By IANS,
United Nations : A UN panel of experts’ report released Monday has found “credible” allegations of serious human rights violations committed by both government forces and the Tamil Tigers in the final stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Xinhua reported.
According to the UN-commissioned report, “most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war were caused by government shelling,” during an intense military campaign against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in the northeast of the country.
“Around 330,000 civilians were trapped into an ever decreasing area, fleeing the shelling but kept hostage by the LTTE,” the report states, adding that some of the allegations if proven could amount to crimes against humanity.
Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in almost three decades of civil war that erupted in 1983 between the government troops and the rebel Tamil Tigers (LTTE), who had launched a separatist insurgency fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east before they were defeated in 2009.
The panel’s report indicates that the government conducted large-scale shelling in “No Fire Zones,” including a UN hub, food distribution lines, and “systematically shelled hospitals on the frontlines”.
The report also found that from February 2009 to the end of the civil war, the LTTE held civilians as hostage and “started point-blank shooting of civilians who attempted to escape the conflict zone”.
The panel, whose appointment was strongly criticised by the Sri Lankan government, is tasked with advising UN Secretary-General Ban on accountability issues related to alleged human rights violations at the end of the conflict.