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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7 MARCH <strong>2012</strong> SRI LANKA<br />
―The United Nations human rights chief today urged further investigations into the<br />
conduct of the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka after a UN panel into those events<br />
found there were credible reports that both Government forces and Tamil rebels had<br />
committed war crimes.<br />
―The panel found credible allegations of serious violations committed by the<br />
Government, including killing of civilians through widespread shelling and the denial of<br />
humanitarian assistance.<br />
―The panel‘s first recommendation is that the Sri Lankan Government should respond to<br />
the serious allegations by initiating an effective accountability process beginning with<br />
genuine investigations.‖<br />
See also The internal conflict (1984 to May 2009)<br />
3.54 For more information see the UN <strong>Report</strong> of the Secretary-General‘s panel of experts on<br />
accountability in Sri Lanka .<br />
3.55 For a summary of the main allegations of the UN Panel report provided by BBC news<br />
click on the hyperlink<br />
3.56 On 13 September 2011 UN News 64 reported that:<br />
―Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sent the report of his panel of experts on<br />
accountability issues during the final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka to the United<br />
Nations human rights chief and the President of the Human Rights Council. ‘The Sri<br />
Lankan Government has been informed of the Secretary-General‘s decision to share<br />
the report with the Council and the High Commissioner,‘ Mr. Ban‘s spokesperson said in<br />
a statement issued last night.<br />
―‗While the Secretary-General had given time to the Government of Sri Lanka to<br />
respond to the report, the Government has declined to do so, and instead has produced<br />
its own reports on the situation in the north of Sri Lanka, which are being forwarded<br />
along with the panel of experts report,‘ the statement added.‖<br />
The Ministry of Defence report covering events between July 2006 and May 2009<br />
3.57 On 3 August 2011 Irin 65 reported:<br />
―Sri Lankan rights activists say the Defence Ministry report released on 1 August [2011],<br />
acknowledging for the first time civilian deaths in the final days of the war, is a step<br />
forward, but caution that much depends on the government‘s next move.<br />
63 UN News, Sri Lanka: UN rights chief urges further probes into reports of war crimes,<br />
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38194&Cr=sri+lanka&Cr1 date accessed 1 June 2011<br />
64 UN News, Sri Lanka: Ban forwards report on Sri Lanka war crimes to top UN human rights body, 13<br />
September 2011 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39520&Cr=Sri+Lanka&Cr1 date<br />
accessed 1 January <strong>2012</strong><br />
65 Irin, Sri Lanka: War report a step forward, say activists, 3 August 2011<br />
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93407 date accessed 18 January <strong>2012</strong><br />
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>.<br />
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