[United to End Genocide]

Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war ended in May 2009 when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). For more than 25 years, the LTTE had been fighting for a separate state for the nation’s minority Tamil population.

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[Guardian UK]

This week the UN Human Rights Council has an opportunity and a duty to help Sri Lanka advance its own efforts on accountability and reconciliation. Both are essential if a lasting peace is to be achieved. In doing so, the council will not only be serving Sri Lanka, but those worldwide who believe there are universal rights and international legal obligations we all share.

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[Radio Netherlands Worldwide]

The United States is set to table a resolution against Sri Lanka at the next sitting of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva later this month. The Americans have voiced their concerns over human rights violations in Sri Lanka before, but so far had not taken the step of bringing it forward at the HRC.

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[BBC]

India’s foreign minister has urged Sri Lanka to move forward with reconciliation and constitutional reform on a trip to the island nation.

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[Canada News Centre]

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement on the final report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission:

“Canada notes the public release of the report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. Although we are still studying the report, the commission has addressed and provided recommendations in some areas of concern, including reconciliation, the rule of law and demilitarization.

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[US Foreign Affairs News]

Congressman Howard Berman, Ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, made the following statement on the recent release of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission Report.

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[Amnesty UK]

The final report of Sri Lanka’s Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), released publicly today, acknowledges serious human rights problems in Sri Lanka but falls short of fully addressing the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the final phases of the conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Amnesty International said today.

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[BBC]

Sri Lanka is still a country struggling to put decades of civil war behind it. The final stages - in 2009 - were of particular concern to human rights groups as reports suggested thousands of civilians had been killed.

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[Al Jazeera]

Seriously injured in a shell attack, his Tamil Tiger comrades dead, Mano (pseudonym) tried to end his own life by biting on the cyanide pill that, like all hardened fighters, he wore around his neck. But an elderly woman nearby rushed to give him water and he survived. Alone, he languished on the sand for six days, surrounded by the bodies of his friends and the ruins of war.

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[International Crisis Group]

As South Africa knows better than most, a country cannot begin to overcome decades of internal conflict without a sustained effort at revealing the truth of the past and a committed push for reconciliation. If only Sri Lanka could learn that lesson.

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