Sri Lanka was hit by scathing criticism over its human rights record last week, with its government fingered over hundreds of "disappearances" and an influential international panel of observers storming off the island.
A team of top foreign judicial and forensic experts said it was quitting the war-torn nation because Colombo had failed to seriously investigate a string of high-profile cases including the massacre of aid workers.
The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), comprising experts from Australia, Britain, Canada, India, Japan, France, The Netherlands, and the United States as well as the European Union and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said a government probe into abuses did not meet even basic minimum standards.
"There has been and continues to be a lack of political and institutional will to investigate and inquire into the cases before the (government) commission," the IIGEP said in a statement.
The panel was created two years ago by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to oversee the government's official investigation into 16 cases involving abuses in the war between government troops and Tamil Tigers.
The existence of the group has helped the government allay international concern over the killings, abductions and forcible disappearances plaguing the country and its resignation will almost certainly increase calls for the creation of a UN human rights monitoring group, AP reported.
The international panel has repeatedly accused the government commission of moving slowly, failing to protect witnesses and operating without transparency. It has also accused the attorney general's office, which functions as the commission's legal counsel, of "serious conflicts of interest."
In a harshly worded statement Thursday, the 11-member panel said its suggestions had been ignored or rejected. Government correspondence with the group was "characterized by a lack of respect and civility," and officials accused the panel of exceeding its mandate and interfering with Sri Lanka's sovereignty, the statement said.
In a written response to the panel's resignation letter, Attorney General C.R. De Silva accused the group of working against Sri Lanka's interests.
"What the eminent persons appear to be interested in is to ensure an international condemnation of Sri Lanka through the expression of certain views prejudicial to the interests of Sri Lanka based on certain untested hypothesis and distorted facts and circumstances," he said.
He also denied the panel had the right to disband itself, and said Rajapaksa would simply appoint new foreign experts to the group "who are likely to work according to the mandate of the (panel) and in constructive partnership with the commission of inquiry."
In their statement, the international group harshly criticized the conduct of the government's probe, saying it has "fallen far short of the transparency and compliance with basic international norms and standards pertaining to investigations and inquiries."
"There is a climate of threat, direct and indirect, to the lives of anyone who might identify persons responsible for human rights violations, including those who are likely to have been committed by the security forces," it said.
The move is a major blow to the image of the island's government, which pulled out of a truce with Tamil Tigers in January and is locked into an escalating battle with them across the north.
In addition, a report from New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) - entitled "Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for 'Disappearances' and Abductions in Sri Lanka" - added weight to calls for tough international monitoring.
The watchdog said United Nations rights monitoring was desperately needed following more than 1,500 cases of abductions in the past two years.
Most of the victims were ethnic minority Tamils from the island's restive north and east, Human Rights Watch said, describing the situation as a "national crisis."
HRW's deputy Asia director Elaine Pearson said President Rajapakse, "once a rights advocate, has now led his government to become one of the world's worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances."
There was no direct reaction from the government, which has consistently and furiously rejected calls to allow foreign rights monitors to set up shop in Sri Lanka.
However, Sri Lanka's minister for human rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, said Colombo was an example to other nations battling "terrorism."
"We are proud of our record in dealing with terrorism, whilst minimising harm to civilians," Samarasinghe was quoted as saying in Geneva, where he is attending a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.
"We hope that... when dealing with terrorism in other countries, our circumspection in this regard should be emulated," he was quoted as saying.
Sri Lanka has in the past accused international diplomats raising rights concerns as "terrorists" and supporters of the Tamil Tigers, who are leading a drawn out campaign for independence for the island's Tamils.
Since fighting between the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) escalated in 2006, Human Rights Watch said the military and pro-government armed groups had abducted and killed hundreds.
In 2006 and 2007, the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances recorded more new "disappearance" cases from Sri Lanka than from any other country in the world, the report said.
"Disappeared" persons are commonly subjected to torture or extra-judicial execution, HRW said, adding that the vast majority of cases it documented indicated the involvement of state security forces.
In many cases, the group said, security forces made individuals "disappear" because of their alleged links with the LTTE.
Clergy, teachers, humanitarian aid workers, and journalists also were targeted, the report alleged.
Colombo pulled out of a tattered 2002 truce with the LTTE in January in the belief that it would be able to crush the guerrillas and regain areas under their control.
But HRW's Pearson, calling for a UN mission to monitor abuses, said: "The end of the ceasefire means this crisis will continue until the government starts taking serious measures."
A team of top foreign judicial and forensic experts said it was quitting the war-torn nation because Colombo had failed to seriously investigate a string of high-profile cases including the massacre of aid workers.
The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), comprising experts from Australia, Britain, Canada, India, Japan, France, The Netherlands, and the United States as well as the European Union and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said a government probe into abuses did not meet even basic minimum standards.
"There has been and continues to be a lack of political and institutional will to investigate and inquire into the cases before the (government) commission," the IIGEP said in a statement.
The panel was created two years ago by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to oversee the government's official investigation into 16 cases involving abuses in the war between government troops and Tamil Tigers.
The existence of the group has helped the government allay international concern over the killings, abductions and forcible disappearances plaguing the country and its resignation will almost certainly increase calls for the creation of a UN human rights monitoring group, AP reported.
The international panel has repeatedly accused the government commission of moving slowly, failing to protect witnesses and operating without transparency. It has also accused the attorney general's office, which functions as the commission's legal counsel, of "serious conflicts of interest."
In a harshly worded statement Thursday, the 11-member panel said its suggestions had been ignored or rejected. Government correspondence with the group was "characterized by a lack of respect and civility," and officials accused the panel of exceeding its mandate and interfering with Sri Lanka's sovereignty, the statement said.
In a written response to the panel's resignation letter, Attorney General C.R. De Silva accused the group of working against Sri Lanka's interests.
"What the eminent persons appear to be interested in is to ensure an international condemnation of Sri Lanka through the expression of certain views prejudicial to the interests of Sri Lanka based on certain untested hypothesis and distorted facts and circumstances," he said.
He also denied the panel had the right to disband itself, and said Rajapaksa would simply appoint new foreign experts to the group "who are likely to work according to the mandate of the (panel) and in constructive partnership with the commission of inquiry."
In their statement, the international group harshly criticized the conduct of the government's probe, saying it has "fallen far short of the transparency and compliance with basic international norms and standards pertaining to investigations and inquiries."
"There is a climate of threat, direct and indirect, to the lives of anyone who might identify persons responsible for human rights violations, including those who are likely to have been committed by the security forces," it said.
The move is a major blow to the image of the island's government, which pulled out of a truce with Tamil Tigers in January and is locked into an escalating battle with them across the north.
In addition, a report from New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) - entitled "Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for 'Disappearances' and Abductions in Sri Lanka" - added weight to calls for tough international monitoring.
The watchdog said United Nations rights monitoring was desperately needed following more than 1,500 cases of abductions in the past two years.
Most of the victims were ethnic minority Tamils from the island's restive north and east, Human Rights Watch said, describing the situation as a "national crisis."
HRW's deputy Asia director Elaine Pearson said President Rajapakse, "once a rights advocate, has now led his government to become one of the world's worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances."
There was no direct reaction from the government, which has consistently and furiously rejected calls to allow foreign rights monitors to set up shop in Sri Lanka.
However, Sri Lanka's minister for human rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, said Colombo was an example to other nations battling "terrorism."
"We are proud of our record in dealing with terrorism, whilst minimising harm to civilians," Samarasinghe was quoted as saying in Geneva, where he is attending a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.
"We hope that... when dealing with terrorism in other countries, our circumspection in this regard should be emulated," he was quoted as saying.
Sri Lanka has in the past accused international diplomats raising rights concerns as "terrorists" and supporters of the Tamil Tigers, who are leading a drawn out campaign for independence for the island's Tamils.
Since fighting between the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) escalated in 2006, Human Rights Watch said the military and pro-government armed groups had abducted and killed hundreds.
In 2006 and 2007, the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances recorded more new "disappearance" cases from Sri Lanka than from any other country in the world, the report said.
"Disappeared" persons are commonly subjected to torture or extra-judicial execution, HRW said, adding that the vast majority of cases it documented indicated the involvement of state security forces.
In many cases, the group said, security forces made individuals "disappear" because of their alleged links with the LTTE.
Clergy, teachers, humanitarian aid workers, and journalists also were targeted, the report alleged.
Colombo pulled out of a tattered 2002 truce with the LTTE in January in the belief that it would be able to crush the guerrillas and regain areas under their control.
But HRW's Pearson, calling for a UN mission to monitor abuses, said: "The end of the ceasefire means this crisis will continue until the government starts taking serious measures."
