War crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War
War crimes committed during the Sri Lankan Civil War / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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War crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War are war crimes and crimes against humanity which the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) have been accused of committing during the final months of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009.[11] The war crimes include attacks on civilians and civilian buildings by both sides; executions of combatants and prisoners by both sides; enforced disappearances by the Sri Lankan military and paramilitary groups backed by them; sexual violence by the Sri Lankan military; the systematic denial of food, medicine, and clean water by the government to civilians trapped in the war zone; child recruitment, hostage taking, use of military equipment in the proximity of civilians and use of forced labor by the Tamil Tigers.[12][13][14][15][16]
War crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War | |
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Part of Sri Lankan Civil War | |
Location | Sri Lanka |
Date | 2009 |
Attack type | Shelling, Hostage taking, Forced disappearance, Denial of humanitarian aid, Summary execution, Rape, Internment, Use of underaged soldiers, Mass shootings, Suicide bombings |
Deaths | 40,000 civilians killed (UN, 2011)[1][2][3] 146,000 civilians unaccounted[4][5][6] 169,796 Tamil civilians Killed (ITJP, 2021)[7] 70,000 civilians unaccounted (UN, 2012)[8][9][10] |
Victims | Sri Lankan Tamil Civilians, Sinhalese people, Soldiers |
Perpetrators | |
Motive |
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A panel of experts appointed by United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) Ban Ki-moon to advise him on the issue of accountability with regard to any alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the civil war found "credible allegations" which, if proven, indicated that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by the Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tigers.[17][18][19] It also found that as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians may have been killed in the final months of the civil war, a large majority as a result of indiscriminate shelling by the Sri Lankan Army.[20][21] The panel has called on the UNSG to conduct an independent international inquiry into the alleged violations of international law and suspects prosecuted.[22][23][24]
War crimes are prohibited by the Geneva Conventions, of which Sri Lanka is a signatory.[25] In 2002 the International Criminal Court (ICC) was created by the Rome Statute to prosecute individuals for serious crimes, such as war crimes. Sri Lanka is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, so it is only possible for the ICC to investigate and prosecute war crimes in Sri Lanka if the UN Security Council were to refer Sri Lanka to the ICC. Formal Security Council involvement in the case of Sri Lanka, was opposed by the veto members Russia and China, as well as India among other council members.[24] The UN Secretary-General called the Government of Sri Lanka to "respond constructively to the report" and stated that it is important that Sri Lanka set up its own probe for "genuine investigations" into the civil war actions.[24]
The Sri Lankan government has denied that its forces committed any war crimes and has strongly opposed any international investigation. In March 2014 the United Nations Human Rights Council authorised an international investigation into the alleged war crimes.[26][27]
On 21 March 2019 Sri Lanka co-sponsored a resolution made by the UN giving the country a 2-year deadline to establish a judicial mechanism to assess violation of humanitarian international law committed during the civil war.[28]