Amnesty slams Sri Lanka’s inquiry on civil war

September 16, 2011 10:05 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 12:45 am IST - NEW DELHI:

The Amnesty International has slammed the method of inquiry conducted by the Sri Lankan government into the civil war as it was “fundamentally flawed and provides no accountability for atrocities”.

The report of the Amnesty International -- When will they get justice? “exposed the shortcomings” of the inquiry commission -- the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), appointed by the Mahinda Rajapakse government in May 2010, it said.

The LLRC had failed to properly pursue allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity levelled against both government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi said in its website: “The Sri Lankan government has, for almost two years, used the LLRC as its trump card in lobbying against an independent international investigation. Officials described it as a credible accountability mechanism, able to deliver justice and promote reconciliation. In reality it's flawed at every level: in mandate, composition and practice.” LLRC’s mandate fell far short of international standards for such inquiries.

An analysis by the Amnesty International of the LLRC's publicly available transcripts found it failed to appropriately investigate credible allegations of systematic violations by both sides to the conflict, including illegal killings and enforced disappearances, widespread shelling of civilian targets such as hospitals, and use of civilians as shields.

Interestingly LLRC’s commissioners include former Sri Lankan government officials who had publicly defended Colombo against allegations of war crimes, it said.

The report said during LLRC's first field visit, the panel's Chairman made no mention of human rights abuses, telling witnesses to “forget the past”. Instead, he asked them to tell the Commission about any problems accessing education, medical care and housing.

The Commission ignored crucial questions about the role of government forces in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The LLRC’s interim report in September 2010 did not contain any recommendations aimed at achieving accountability for the past human rights abuses. The final report is expected in November 2011, the human rights body added.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.