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arrest and detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and extrajudicial execution. 6 In the east, the Karuna faction, renamed Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), continued guerrilla attacks against the LTTE. The ceasefire formally continued until January 2008, but full-fledged fighting between government forces and the LTTE resumed by mid-2006. Conventional battles were accompanied by continuing rights abuses by both sides, including political assassinations, abductions, and targeted attacks on civilians. In late 2008, the Sri Lankan government ordered most humanitarian agencies out of the Vanni region, where most of the fighting was occurring, and denied access to the international media and human rights organizations. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 deaths occurred during the fighting between 2006 and early 2009, with government forces and particularly the LTTE suffering heavy losses in battle. 7 Government forces won back all but a small piece of territory held by the LTTE following its January 2, 2009, capture of the de facto LTTE capital of Kilinochchi. During the first four months of 2009, more than 300,000 civilians were trapped in areas of fighting, effectively used as “human shields” by the LTTE, with limited access to food, water, and medical care. The LTTE forcibly conscripted civilians and prevented others from fleeing LTTE-controlled areas by firing at them, killing many. Government forces repeatedly bombed and shelled the increasingly constricted populated areas, including its own unilaterally declared “no fire zones.” On March 13, 2009, Navanethem Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, expressed grave concern over credible evidence of war crimes by both sides. 8 The UN and government leaders called on the LTTE to allow civilians to leave the combat zone and for both sides to allow access for humanitarian relief. 6 See Human Rights Watch, Sri Lanka – Return to War, August 6, 2007, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/08/05/return-war; Human Rights Watch, Sri Lanka –Recurring Nightmare, March 6, 2008, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/03/05/recurring-nightmare-0. 7 Human Rights Watch, Sri Lanka – Trapped and Mistreated, December 15, 2008, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/12/15/trapped-and-mistreated-0; Human Rights Watch, Sri Lanka – Besieged, Displaced, and Detained, December 23, 2008, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/12/22/besiegeddisplaced-and-detained; and Human Rights Watch, Sri Lanka – War on the Displaced, February 19, 2009, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2009/02/19/war-displaced. 8 “Sri Lanka: Actions by Government forces, rebels possible war crimes – UN rights chief,” UN News Centre, March 13, 2009, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30175&Cr=sri+lanka&Cr1 (accessed January 2, 2013). 13 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2013
The Sri Lankan government declared victory over the LTTE on May 18, 2009. Virtually all of the LTTE’s military leaders and many of its political leaders were killed in the final days of the fighting, under circumstances that remain unclear. The government’s refusal to allow any independent observers into the conflict zone or to talk to people who fled the conflict zone makes it impossible to establish conclusively the number of casualties. 9 The Panel of Experts appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later reported that up to 40,000 civilians died in the final months of the war. 10 Internal Displacement and Detention Camps During the final months of fighting, some 300,000 Tamil civilians behind the narrowing LTTE lines sought to escape death from starvation, disease, and constant shelling by escaping to safety in government-controlled areas. While most were blocked by LTTE forces that used firearms to prevent their escape, many managed to flee in small groups. A massive exodus of tens of thousands occurred after the Sri Lankan forces broke through the LTTE defense fortifications in the eastern coastal town of Mullaithivu on April 20, 2009. Most of the rest did not escape the fighting until the final collapse of LTTE forces a month later. According to the United Nations, 290,000 people crossed over to governmentcontrolled areas from the conflict zone between October 27, 2008, and June 1, 2009. 11 Government security forces screened and registered those fleeing the war zone at several checkpoints before transporting them to detention camps in the north, which the government euphemistically called “welfare centers.” The largest was the multi-camp Menik Farm in Vavuniya district. Both at checkpoints and in the camps, the authorities separated certain individuals from their families—presumably because of alleged ties to the LTTE—and sent them to “rehabilitation centers” established for alleged LTEE suspects. Relatives were often not informed of the whereabouts of these detainees, and domestic human rights organizations 9 For a detailed account of the final months of the fighting and abuses by both sides, see University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), “Let Them Speak: Truth about Sri Lanka's Victims of War,” December 13, 2009, http://uthr.org/SpecialReports/Special%20rep34/Uthr-sp.rp34.htm (accessed January 2, 2012). 10 UN Secretary General, Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka (UN Panel Report), March 31, 2011, http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/POE_Report_Full.pdf (accessed January 3, 2013). 11 Ibid. “WE WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON” 14
Page 1 and 2: H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H “
Page 3 and 4: Copyright © 2013 Human Rights Watc
Page 6: Map of Sri Lanka
Page 9 and 10: Available information indicates tha
Page 11 and 12: sexual violence such as bites on th
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Page 15 and 16: surveillance of civil society group
Page 17 and 18: Methodology From November 2011 to O
Page 19: I. Background The 26-year-long arme
Page 23 and 24: Senior government officials initial
Page 25 and 26: From 1990 to 2002, Sri Lankan civil
Page 27 and 28: of women and girls. In its response
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Page 31 and 32: damages. 43 The UN has reaffirmed t
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Page 39 and 40: For instance, GD, a 31-year-old wom
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Page 49 and 50: IV. Domestic Response Post-War Barr
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“We Will Teach You a Lesson” Se
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