Human Rights Watch today accused
the Sri Lankan Government of being "unwilling" to take action
against those responsible for atrocities on ethnic Tamils
during the civil war, citing its failure to bring to book
those responsible for slaying of 17 aid workers six years ago.
"The sixth anniversary of the summary executions of 17
aid workers has brought the Sri Lankan government no closer to
obtaining justice for the victims," said James Ross, legal and
policy director at Human Rights Watch.
17 aid workers -- 16 Tamils and one Muslim -- were
"executed" by gunmen in their office in Mutur town in
Trincomalee district in eastern Sri Lanka on August 4, 2006.
The killings followed the high-voltage battle between
Sri Lankan Army and the then powerful Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for control of the vital town.
"President (Mahinda) Rajapaksa's callous indifference
to the suffering of the aid workers' families will be a sad
hallmark of his administration," he said.
Ross noted that the workers were assisting the
survivors of the 2004 Boxing Day tsumani that wreaked havoc in
Sri Lanka and other South-East Asian countries.
In July 2009, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry,
created in November 2006 to investigate 16 major cases of
human rights abuse, exonerated the army and navy in slayings,
instead blaming the LTTE, he noted.
Sri Lankan Government is accused of human rights
violations in the last phase of the civil war that finally saw
the annihilation of the rebel LTTE with the death of its once
feared leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Western countries like the UK and US had introduced
resolutions in the UN Human Rights Council censuring the Sri
Lankan Government on the alleged human rights violations.
Governments concerned about impunity for serious human
rights abuses in Sri Lanka should publicly support an
independent international mechanism, the Human Rights Watch
said.
"Governments that demanded action at the UN Human
Rights Council should not be mollified by the Sri Lankan
government's tepid proposal to pursue criminal inquiries,"
Ross said.
