Mr. President,

LIBERATION and other NGOs have repeatedly asked the international community and this Council to act to stop the grave and massive violations of human rights in Sri Lanka. Even the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded over the past many months did not convince the international community to act to stop the massacre of the Tamil people.

This special session arrives too late for the victims. How can one explain the silence of this Council in the light of atrocities committed in Sri Lanka? Credible sources have reported that there have been more than 13000 deaths these last months and the final days of the battle have been described as a “bloodbath”.

More than 300,000 displaced persons, of which approximately 80,000 are children, are in dire need of urgent humanitarian assistance and protection from the ongoing abuses being committed in camps controlled by the Government of Sri Lanka.

Mr. President,

This special session arrives late, but it can still be useful, on a single condition: that it ensures that the Human Rights Council set up an International Commission of Inquiry with a mandate to investigate allegations of violations of International Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and make recommendations on ways and means to address the continuing impunity that exists in Sri Lanka.

The UN Secretary General has stated that any serious allegations of war crimes “should be properly investigated”. We urge the Council to heed his call and set up an international, independent fact-finding mission to investigate the allegations of war crimes during the conflict in Sri Lanka, especially in recent months.

In this regard, LIBERATION would like to call the attention of the Council to some pressing concerns:

1. Bombing of hospitals in the so-called “Safe Zone”;

2. Denial of food and medicine to civilians, including women and children;

3. Families being separated in the camps, and women exposed to sexual harassment and violence;

4. Women being forcibly sterilised and undergoing forced abortions;

5. Two LTTE Political Division officials, Mr Nadesan and Mr Puleedevan, were reportedly shot dead as they were walking towards the Sri Lanka Army while carrying the white flag;

6. Three Government Medical doctors, Dr Sathiyamoorthy, Dr Varatharajah, and Dr Shanmugarajah are currently being illegally detained by the Sri Lanka Government.

We urge the Government of Sri Lanka to:

1. Ensure that an international, independent fact finding mission be permitted immediate and unrestricted access to the recently concluded conflict areas;

2. Allow international humanitarian aid agencies and the media unfettered and complete access to all IDP camps

3. Allow humanitarian assistance, such as the Tamil Diaspora sponsored “Mercy Mission”, to be delivered to the IDPs

4. Ensure that the screening process be conducted in the presence of the ICRC and other humanitarian organisations;

5. Ensure that all IDP family members are reunited;

6. Ensure a rapid release of IDPs from the camps so that they may resettle in their original places of habitation.

Mr President,

This Council cannot avoid tackling the scourge of the conflict in Sri Lanka, which has arisen due to the denial of the rights of the Tamil people. Fundamental freedoms must be recognised and protected. The United Nations must take the lead and increase efforts towards a just and equitable political solution to the conflict.