COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
―The report says nothing about Sri Lankan forces‘ frequent indiscriminate shelling of
civilian areas, causing thousands of civilian casualties. Nor is there any mention of the
repeated shelling of hospitals by government forces.
―No mention is made of allegations that government soldiers summarily executed
captured Tamil Tiger fighters in the final days of the fighting, though the killings were
captured on video.
―The report provides inadequate information on investigations by the Sri Lankan
government into alleged war crimes by its forces.‖
3.59 Please see the Ministry of Defence report called Humanitarian Operation Factual
Analysis July 2006 – May 2009 .
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)
3.60 The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Country Report Sri Lanka, December 2011 67
noted:
―In November [2011] the government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation
Commission (LLRC), mandated to examine the events of the island's civil war, including
developments following the end of the ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE, Tamil Tigers) in 2002, handed its report to the president, Mahinda
Rajapakse. The final report contains the findings of 57 public sessions and 12 field
visits, conducted in over 40 places in the north and east. Over 1,000 people appeared
before the commission and more than 5,000 written submissions were taken into
account.
―Concerns remain that the LLRC may for political reasons gloss over some of the
abuses committed by government forces during the violence, or that its findings may be
suppressed.
3.61 On 16 December 2011, the official website of the Government of Sri Lanka 68
announced that ―The final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
(LLRC) was tabled in Parliament by Leader of the House Nimal Siripala de Silva…‖.
Quoting from the report, it added:
―Among the conclusions of the Commission is that ‗On consideration of all facts and
circumstances before it, the Commission concludes that the Security Forces had not
deliberately targeted the civilians in the NFZs [No Fire Zones], although civilian
casualties had in fact occurred in the cause of crossfire. Further, the LTTE targeting and
killing of civilians who attempted to flee the conflict into safe areas, the threat posed by
landmines and resultant death and injuries to civilians, and the perils inherent in
67 Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Report Sri Lanka, December 2011
http://www.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=displayIssueArticle&issue_id=1718645356&article_id=20186453
86 [subscription only] date accessed 6 January 2012
68 Official website of the Government of Sri Lanka, "Security Forces had not deliberately targeted
civilians in the NFZs" – LLRC, 16 December 2011
http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201112/20111216llrc_report_tabled_parliament.h
tm
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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