James Ross: Abuses on both sides must be investigated
The Independent
Thursday, 27 August 2009,
This ghastly video clip is short but very hard to watch. While there is no way to prove the authenticity of the scene, I and individual experts on the recent fighting, found nothing that would suggest otherwise.
The government rejects the video, calling it a "fabrication." Throughout the fighting against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who were defeated in May, the Sri Lankan government has insisted that its soldiers have not been involved in war crimes.
But Human Rights Watch and other human rights organisations have reported widespread violations of the laws of war by both Sri Lankan government forces and the Tamil Tigers. The Tigers persistently used civilians as human shields, deployed child soldiers, and shot anyone who tried to escape their control. Sri Lankan government forces routinely fired heavy artillery indiscriminately into densely populated areas killing several thousand civilians.
There is an obvious need for serious investigations into possible war crimes during the fighting. It is now up to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to hold President Rajapaksa to the promise he made in May to take measures "to address" the need for an accountability process for violations of international law.
An international commission of inquiry into the war is needed which would investigate alleged war crimes by both sides.
Government denials will not make this gruesome video go away. The truth in Sri Lanka's long war, now over, will out. To build a Sri Lanka in which the rights of all of the country's citizens are respected, real justice is needed.
James Ross, Legal and Policy Director at Human Rights Watch, has written on human rights in Sri Lanka since 1994
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