United Nations Radio

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, on Friday called for a full investigation into violations of human rights and international law that occurred during the civil war in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan family

Although several independent reports have surfaced, there has not been a full inquiry of what happened during the last months, the Spokesperson for the Human Rights Office, Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva.

"We still believe that something like the Gaza fact-finding mission is certainly warranted given the widespread concerns about the conduct of the war in Sri Lanka. It seems that more clarity is likely to emerge about who did what to whom and whether or not war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other very serious human rights abuses were committed by one or both sides."

Rupert Colville says his office is also concerned for the 250,000 internally displaced people still living in appalling conditions five months after the war. However, the Sri Lanka Government says it is taking steps to properly deal with the issue.

"They did in fact release I think a few thousand people yesterday from one of these camps, but there is still a very large number of people in these camps."

Colville hopes the Government of Sri Lanka will be able to fully meet its commitments in the near future.

Jocelyne Sambira, United Nations Radio
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