Amnesty International have asked the UN Human Rights Council to call on Sri Lanka to implement measures to protect human rights and to be prepared to take independent action if Sri Lanka fails to deliver justice to victims of human rights violations.
In a statement, released for the June UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Amnesty said has failed to fulfil its human rights obligations and human rights abuses still take place.
See extracts below:
"Sri Lanka is not fulfilling many of its international human rights obligations. Impunity remains the norm for gross violations of human rights, including alleged war crimes. Gross and systematic human rights violations continue to take place. Sri Lanka’s armed conflict ended in 2009, but its legacy of unlawful detention practices continues; arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other ill-treatment and custodial killings remain hallmarks of Sri Lankan policing."
"The number of reports of enforced disappearances in the past six months is alarming; political activists critical of the state continue to be victims. Intimidation and smear campaigns against human rights defenders and journalists in government-owned newspapers have included attacks on individuals advocating for human rights accountability before this Council."
"Resolution 19/2 was an important first step by UN member states to encourage Sri Lanka to pursue accountability for crimes under international law allegedly committed by its armed forces and the LTTE in the course of the conflict. Without international attention it is almost certain that Sri Lanka will not pursue these grave allegations. Failing to secure justice for survivors would be disastrous and would threaten future generations and institutions that are critical to protection of rights in Sri Lanka and internationally."
"The Human Rights Council and UN member states must persevere in encouraging Sri Lanka to improve respect for human rights through domestic reforms and to deliver justice for the victims of human rights violations."
"The UN must be prepared to act independently to end the cycle of impunity in Sri Lanka if the Government of Sri Lanka fails to do so. To date, Sri Lanka has not demonstrated that it has either the capacity or the political will to adequately account for alleged war crimes committed in the last stages of the armed conflict with the LTTE. Amnesty International remains convinced that only an impartial international investigation into allegations of crimes under international law committed by both sides in the country’s armed conflict will do that."
For full statement, see here.
