More Sri Lanka troops join UN force in Lebanon, despite history of massacres

Sri Lanka's army has dispatched its 15th contingent of the Sri Lanka Force Protection Company (SLFPC) on a peacekeeping mission under the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), despite serious concerns over the human rights record of the military.

The contingent comprises 125 Army personnel, including 11 Officers and 114 Other Ranks from the Corps and Regiments of the Army. 

The deployment of Sri Lankan forces continues despite grievous human rights abuses during peacekeeping missions. In 2007, over 100 Sri Lankan peacekeepers were implicated in a child sex ring in Haiti. Sri Lankan troops were accused of exchanging food and money for sex with girls and boys as young as 12. While most of the accused were repatriated, none have been criminally prosecuted.

Read more here: UN peacekeepers in Haiti ‘fathered hundreds of babies’ with young girls with violence and coercion

The Sri Lankan army stands credibly accused of committing war crimes during the armed conflict where deliberate shelling killed tens of thousands of Tamils.

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) has called for the suspension of all Sri Lankan peacekeepers following the release of the UN human rights commissioners report. The report highlighted that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, which is responsible for the vetting of Sri Lankan troops, has been "politicised and its independence undermined by the appointment of a former Government minister as its chairperson" the ITJP stated in a press release.