COLOMBO: Amnesty International (AI) on Friday urged Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to use his executive power to invite the United Nations to set up a "strong human rights field operation" to verify serious human rights abuses committed by all sides.

The President must take personal initiative to end the human rights crisis, said Amnesty International's Secretary-General Irene Khan, after a meeting with Mr. Rajapaksa in Geneva.

An AI statement said over the past year, over 1,000 persons had been believed to have been "disappeared" and over 1,000 unlawfully killed. "Civilians have been killed by indiscriminate artillery bombardments, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam [LTTE] suicide bombings and reprisal killings."

It said between March and April alone, the internally displaced population of Batticaloa district doubled, as 80,000 civilians fled their homes. The LTTE is responsible for killing and abducting civilians and, as with the Karuna faction, continues to recruit children as combatants.

"A climate of fear dominates Sri Lanka with human rights activists and journalists threatened, attacked, intimidated, harassed and killed. Even humanitarian workers have not been immune," said Ms. Khan as the Amnesty received reports of an international non-governmental organisation volunteer having been shot in Trincomalee.

The AI said the discriminatory forced displacement of Tamils from Colombo on June 7 illustrated the lack of protection faced by Sri Lankans caught in the conflict, who are looking to escape the fighting and abuses committed by the LTTE.

In a separate statement, Justice P.N. Bhagwati, Chairman of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), said the 11-member group was concerned that the conduct of the President's Commission of Inquiry to investigate alleged serious violations of human rights was inconsistent with international norms and standards.

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