Amnesty International has called on the United Nations to investigate human rights violations during the final months of the war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government army.

During the final stages of the 25-year war, which ended one year ago this month, tens of thousands of civilians were killed or displaced, but the UN has so far failed to launch an official inquiry into possible - war - crimes, Amnesty claims.

Some 80,000 people are still in refugee camps and more than 200,000 civilians who have tried to resettle are still struggling in communities where their homes and infrastructure were destroyed.
 
Survivors
According to Amnesty's deputy director for the Asia-Pacific region, Madhu Malhotra, the fate of these civilians remains sketchy. “We have been talking to some of the survivors who managed to come out of the country and they say that they simply want to get on with their lives, but that proves to be very difficult”.

As Amnesty International is barred from Sri Lanka, it is difficult for the organisation to thoroughly investigate what happened during the final weeks and months of the conflict, in early 2009. It has to rely on eyewitness accounts given by anonymous victims and those who managed to leave the country.
 
Rights violations
“But what we do know is that there have been widespread human rights violations,” says Ms Malhotra. “We suspect both sides have been responsible for committing war crimes. But both the Sri Lanka government and the UN have failed to act to help those victims who have no access to justice”.
 
Opposition
Amnesty claims the UN has not started its own investigation yet because of opposition from Sri Lanka’s allies such as India, China and Russia, all powerful members of the UN - indeed, China and Russia hold permanent seats on the UN Security Council).

“There’s a significant opposition to such an investigation,” Ms Malhotra says. “The UN’s human rights council actually supported Sri Lanka’s government’s actions last year. But we still think there is hope that the UN will take up this issue”.

There’s also strong opposition against such a probe from within Sri Lanka itself. President Mahinda Rajapakse said in March he objected to the prospect of a proposed UN panel looking into possible human rights abuses during the last months of the war.

Ban-ki Moon
UN Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon’s visit to the camps last year may have offered Amnesty a glimpse of hope. Mr Ban said he was “appalled” at what he saw, calling for better humanitarian aid. But according to Amnesty, the plight of the refugees hasn’t improved much since.

“That’s why the UN should take action now, despite the opposition from within the organisation,” Ms Mulhotra says. “The funds for these refugee camps are running out. We will call on our many supporters in the region and in the rest of the world to put more pressure on the UN and the Security Council to address this issue”.

“A UN intervention at this stage is really necessary,” Ms Mulhotra continues. “We simply want justice for the refugees and for the relatives of those who were killed in those final months”.