AI tells India to back call for war crimes probe against SL

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Ananthapadmanabhan, Chief Executive, Amnesty International India

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN , Our Special Correspondent-January 30, 2014

NEW DELHI, January 29:

India must support demands by civil society actors, UN officials and survivors of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka for an international investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the civil war, Amnesty International India said today.

 Amnesty noted that the elected government of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province also reinforced such calls on Monday by seeking an impartial global probe. 

Amnesty issued the statement even as visiting Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister Prof GL Peiris was meeting his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid here to discuss bilaterial issues.

Last year, while supporting a UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution asking Sri Lanka to conduct an "independent and credible investigation", India had noted that such an investigation must be to the "satisfaction of the international community". Given the lack of progress from the Sri Lankan government’s side, it is now time for facilitating an international investigation, Amnesty said.        

On 27 January 2014, Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council passed a resolution calling for an international investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the country’s armed conflict. The government came to power in a landmark election in September 2013.

"An elected body of representatives calling for an international probe shows how little faith some people in Sri Lanka have in any domestic mechanism," said G Ananthapadmanabhan, Chief Executive, Amnesty International India.

"India must take note of this resolution, and press Sri Lanka at every opportunity to conduct an independent international investigation into all allegations of crimes under international law committed by Sri Lankan government forces as well as the LTTE."

There is substantial evidence, including eyewitness accounts by civilians and humanitarian workers, that in the last months of the 2009 Eelam war, Sri Lankan government forces committed war crimes, including alleged enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, intentionally shelled civilians and protected areas such as hospitals, and blocked food and medicine from reaching civilians trapped by the fighting, Amnesty charged.

There is also evidence that the LTTE committed war crimes, including the use of civilians as human shields, killing individuals who tried to escape and recruiting child soldiers. 

The Sri Lankan government continues to deny credible allegations of crimes under international law committed by its forces  and to resist calls for independent investigation of senior officers allegedly responsible, several of whom remain in positions of authority.

In April 2013, a military court of inquiry exonerated the Sri Lankan military for civilian casualties in the last stage of military operations, concluding that any casualties that occurred were the fault of the LTTE. The inquiry’s full report remains unpublished. 

 A second military inquiry into alleged extrajudicial executions of individuals who surrendered to or were captured by the Sri Lankan military in the final days of conflict was initiated in March 2013, but by the end of 2013 investigators had not even interviewed witnesses other than army field commanders.

"The chances of justice or truth emerging out of an army inquiry into its own alleged crimes are very slim indeed,"  said Ananthapadmanabhan.

Since the war’s end, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has steered his country in what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has described as "an increasingly authoritarian direction". The government has concentrated powers in its own hands and led an assault on dissent, harassing and attacking critics including journalists, human rights defenders and opposition politicians.

"Sri Lanka has not kept several promises to conduct a credible investigation into past and present abuses and prosecute alleged perpetrators. India must keep the pressure up on Sri Lanka to do the right thing, accept an international investigation and cooperate with it" said Ananthapadmanabhan.

The government of the U nited States has said it will sponsor a third resolution on promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2014. 

In March 2013, India and 24 other countries voted in favour of a resolution calling on the government of Sri Lanka to conduct an independent and credible investigation into alleged violations of international law, and asking the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to present a comprehensive report on Sri Lanka in March 2014.