NEW DELHI -- International pressure is mounting on Sri Lanka's government to investigate atrocities that may have been committed during the final stages of its war with the Tamil Tiger insurgency as two new reports from the European Union and the State Department detailing alleged human rights abuses were released this week.
The reports come as Sri Lanka also faces intensifying criticism for its decision to keep more than 250,000 Tamils who were displaced by the fighting in closed camps that critics have likened to internment camps. The government says it plans to allow 80 percent of these people to return to their homes by the end of January, but insists that it must first weed out any remaining Tamil Tiger rebels hiding among them.
The European Union report could lead to the withdrawal of trade concessions worth tens of millions of dollars to Sri Lankan garment and fisheries industries. It represents the first threat of a serious sanction against the Sri Lankan government as a result of its conduct of the war. |