Sanctions if independent inquiry not allowed - ICG

An international rights group has called for sanctions to be imposed on Sri Lanka if it doesn’t submit itself to an independent international probe into war crimes allegations.

The Brussels based International Crisis Group (ICG) has claimed it is in possession of evidence which suggest that tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the months from January to May 2009.

In a report released to coincide with the first year anniversary of the end of the conflict, the organisation details allegations of war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE.

The report accuses government forces of intentionally targeting civilians by forcing “hundreds of thousands of civilians to move into ever smaller government-declared No Fire Zones (NFZs)” and then subjecting them to “repeated and increasingly intense artillery and mortar barrages and other fire”.

“Evidence gathered by Crisis Group provides reasonable grounds to believe that during these months the security forces intentionally and repeatedly shelled civilians, hospitals and humanitarian operations,” the report said.

The report alleges the government knew the number and location of civilians and deliberately targeted them. The ICG claims to be in possession of credible evidence of the Sri Lankan Army’s deliberate targeting of hospitals and humanitarian operations.

“It also provides reason to believe that senior government and military officials were aware of the massive civilian casualties due to the security forces’ attacks, but failed to protect the civilian population as they were obliged to under the laws of war,” said the report.

During these incidents “medical staff, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and others continually informed the government and security forces of the shelling, yet they continued to strike medical facilities through May forcing civilians to abandon them” the report charges.

The ICG is currently led by former head of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Louise Arbour.

The ICG claims to have collected substantial amounts of evidence, including eye witness accounts, satellite imagery, photographs and video, electronic communications and documents from several credible sources.

It stresses that this evidence only covers a small number of violations and that further investigations are warranted to uncover the actual extent of atrocities committed.

The international community is accused of “turning a blind eye” to the occurring atrocities, even though they were fully aware of the violations.

The United Nations credibility has been undermined and “further entrenched bitterness among Tamils in Sri Lanka and elsewhere” the report says.

The report recommends the UN to conduct an internal enquiry into its conduct from the controversial withdrawal from Kilinochchi to the involvement in funding the IDP camps.

The report claims that other countries are now considering dealing with their respective insurgencies using the “Sri Lanka option”, which is defined as “unrestrained military action, refusal to negotiate and a disregard for humanitarian issues”. This is due to the relative impunity Sri Lanka enjoyed while conducting its offensive and the notion that they “got away with it” in the months since the war ended, which must seem like a very attractive option to other states dealing with troublesome insurgents, such as India and Burma.

The report pushes for a concerted effort to investigate war crimes committed by both side and calls on members of the international community to vigorously pursue investigations, especially if foreign nationals are involved, as in the case of Defense Secretary Gothabhaya, who is a US citizen.

Non compliance with the investigations should be met with targeted sanctions until the Sri Lanka government cooperates with international efforts at uncovering the truth about these allegations, the ICG recommends.