The office of the United Nations human rights chief has said that an inquiry is needed to find out whether war crimes were committed in the final stages of the war between the security forces and the LTTE in Sri Lanka.
The suggestion came two days after the release of the U.S. State Department's report that detailed alleged war crimes. Colombo rejected the report as "unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence".
The BBC quoted a spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay, as saying that the allegations of war crimes were so serious that the fighting in Sri Lanka required an inquiry similar to that recently carried out into the Gaza conflict.
It was stated that the U.S. report did not constitute the necessary full inquiry but that it "catalogues in quite some detail specific events that have been reported".
Earlier, as the Sri Lankan government began the process of resettlement, U.N. voiced concern over the wariness of donor nations in providing funds to Sri Lanka because of the "continued restrictions in the freedom of movement of the internally displaced persons (IDPs)".
Neil Buhne, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sri Lanka, said the response from donors to humanitarian needs in Sri Lanka had been good, but there was frustration over the closed nature of the camps.
"Among the donors we talked to, there is a hesitation in terms of their assistance to camps over the next three or four months if there's not significant progress on people returning, or larger numbers of people being allowed to leave," said Mr. Buhne.
"Donor fatigue is really in respect to continuing these closed camps Donors have not said no, but they have indicated their concerns to us," he said.
Nearly 3,00,000 people were displaced during the war between the LTTE and the security forces. On Wednesday, Competent Authority for the IDPs Kamal Gunaratne told the media that so far almost 60,000 people had been released from the camps and another 30,000 to 35,000 were expected to be released over the next fortnight.
