Sri Lanka: No Progress on Justice

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  A member of the Free Media Association shouts slogans in front of an image of missing cartoonist and columnist Prageeth Eknaligoda during a protest in Colombo June 8, 2011. The protest was held to mark 500 days since the disappearance of Eknaligoda, a pro-opposition journalist who worked for Lanka-e-News, a private-owned independent website that was critical of the government. The placard reads "500 days since Prageeth's disappearance."
  © 2011 Reuters

(New York) – The Sri Lankan government in the past year failed to advance justice and accountability for the victims of the country’s 26-year-long civil conflict, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2012. While Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged north and east became more open, the government deepened repression of basic freedoms throughout the country.

The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa continued to stall on accountability for abuses by the security forces, threatened media and civil society groups, and largely ignored complaints of insecurity and land grabbing in the north and east, Human Rights Watch said. The long-awaited report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), published in December, largely absolved the military for its conduct in the bloody final months of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ended in May 2009.     Full Story>>>