UN rebukes Sri Lanka for not punishing war criminals
Despite past pledges, successive governments have resisted calls to investigate horrific abuses committed during its long ethnic conflict
Volker Turk told a panel discussion in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, on Tuesday that the country must address the question of impunity during the Tamil separatist war, which was brought to a bloody conclusion in 2009.
The UN has estimated that 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by government forces in the final months of its battle to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels, who had fought for independence.
Successive Sri Lankan governments have resisted calls for internationally backed independent investigations into horrific rights abuses, while several high-profile massacres of civilians remain unresolved.
Turk said that Sri Lanka is currently in an “impunity trap”, as the country emerges from an economic meltdown in 2022.
“It is … vital to hold to account the perpetrators of the most severe crimes,” he said.
“Vital for justice, vital for deterrence, vital for the victims who have suffered inconceivable pain and loss, and vital for the future.”