Ahead of a crucial vote in the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva seeking to censure Sri Lanka on alleged war-time human rights violations, Amnesty International on Tuesday raised the pitch, saying the world body must support an independent international investigation.
In a 63-page report titled “Locked away: Sri Lanka's secutiy detainees”, the international rights group alleged that arbitrary, illegal detention and enforced disappearance were routine.
The rights group has claimed that up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the final stages of the fighting with Tamil Tigers.
“The war crimes alleged in Sri Lanka in the final stages of the war are of such magnitude that if unchallenged risk fundamentally undermining international justice mechanisms — the U.N. must support an independent international investigation into these alleged crimes,” Amnesty said in a release.