April 5, 2012 | 6:31 pm | by Easwaran Rutnam
The US State Department Office of Global Criminal Justice (GCJ), formerly the Office of War Crimes Issues (WCI), led by Ambassador-at-Large Stephen Rapp, has submitted a report on Sri Lanka to the U.S Congress.
Rapp, who visited Sri Lanka in February this year, has noted in the report efforts taken by the Sri Lankan government and the international community to investigate and hold accountable violators of international humanitarian and human rights law.The report draws attention to open questions regarding allegations of violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) but it is not meant to be a legal determination confirming any of those allegations, Stephen Rapp’s office said.
In the report the Office of Global Criminal Justice notes that the LLRC Report fails to critically analyze or investigate the “white flag” incident, in which high level LTTE leaders were allegedly shot despite assurances from the GSL that they could safely surrender.
The Department of State does not take a position regarding the allegations concerning the “white flag” allegations but notes that the discrepancy between the report of the UN Panel of Experts and the LLRC reports merits further investigation.
