What UN says?
- Reports of abuses including torture remain widespread in Sri Lanka even eight years after the end of a decades-long civil war.
- It pointed to the island’s own Human Rights Commission’s acknowledgement of complaints illustrating the “routine use of torture by the police throughout the country as a means of interrogation and investigation”.
- UN have criticised the government’s slow progress in addressing wartime crimes. The new govt came to power two years ago promising justice for the minority Tamil community and a full investigation into alleged atrocities committed under the leadership of his predecessor.
- But the party politics, including the balancing of power between the different constituencies of the coalition in the run-up to constitutional reforms, have contributed to a reluctance to address difficult issues regarding accountability
Background:
- At least 1,00,000 people died in the conflict between Tamil separatists and government forces that ended in 2009.
- The UN has been pushing for a special court to investigate allegations that government forces killed up to 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of fighting.
- Sri Lankan govt had agreed to a UN Human Rights Council resolution. But the deadline lapsed without those commitments being met.
- Now the govt asked the UN for more time, promising that his country remained committed to seeking justice.