COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
―A number of foreign governments and agencies have pressed Sri Lanka to address
fully the issue of accountability for human-rights abuses committed in the closing stages
of the war. The US ratcheted up the pressure in June, noting that if Sri Lanka failed to
fulfill its obligation to investigate alleged breaches of international humanitarian and
human rights laws, then there could be growing pressure among the global community
to examine other options. This will be seen by some as a tacit suggestion that the
accusations could be referred to the International Criminal Court.‖
3.50 The ICG report Sri Lanka: Reconciliation in Sri Lanka: Harder than ever 60 , 18 July 2011
observed:
―Two years since the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lanka is
further from reconciliation than ever. Triumphalist in its successful ‗war on terror‘, the
government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has refused to acknowledge, let alone
address, the Tamil minority‘s legitimate grievances against the state. The regime
destroyed the Tigers by rejecting the more conciliatory approach of prior governments
and adopting the insurgents‘ brutality and intolerance of dissent. Now, contrary to the
image it projects, the government has increasingly cut minorities and opponents out of
decisions on their economic and political futures rather than work toward reconciliation.
As power and wealth is concentrated in the Rajapaksa family, the risks of renewed
conflict are growing again.‖
―Much has improved with the end of the war in May 2009. The paralysing threat of
suicide attacks on civilians in the south has ended with the destruction of the LTTE,
while Tamil families no longer fear the Tigers‘ forced recruitment of their children and
other abuses. Economic and political security is better for some segments of society.
But decades of political violence and civil war have polarised Sri Lanka‘s ethnic
communities and undermined institutions, particularly those involved in law and order.
Each of the major ethnic groups – Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims – has suffered
immensely. Conflicts have not just left hundreds of thousands dead, injured or displaced
but have also entrenched fears and misunderstandings in each community.‖
―Northern areas once ruled by the LTTE are now dominated by the military, which has
taken over civil administration and controls all aspects of daily life – undermining what
little remains of local capacity. Democratic political activities in the north and east have
been suppressed through the use of violent and corrupt ethnic Tamil proxies and other
Rajapaksa loyalists. Development of those areas has been conducted without local
consultation; indeed many Tamil residents feel that it is more like the extraction of the
spoils of war than a real effort to improve livelihoods and build trust.‖
The UN Report of the Secretary-General’s panel of experts on accountability in Sri
Lanka – April 2011
3.51 The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Country Report Sri Lanka, May 2011 61 observed:
60 International Crisis Group (ICG),Sri Lanka: Reconciliation in Sri Lanka: Harder than ever, Asia Report
N°209 – 18 July 2011, http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-asia/srilanka/209%20Reconciliation%20in%20Sri%20Lanka%20-%20Harder%20than%20Ever.pdf,
Executive
Summary, Date accessed 6 January 2011
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.
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