the Government had reportedly acknowledged 258 remaining detainees: 60 had not been charged; 54 had a prior conviction; while the remaining cases were pending. Reports have continued to emerge about the existence of secret and unacknowledged places of detention, which require urgent investigation. 20. The Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has long provided a legal context for arbitrary detention, unfair trials and torture, remains in force (see CCPR/C/LKA/CO/5, para. 11). According to local civil society sources, from January to August 2015, 19 people were arrested under the Act, of whom 12 remain in detention. Although the Government has engaged in dialogue with Tamil diaspora groups, it has not yet taken steps to delist the numerous Tamil diaspora organizations and individuals proscribed under the Act in March 2013. 21. Torture and sexual violence remain a critical concern, both in relation to the conflict and in the regular criminal justice system. A non-governmental organization that provides victims with medical services has highlighted six cases since the change of Government in 2015. A total of 37 per cent of the cases documented in its report2 concerned individuals who had returned to Sri Lanka after the conflict, a few of them rejected asylum seekers. 22. During the period between March 2014 and August 2015, one non-governmental organization reported 112 incidents of hate speech against the Muslim community, 22 since January 2015.3 During the same period, Christian groups reported 126 incidents targeting 1 2 3 Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2012/13, preliminary report, Department of Census and Statistics, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Sri Lanka. Freedom from Torture, “Tainted Peace: Torture in Sri Lanka since May 2009”, August 2015. See Secretariat for Muslims (http://secretariatformuslims.org/). 5