Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
man rights abuses were committed by all sides in the final months of the 26-year war,
which ended in May 2009. But the contention that the Sri Lankan military killed 40,000
Tamil civilians in its final push to victory simply won't go away. Two documentaries,
Sri
Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished
and
No Fire Zone: In the Killing Fields of
Sri Lanka
, by the UK's Channel 4 have stoked calls for investigations. A report by the
UNHRC says that there is enough evidence of civilian slaughter to require a full investiga-
tion.
The Sri Lankan government, led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has denied human
rights abuses and fought against any official investigation. It's a strategy that has kept the
issue in the headlines internationally. The 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting should have been a triumph for Rajapaksa; instead, there was intense pressure on
governments to boycott the meeting and Canada, India and Mauritius refused to attend.
In 2014 Sri Lanka's parliament formally rejected any investigation by the Sri Lankan
government or the UN, although the vote was not overwhelming. Meanwhile, human
rights groups worldwide seem determined to keep the matter alive and the UN regularly
votes for investigations.
Omnipresent President
You can't avoid him: the grinning face of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is everywhere in
Sri Lanka. He gazes out from huge billboards and signs on the sides of buildings, in count-
less publications and more. It's a cult of personality that he hopes will allow him to stay in
power beyond the next election, which must happen by 2016. His extended family can be
found throughout the government and business; his brother Gotabhaya is Secretary of De-
fence.
Along with Rajapaska's domination of Sri Lanka's official life have come a wide range
of allegations of abuses of power. In 2013 alone, Human Rights Watch said the govern-
ment 'targeted civil society through threats, surveillance, and clampdowns on activities and
free speech'. Navi Pillay, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, denounced 'a climate
of fear' that is undermining democracy and eroding the rule of law. Amnesty International
said flatly: 'There are no human rights in Sri Lanka.' Rajapaksa and his circle deny all
these claims but life can be hard for those inside the country who disagree.
Journalists who go beyond the docile coverage in the main newspapers have suffered
much abuse. Opposition politicians have faced pro-government mobs when they've tried to
