Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think having an international commission of inquiry will go towards addressing impunity and will go further than what the UN panel of experts report has already done. It will examine whether war crimes took place, with a view to establishing who the perpetrators of these crimes

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, witness protection is very important. Again, this was one of the issues with the government commission: that there was ineffective protection of people who were providing testimony. It meant that perhaps a lot of people who would otherwise have been willing to testify simply

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, that is our assessment regarding accountability. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission has not submitted its final report yet, but from what we've seen of the interim recommendations, there's not been a word on accountability. Based on the experience of past com

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Right now, the Sri Lankan government's response has been to wait and see. They want to wait and see what happens with the LLRC and they want to take a bit more time. The response has actually changed. Previously, the government refused to admit there were any civilian casualtie

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  November 15 is the date they will submit the report to the president of Sri Lanka. It is unclear whether the president will immediately make the report public. In news reports today, though, the foreign minister is quoted as saying the president will make the report public, but w

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, I believe there are serious human rights violations occurring. I don't think they're in any way at the same level as during the conflict, but we are quite concerned, particularly because it's difficult for organizations like us to get access on the ground. From the reports

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, obviously, an investigation into these abuses is the number one demand now from organizations like us so that the victims of these abuses are able to have some measure of justice. At the same time, I think we are quite concerned about the current human rights situation and

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  When the war ended, the UN Secretary-General made a visit to Sri Lanka. In a joint communiqué that was issued with the president, the Government of Sri Lanka committed to address accountability as well as the violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law that

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. Freedom of expression has come under severe attack. At one point during the conflict, I think Sri Lanka was number two compared to Iraq in terms of being one of the most dangerous places for journalists to work. We saw that at least a dozen journalists disappeared and, in so

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. Just this year, we've documented several cases of independent journalists who have been harassed or beaten up. In one case, the brother of a newspaper editor who was killed during the final stages of the conflict also received what amounted to a verbal threat from President

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  This was not our satellite imagery but the UN satellite imagery, particularly of the areas during the final stages of the conflict. By analyzing that satellite imagery, we were able to estimate the numbers of the population. During the final stages of the conflict, the government

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, I can send you the links to the satellite imagery.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think the Sri Lankan government has made its position very clear. Even just reading the newspapers this morning after the Commonwealth heads of government meeting, we see that the local pro-government papers were declaring it a victory for Rajapaska. They have been fighting too

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, this was actually an issue with the UN panel of experts report. I think they were granted some permission to go to Sri Lanka, but it was under such conditions that would not allow them to do independent kinds of questioning, so they were not able to visit Sri Lanka. As yo