Sri Lanka: Survivors appeal for justice two years on

By Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka researcher

Civilians displaced during the closing days of the war, May 2009 ©Amnesty International

It’s now 2 years since the end of the war between the Sri Lankan security forces and the Tamil Tigers. To many, the Sri Lankan conflict may seem strangely remote. For survivors and those of us who monitored the abuses during the war, the month of May will never be quite the same.

I still remember the 19th May 2009 and the sense of shock and relief as the government announced the war was over. The relief was based on hope that finally the months of deprivation for trapped civilians living without adequate food and water and living in fear of shelling was at an end. The relief quickly ebbed when I realised the scale of denial. In spite of a recent UN Panel report that has catalogued a series of violations, including government shelling of civilians, the government continues to repeat its absurd claims of a “No civilian casualty policy”.

http://livewire.amnesty.org/2011/05/17/sri-lanka-survivors-appeal-for-justice-two-years-on/