<p>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.</p>
<p>In a brief released by Human Rights Watch, the south Asia Director, Meenakshi Ganguly, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/05/17/sri-lanka-failed-pledges-mar-10-yea…">said,</a></p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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 <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G16/440/12/PDF/G1644012.p…">found after a 2016 visit to Sri Lanka</a> 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.”</p>
<p>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.’</p>
We need your support. Every contribution counts.
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.