UN takes step towards Sri Lanka war crimes inquiry
Human Rights Council adopts resolution saying inquiry is needed because Sri Lanka has not investigated properly
The Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, rejected the UN resolution and said it hurt reconciliation efforts. Photograph: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images
Jason Burke in Delhi and agencies
Thursday 27 March 2014
The United Nations has taken its first concrete step towards launching an inquiry into war crimes allegedly committed by both Sri Lankan state forces and Tamil separatist rebels during the island nation's 25-year brutal civil war.
By a vote of 23 states in favour, 12 against and 12 abstentions, the 47-member UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution presented by the United States on behalf of countries including Britain, which said that an inquiry was necessary because the government had failed to investigate properly.
