UN: Sri Lanka must launch rights abuse probe

Sri Lanka must launch an in-depth probe into claims that government troops killed 40,000 civilians during a 2009 offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels that ended its three-decade civil war, the UN Human Rights Council said yesterday. The UN’s top human rights forum passed a resolution pressing Colombo to “credibly investigate widespread allegations of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.” To date, it said, Sri Lanka has failed to “adequately address serious allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.” Lodged by the United States — whose embassy in Colombo was the scene of protests by pro-government activists Thursday — the text was backed by Europe nations, as well as Canada and India. “The resolution does very clearly state that the international community knows an independent and credible investigation must go forward, and that’s what’s lacking,” Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, the US ambassador to the council, told reporters. “No determination has been made by the council members yet on whether an international probe is required, but what we’re hoping for is a domestic, credible independent investigation that satisfies the people of Sri Lanka,” she added. The text also flagged concerns about continuing abuses including killings, torture and violations of freedom of expression, as well as breaches of the rule of law. Sri Lanka’s rights minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, said it was “unacceptable.” “It is highly intrusive, is replete with misrepresentations and in its overall scope accentuates the negative and eliminates or is dismissive of the positive,” he told the council, adding that it brushed aside Sri Lanka’s domestic reconciliation efforts. The UN estimates that some 40,000 people were killed in the final months Sri Lanka’s civil war, mostly in indiscriminate shelling by government forces during a final onslaught against Tamil separatists.