The Sri Lankan state's continuing human rights violations post-conflict provided "credible allegations of crimes against humanity against the Tamil population in the Northern Province", concludes a damning 90-page report by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice.

Analysing the post-conflict period of May 2009 to December 2013, the report finds "credible allegations that, since May 2009, agents and individuals acting on behalf of the government of Sri Lanka committed multiple underlying acts of rape and sexual violence, torture, other inhuman acts, imprisonment, murder, enforced disappearance and persecution against Tamils from the Northern Province of Sri Lanka", that the report added, "would cumulatively constitute an attack directed against the Tamil civilian population of the Northern Province that was widespread and systematic."

See here for full report. (See Part III for details of credible allegations of rape, torture, other inhuman acts, imprisonment, murder, enforced disappearances and persecution that have occurred during the post-conflict period.)

Calling on member states at the UN Human Rights Council to "mandate international commission of inquiry", the report outlined at least four strategies that it said were pursued by the the Sri Lankan government within a "policy to centralize control over all aspects of Tamil civil and political life in the Northern Province and repress the pursuit of Tamil political aspirations":

- Targeting members of the population having had connections with, or perceived as having had connections with, the LTTE; and those espousing or perceived as espousing Tamil nationalist claims;

- Targeting members of the population involved in or perceived as being involved in mobilizing international opinion on accountability issues and human rights issues concerning Tamils in Sri Lanka;

- Targeting members of the population defiant of, or perceived as being defiant of, the government and military, and those involved in protests against the government and military; and

- Establishing a heavy and permanent military presence in the Northern Province, including through the mass appropriation of private lands.

Pointing to Sri Lanka's "highly centralized nature of the government apparatus, the consolidation of power in the Rajapaksa family, and the structured military hierarchy," the report concluded that the strategy of targeting these four key groups in order to repress Tamil political aspirations was "devised and planned at the highest levels of the Sri Lankan Government and military hierarchy".