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  • The Need for a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into Wartime Abuses in Sri Lanka

    Serious abuses by both government and LTTE forces, which may have amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, escalated in the last five months of the quarter-century-long armed conflict in Sri Lanka that ended in May 2009. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed and injured. Shortly after the war, President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that he would address accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Since then, however, the Sri Lankan authorities have failed to undertake genuine measures to provide justice and accountability for wartime abuses. Instead of investigating credible allegations, high-ranking government officials have repeatedly denied that government forces committed any violations, or even that their forces were responsible for any civilian casualties at all. 

    A panel of experts tasked with advising Ban on next steps for accountability in Sri Lanka handed over its report to the secretary-general on April 12, 2011. Human Rights Watch calls on the UN to establish an international investigation into allegations of wartime-abuses by both parties to the conflict.

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Sri Lanka

  • Sri Lanka: UN Must Act at Next Human Rights Council Session
    Feb 2, 2012
    The United Nations Human Rights Council should address the lack of accountability for wartime abuses in Sri Lanka during its March 2012 session.
  • Kevin Rudd must up the ante on Sri Lanka
    Feb 2, 2012

    As nations such as Canada and Britain weigh in on accountability for war crimes in Sri Lanka, it's time for Australia to add its voice.

  • Letter on Sri Lanka to Permanent Representatives of Human Rights Council Member and Observer States
    Feb 2, 2012

    We write to urge your delegation to work with other member and observer states of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to bring the issue of accountability for wartime abuses in Sri Lanka onto the agenda of the Council during its March 2012 session.  

  • Sri Lanka: No Progress on Justice
    Jan 23, 2012

    The Sri Lankan government in the past year failed to advance justice and accountability for the victims of the country’s 26-year-long civil conflict .

  • Sri Lanka: Report Fails to Advance Accountability
    Dec 16, 2011

    The report of the Sri Lankan government’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) disregards the worst abuses by government forces, rehashes longstanding recommendations, and fails to advance accountability for victims of Sri Lanka’s civil armed conflict.

  • Testimony of Elaine Pearson before the House of Commons of Canada regarding Human Rights in Sri Lanka
    Nov 1, 2011
    Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for inviting Human Rights Watch to testify at this timely and important hearing. Over the last two decades, my organization, Human Rights Watch, has documented human rights violations in Sri Lanka, especially violations committed by security forces and the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) during the conflict which ended in May 2009.
  • UN Rights Council: Act on Sri Lanka Report
    Sep 13, 2011
    The United Nations Human Rights Council should act on the recommendations in a report commissioned by the UN Secretary-General detailing grave abuses during the final months of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict.
  • Sri Lanka: Open Letter to Commonwealth Foreign Ministers
    Sep 8, 2011

    At the 2009 CHOGM, Sri Lanka’s candidature for hosting the meeting was deferred from 2011 to 2013 because of concerns about human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan government. While war-time abuses have ended, the situation in Sri Lanka continues to be characterised by serious human rights violations, including assault on democratic institutions, such as the media and trade unions. The Panel of Experts appointed by the UN Secretary-General to advise him on the status of allegations of war crimes during the last weeks of the conflict in Sri Lanka has concluded that serious abuses were committed by the government and by the LTTE, and warrant an international investigation.

  • Sri Lanka: ‘Bait and Switch’ on Emergency Law
    Sep 7, 2011
    Emergency regulations lifted in Sri Lanka do not affect existing and new laws that allow the government to detain people for long periods without trial.
  • No One, in the US or Sri Lanka, Should Be Above the Law
    Aug 9, 2011
    In a report released last month Human Rights Watch called on the US government to launch criminal investigations into allegations of detainee abuse authorized by senior Bush administration officials.
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