Sri Lanka has ‘frittered away’ its opportunity to rebuild and reconcile the island said Human Rights Watch in a statement to mark 10 years since the brutal end to the armed conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
In a brief released by Human Rights Watch, the south Asia Director, Meenakshi Ganguly, said,
“The end of Sri Lanka’s long civil war in May 2009 provided an opportunity not only to rebuild shattered lives and society, but also to restore respect for rights and rule of law. Yet successive Sri Lankan administration have fritted away this opportunity, failing to investigate atrocities by both sides, hold those responsible for the worst crimes accountable, or provide truth and reparations to the victims.”
The statement went on to recall the UN Right Chief’s earlier concerns of ‘interethnic violence and instability,’ adding that the UN special rapporteur on torture found after a 2016 visit to Sri Lanka that “torture and ill-treatment, including of a sexual nature, still occur, in particular in the early stages of arrest and interrogation, often for the purpose of eliciting confessions.”
The rights organisation also called on ‘The UN and concerned governments should maintain engagement with and pressure on the Sri Lankan government to protect human rights and promote reform, reconciliation, and accountability.’
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