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The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon released on Monday the much anticipated report by the independent expert panel he appointed last year to look into war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final phase in 2009 of Sri Lanka's war.
The full text of the report is available on the UN website here.
The Secretary General's statement accompagnying the release of the report is found here.
The release of the report comes despite Sri Lanka's strident objections, and Colombo's vituperative criticism of the report, its authors and the UN.
In his statement, Mr. Ban said "The decision to release the report was made as a matter of transparency and in the broader public interest."
Pointedly, the statement added that the Secretary General "expresses his appreciation to the advisory Panel of Experts" and "regrets the inflammatory tone of some of the recent public statements emanating from Sri Lanka."
With regards to the expert panel's recommendation that Mr. Ban now establish an international investigation mechanism, he said this would require either Sri Lanka's consent, or a decision by the international community through an appropriate forum.
