COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
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SRI LANKA 7 MARCH <strong>2012</strong><br />
contested by the Sri Lankan Government – as ‗textbook examples of extrajudicial<br />
executions.<br />
―‘I do think a broader process is necessary to establish whether these are crimes<br />
against humanity [or] possibly war crimes that took place,‘ he said, adding it was<br />
important to determine if the killings were part of wider pattern of systematic attacks<br />
against civilians or prisoners of war.‖<br />
See also The conflict‘s legacy below<br />
THE CONFLICT’S LEGACY<br />
Return to contents<br />
3.48 The Human Rights Watch (HRW) World <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2012</strong>, Sri Lanka 58 , released on 24<br />
January <strong>2012</strong>, noted that:<br />
―The aftermath of Sri Lanka‘s quarter century-long civil war, which ended in May 2009<br />
with the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), continued to<br />
dominate events in 2011. In April [2011] United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon<br />
released a report by a panel of experts that concluded that both government forces and<br />
the LTTE conducted military operations ‗with flagrant disregard for the protection, rights,<br />
welfare and lives of civilians and failed to respect the norms of international law.‘ The<br />
panel recommended the establishment of an international investigative mechanism. Sri<br />
Lankan officials responded by vilifying the report and the panel members.<br />
―The government has failed to conduct credible investigations into alleged war crimes<br />
by security forces, dismissing the overwhelming body of evidence as LTTE<br />
propaganda.‖<br />
―The lack of investigation was especially conspicuous with regard to several incidents<br />
featured in a June 2011 program on the British television station Channel 4, showing<br />
gruesome images of what appear to be summary executions of captured and bound<br />
combatants. Incredibly, the government repeatedly has dismissed the footage a [sic]<br />
fabricated despite several independent expert reports finding it authentic.‖<br />
3.49 The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Country <strong>Report</strong> Sri Lanka, July 2011 59 reported:<br />
―A controversial documentary titled ‗Sri Lanka‘s Killing Fields‘ was aired by the <strong>UK</strong>'s<br />
Channel 4 television station in June [2011]. The programme documented the final<br />
weeks of the civil war, and included footage of government soldiers executing bound<br />
prisoners, naked women being dumped into the back of a truck and civilian hospitals<br />
being shelled. The Sri Lankan government has rebutted the film's allegations, claiming<br />
that the footage was either distorted or fabricated. However, the government's Lessons<br />
Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which is looking into abuses committed during<br />
the final years of the war, has said that it will look into the incidents portrayed.<br />
58 Human Rights Watch, World <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2012</strong>, Sri Lanka , released on 24 January <strong>2012</strong><br />
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/wr<strong>2012</strong>.pdf date accessed 1 February <strong>2012</strong><br />
59 Economist Intelligence Unit, Country <strong>Report</strong> Sri Lanka, July 2011<br />
http://www.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=displayIssueArticle&issue_id=788269263&article_id=110826929<br />
5&rf=0 [subscription only] date accessed 6 January <strong>2012</strong><br />
36 The main text of this <strong>COI</strong> <strong>Report</strong> contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section<br />
to 2 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong>.