Assessing the risk of mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, five years after the end of the armed conflict, The Sentinel Project for Genocide Prevention, concluded in a report published on Friday, that "the mass atrocity risk in Sri Lanka remains high".

The Sentinel Project is a non profit organisation, aimed at ensuring effective early warning of genocide, and acting to prevent the loss of life.

See here for full risk assessment, which includes an outline of the basis of the accusation of genocide against the Tamils by the Sri Lankan government (page 34).

Extract of the report summary has been reproduced below:

"The current political situation gives the military an ever-greater concentration of power. The heavy militarization of the north remains one of the main obstacles to the region’s recovery since the Sri Lankan military has assumed an economic role in not only overseeing but also approving development efforts. The military’s freedom of action represents a potent example of socioeconomic deprivation of a specific group based on the treatment of Tamils as second-class citizens by the Sri Lankan government.

Furthermore, the defeat of the LTTE in 2009 has done little to address the concerns and fears of the Tamils as they relate to Sinhalese domination. Instead of forming more inclusive relationships with the minority, the Sinhalese government has used this transitional period to reassert Sinhalese power. Additionally, police and military forces, as well as Sinhalese militias, continue to resort violence, including intimidation, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture, and even murder to restrain any opposition to the government.

The increasing consolidation of power by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family has further eroded the remaining semblance of democracy in Sri Lanka by gradually eliminating any persons or systems of accountability. In addition, the government has refused to investigate war crimes and other atrocities committed by its military forces during the last phase of the civil war.

Taking into account the recent history of the conflict, the current risk assessment gives an account on the main sociocultural and political factors that constitute a threat to peace and mass human rights abuses in Sri Lanka."