COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
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7 MARCH <strong>2012</strong> SRI LANKA<br />
including those in hospitals, suffered directly as a result of LTTE and government<br />
shelling, but the LLRC's blanket rejection of government targeting of civilians and its<br />
deliberate downplaying of the numbers of civilians caught in the final phase of the<br />
conflict is not warranted by the evidence, including that presented to the LLRC.‖<br />
3.65 Additional information on the LLRC is available from the AI report When will they get<br />
justice? Failures of Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission,<br />
published on 7 September 2011.<br />
3.66 On the same day Human Rights Watch (HRW) 71 observed:<br />
―The report of the Sri Lankan government‘s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation<br />
Commission (LLRC) disregards the worst abuses by government forces, rehashes<br />
longstanding recommendations, and fails to advance accountability for victims of Sri<br />
Lanka‘s civil armed conflict…<br />
―The serious shortcomings of the 388-page report, which was posted on a government<br />
website on December 16, 2011, highlight the need for an international investigative<br />
mechanism into the conflict as recommended by the United Nations Secretary-<br />
General‘s Panel of Experts in April.<br />
―The LLRC report was long awaited, but provided little new information or<br />
recommendations on accountability that could not have already been put into effect by<br />
the government…‖<br />
3.67 HRW 72 added:<br />
―The LLRC‘s findings, largely exonerating government forces for laws-of-war violations,<br />
stand in stark contrast to those by the UN Panel of Experts, the UN special envoy on<br />
extrajudicial executions, and other independent organizations.‖<br />
―The LLRC report does sweep aside Sri Lankan government claims that its forces<br />
committed no civilian casualties during the final stages of the conflict with the LTTE,<br />
which ended in May 2009. In the face of overwhelming evidence, the LLRC concluded<br />
that there were ‗considerable civilian casualties‘ during the final stages of the fighting<br />
and that hospitals had been shelled ‗causing damage and resulting in casualties.‘<br />
However, the report largely exonerates the government, blaming the casualties, either<br />
directly or indirectly, on the LTTE…‖<br />
3.68 In a statement issued on 22 December 2011 73 :<br />
71 Human Rights Watch (HRW) Sri Lanka: <strong>Report</strong> Fails to Advance Accountability, 16 December 2011<br />
http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/16/sri-lanka-report-fails-advance-accountability date accessed 18<br />
January <strong>2012</strong><br />
72 Human Rights Watch (HRW) Sri Lanka: <strong>Report</strong> Fails to Advance Accountability, 16 December 2011<br />
http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/16/sri-lanka-report-fails-advance-accountability date accessed 18<br />
January <strong>2012</strong><br />
73 International Crisis Group, Statement on the <strong>Report</strong> of Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation<br />
Commission, 22 December 2011 http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/mediareleases/2011/asia/statement-on-the-report-of-sri-lanka-s-lessons-learnt-and-reconciliationcommission.aspx<br />
, date accessed 18 January <strong>2012</strong><br />
The main text of this <strong>COI</strong> <strong>Report</strong> contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section<br />
to 2 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
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