War Crime Investigations In Sri Lanka

International Community Should Renew The Call For WarCrime Investigations In Sri Lanka

The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the umbrella body of the peak Tamil associations in Australia and New Zealand, would like to express its disappointment on the total lack of response from the international community, after Philip Alston, the U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, calling anew for a "genuine and independent investigation" by the Sri Lankan government into war crimes violations allegedly committed by Sri Lankan soldiers against Tamils.

Philip Alston have declared at the UN that a video purportedly showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing bound, blindfolded and naked Tamils appears to be authentic. He based his findings on a three month, U.N.-backed investigation conducted by three independent forensic experts. Alston further said that "as long as there is no investigation undertaken, these allegations are going to continue, the bitterness that they inevitably fuel will continue, and I believe that it (an investigation) is in the interests of the government as well as of others concerned."

Martin Nerisky, spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has said that Ban "has informed the government of Sri Lanka that it is considering the appointment of a commission of experts to advise him further and to assist the government in taking measures to address possible violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."

When the video was first broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 News in August of 2009, the Sri Lankan government officials called the video a fake and built a case against its veracity using their own forensic experts. The Sri Lankan government’s position has been proved wrong beyond any doubt now by Alston’s conclusions and Ban’s advice to the government.

It is time for the International Community in general and the Australian and New Zealand governments in particular, to renew the call for an independent international investigation into war crimes violations allegedly committed by Sri Lankan soldiers against Tamils.

AFTA calls on the free media to stand by the side of the victims of these alleged war crimes by creating awareness among the public for them to bring pressure on their governments to renew the call for an independent international investigation.

ENDS

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