Wednesday 16 September 2015

OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka released

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report today on its investigation into breaches of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in the internal armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

The investigation identified patterns of grave violations between 2002 and 2011 strongly indicating war crimes and crimes against humanity having being committed by both sides of the armed conflict. The report recommends that a hybrid special court, integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and investigators, be established. Among the most serious crimes documented in the report are unlawful killings, sexual and gender-based violence, enforced disappearances, torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, recruitment of children and their use in hostilities, as well as abduction and forced recruitment of adults, attacks on civilians and civilian objects, denial of humanitarian assistance and violations during the detention of internally displaced people (IDPs) in closed camps.

The report is available online here. The OHCHR press release is available here.

/ Sally