Sri Lanka: New Evidence of Wartime Abuses – Human Right Watch

Government Inquiry Inadequate; UN Should Establish International Investigation

May 20, 2010

A member of the LTTE apparently captured by the Sri Lankan Air Mobile Brigade. In subsequent photos (downloadable via links below), the man appears to be dead, raising concerns that he might have been executed in custody.

© 2009 Private

Related Materials: 

Q & A on Accountability for Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: Satellite Images, Witnesses Show Shelling Continues

Sri Lanka: Repeated Shelling of Hospitals Evidence of War Crimes

Other Material: 

Five photos taken on the front lines in early 2009

Yet another feckless commission is a grossly inadequate response to the numerous credible allegations of war crimes. Damning new evidence of abuses shows why the UN should not let Sri Lanka sweep these abuses under the carpet.

Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) – New evidence of wartime abuses by Sri Lankan government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the armed conflict that ended one year ago demonstrates the need for an independent international investigation into violations of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said today. Recently Human Rights Watch research gathered photographic evidence and accounts by witnesses of atrocities by both sides during the final months of fighting.

On May 23, 2009, President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the government would investigate allegations of laws-of-war violations. One year later, the government has still not undertaken any meaningful investigatory steps, Human Rights Watch said.

Last week, the government created a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission with a mandate to examine the failure of the 2002 ceasefire and the “sequence of events” thereafter. It is not empowered to investigate allegations of violations of the laws of war such as those documented by Human Rights Watch.

“Yet another feckless commission is a grossly inadequate response to the numerous credible allegations of war crimes,” said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Damning new evidence of abuses shows why the UN should not let Sri Lanka sweep these abuses under the carpet.”

Human Rights Watch called on Secretary-General Ban to promptly establish an international investigation to examine allegations of wartime abuse by both sides to the conflict.

New Evidence of Wartime Violations

Human Rights Watch has examined more than 200 photos taken on the front lines in early 2009 by a soldier from the Sri Lankan Air Mobile Brigade. Among these are a series of five photos showing a man who appears to have been captured by the Sri Lankan army. An independent source identified the man by name and told Human Rights Watch that he was a long-term member of the LTTE’s political wing from Jaffna.
More : http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/20/sri-lanka-new-evidence-wartime-abuses