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Amnesty calls on UN Working Group to investigate Sri Lanka’s mass graves and secret detention camps

Amnesty International called on the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance to investigate secret detention camps and mass grave sites during its visit to Sri Lanka.

Calling on the working group to investigate secret detention centres with a view to holding state actors accountable, the briefing note said,

“Amnesty International has long called on Sri Lanka to undertake a public and impartial investigation into the alleged use of secret and incommunicado detention and acts of torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances that may have taken place under such conditions, with a view to holding state actors accountable for actions and providing effective remedies for victims of such violations. This includes investigating sites that are alleged to have been used to detain people in the past.”  

The rights group further called for the UN Working Group to visit sites of mass graves and meet parties concerned with the mass grave site. Noting allegations of evidence tampering, te report added,

“There have been allegations of evidence tampering and other official interference in the investigation of alleged mass grave sites discovered in Matale in 2012 and Mannar in 2013. 12 It would be very valuable for WGEID to visit those sites and meet with lawyers, family members, judicial medical officers and activists concerned about those cases.”

See Amnesty’s full report and recommendations here.

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