HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH IN DOUBLE CRITICISM OF SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT

by Hibberd Kline
Impunity Watch, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka— Human Rights Watch (HRW) lambasted Sri Lanka’s government twice last week for failing to investigate and fully disclose details of atrocities by government forces during the country’s 26-year armed conflict, which ended in May of 2009.

Memorial for 17 aid workers slain while engaged in 2006 tsunami relief in an apparent mass extrajudicial execution. (Photograph Courtesy of Reuters).
Memorial for 17 aid workers slain while engaged in 2006 tsunami relief in an apparent mass extrajudicial execution. (Photograph Courtesy of Reuters).

In an statement released August 1st , HRW decried a report recently released by the Ministry of Defense (MOD) casting the blame for  civilian deaths on Muslim militias and the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who sought independence for the island’s sizeable Tamil minority.

In the report, which was released under mounting pressure from foreign governments and NGOs, the Sri Lankan government conceded for the first time that its forces caused civilian deaths near the end of the conflict.

However, HRW stressed that the government did not take responsibility for laws-of-war violations, which it blamed squarely on LTTE, whose atrocities are detailed in the MOD report.

The report states that government forces “adher[ed] to a ‘Zero Civilian casualty’ policy,” but that “[i]t was impossible in a battle of this magnitude, against a ruthless opponent actively endangering civilians, for civilian casualties to be avoided.”

According to HRW, the report fails to address the “thousands of civilian casualties” inflicted by Sri Lankan forces’ frequent indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas” including hospitals. HRW stressed that these incidents were comprehensively detailed by the UN, the US State Department and various NGOs.

The second prong of HRW’s criticism of the Sri Lankan government last week came two days later on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the murder of 17 Sri Lankan aid workers, 16 ethnic Tamils and one Muslim, following a battle between LTTE and government forces.

HRW used the anniversary to highlight what it described as the government’s “broader lack of will to prosecute soldiers and police for rights abuses.”

HRW’s statement alleged that “[d]espite a backlog of cases of enforced disappearances and unlawful killings going back two decades that run to the tens of thousands, there have been only a small number of prosecutions.” The statement further alleged that past efforts to address human rights violations had failed to achieve significant results.

In a scathing accusation, HRW legal and policy director James Ross said that “[t]he Rajapaksa government is not just unwilling to uncover the truth, it appears afraid of the truth.”

Foreign governments and NGOs largely acknowledge that both LTTE and Sri Lankan government forces inflicted high numbers of civilian casualties and likely engaged in war crimes during the conflict.

In 2009, Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa pledged to address the need for accountability for international humanitarian and human rights law violations.

The Sri Lankan government denies that its forces are responsible for civilian deaths during the conflict.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Sri Lanka condemned over aid workers’ deaths – 3 August 2011

Human Rights Watch – Sri Lanka: No Justice in Massacre of Aid Workers – 3 August 2011

Voice of America – HRW Calls for Investigation of Sri Lankan Aid Workers Massacre – 3 August 2011

Daily Mirror – HRW criticises SL report – 2 August 2011

JURIST – Sri Lanka report on civil war ‘whitewashes’ military atrocities – 2 August 2011

Human Rights Watch – Sri Lanka: Official Report Whitewashes Military Abuses – 1 August 2011

Author: Impunity Watch Archive