Thai army says it’s not involved in park corruption case

Thai soldiers march while changing positions with fellow soldiers on a street in Bangkok, Thailand Thursday, May 29, 2014. Pic: AP.

by AP News-21st November 2015

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s military says an internal investigation has cleared senior officers of corruption in connection with the financing of a public park featuring giant statutes of kings on army property.

Army commander Gen. Theerachai Nakvanich told a news conference Friday that no member of the military was involved in corruption connected to Rajabhakti Park in the seaside town of Hua Hin.

The park opened in September.

Two senior officers have been accused of involvement in corruption, including kickbacks and the diversion of funds.

The case has attracted particular attention because the military junta that has run Thailand since staging a coup last year has vowed to reform the country’s political system to stamp out corruption, which it blames on politicians.

China urged not to repatriate North Koreans caught trying to escape

The Tumen River, seen here from Hunchun, China, serves as the border between China and North Korea. (Shin Woong-jae/For The Washington Post)

By Anna Fifield-November 21

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Human rights advocates are urging China not to repatriate nine North Korean refugees, including an 11-month-old baby, who were caught while trying to escape the totalitarian Kim regime, warning of the harsh fate that awaits them if sent back.

North Korea is the most tightly controlled country in the world, with ordinary citizens banned from traveling abroad. Those who try to get to South Korea are considered traitors and, if caught and sent back, face severe punishment that almost always involves time in prison camps.

The nine North Koreans managed to cross from North Korea into China in the middle of October and then made their way down to Vietnam, in hopes of eventually reaching South Korea, according to human rights activists.

This circuitous and highly dangerous route through Southeast Asia has now become the most frequently used path to South Korea, where North Koreans can settle and become citizens in a familiar culture.

The group, which also includes a teenager, was found during a random check on a bus in northeastern Vietnam — not far from the border with China — and handed over to Chinese police in Guangxi province.

 

Human rights advocates are asking China not to send the group back to North Korea.

“There is little doubt that if these nine refugees are forced back to North Korea, they will disappear into a camp system characterized by torture, violence and severe deprivation from which few emerge,” said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch. “If China sends them back to North Korea, they could well be sending them to their deaths.”

The United Nations voiced similar concerns.

“There are fears that they may be — or may already have been — repatriated to [North] Korea, where they would be at risk of very serious human rights violations,” Ravina Shamdasani, a United Nations human rights spokeswoman, said in briefing in Geneva, according to Reuters.

Human rights groups report that the group was sent by train to the northern Chinese city of Shenyang this week and then transferred to Tumen, on the Chinese side of the border with North Korea. There is a large detention facility in Tumen where North Koreans are held before being repatriated.

 

This did not bode well, Shamdasani said. “This series of events strongly suggests that the group is at imminent risk of being repatriated to [North Korea] — and we are gravely concerned that they may already have been returned,” she said.

Signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which include China, are banned from “refoulement” or returning refugees to a country where they could suffer persecution.

 

But China considers such escapees from North Korea to be economic migrants, not political refugees, so it sends them back. There is no indication that Vietnam gave the group the opportunity to lodge asylum claims there, said Robertson of Human Rights Watch.

The 2014 report by a U.N. Commission of Inquiry described the punishment meted out to North Koreans who try to escape.

“When they are apprehended or forcibly repatriated, officials from [North] Korea systematically subject them to persecution, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention and, in some cases, sexual violence, including during invasive body searches,” the commission’s report said, noting that pregnant women were regularly subjected to forced abortions.

“Persons found to have been in contact with officials or nationals from [South] Korea or with Christian churches may be forcibly ‘disappeared’ into political prison camps, imprisoned in ordinary prisons or even summarily executed,” the report continued.

The number of people successfully making the journey has dropped sharply in recent years, in large part due to a clampdown on both sides of the Chinese-North Korean border.

Read more:

How did North Korea report on family reunions? As a victory for Kim Jong Un, of course.

Un: North Korea ready for ‘any kind of war’ against U.S.

A remote corner of China wants access to the sea. The obstacle is North Korea.

As Pyongyang celebrates, ordinary North Koreans must flee to survive

 

Anna Fifield is The Post’s bureau chief in Tokyo, focusing on Japan and the Koreas. She previously reported for the Financial Times from Washington DC, Seoul, Sydney, London and from across the Middle East.

Cyber Spying Is Out, Cyber Lying Is In

BY ELIAS GROLL-NOVEMBER 20, 2015

Let’s say a military commander — the captain of a destroyer, for example — walks into a darkened room packed with screens and can no longer trust the pictures his radar and other sensors are generating, Adm. Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, wondered aloud at a defense forum earlier this month. “What happens if what I’m looking at, in fact, leads me to make decisions that only exacerbate the problem I’m trying to deal with?”

Cyber Spying is Out, Cyber Lying is In by Thavam Ratna

Ebola crisis: Liberia confirms fresh cases

Liberia was declared free of Ebola in September

20 November 2015

Three new cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Liberia less than three months after the country was declared free of the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The three patients include a 10-year-old boy from Paynesville, a suburb of the capital Monrovia.

All people with the symptom have been isolated, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told the BBC.

Liberia has seen more than 10,000 Ebola cases and more than 4,000 deaths.

The country's Health Minister Bernice Dahn said six of the boy's relatives and other high-risk contacts have been taken to an Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville.

"The hospital is currently decontaminating the unit. All of the healthcare workers who came in contact with the patient have been notified," she said.

On Thursday night, before the new case emerged, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf delivered a speech praising "the resilience" of Liberians in overcoming the epidemic.

• How Ebola changed the world
• Ex-child soldier who fought Ebola
• Saying 'Bye Bye' to Ebola with a happy song

The country was first declared Ebola-free on 9 May, but new cases emerged in June resulting in two deaths. It was declared free of the virus again on 3 September.

Liberia recorded its first Ebola case in March last year and analysts believe the latest cases are a serious set-back for the country.

The new cases in Liberia was announced just days after Guinea, where the epidemic started, said it had no more Ebola cases.

If no more cases are detected for 42 days, it would be declared free of the virus.

Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola on 7 November.

More than 11,000 people have died of the disease since December 2013, the vast majority of them in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

News from Jaffna

A young female journalist embarks on an investigation to try and locate the whereabouts of Nimalarajah, a Tamil journalist who disappeared over seven years ago

20-26 November 2015

It’s that time of year again when the documentary form is highlighted by the Kathmandu International Film Festival (KIMFF) and the biennial Film South Asia 2015 (FSA 2015), both of which give us in Kathmandu an opportunity to engage with a wide, incredibly varied range of subjects.

KIMFF was slightly marred last year by political meddling when the Rajapaksa government applied pressure on Nepal to pull the screening of No Fire Zone (reviewed here) - a visceral, journalistically rigorous documentary that indicted the Sri Lankan government and its complicit army in an allegedly calculated genocide - killing thousands of innocent Tamils in 2009 in the push to win the war against the Tamil Tigers.

It is fitting therefore that FSA this year is showing News from Jaffna - a 28-minute long documentary that follows the path of a young female journalist, Thadsa, who works for Uthayan - a widely known daily paper run by Tamils out of Jaffna. The paper refuses to blink in the face of widespread media censorship - which exists, as Thadsa points out in one of her investigative pieces, whether you are Sinhalese or Tamil.

As Thadsa embarks on an investigation to try and locate the whereabouts of Nimalarajah, a Tamil journalist who disappeared over seven years ago - we see the fear that pervades throughout – from the people she interviews, to her own editor Premananth who has seen the paper through arson (its press was set on fire) and murder (two journalists were killed by the paramilitary).

Made very simply but with eloquence by Kannan Arunasalam, a human rights lawyer himself, this documentary is particularly poignant at this specific point in time in our own history as we struggle to become as inclusive as possible. Both countries have been through debilitating conflicts and while Sri Lanka ploughed through its Tamil dissenters (yes, they were armed secessionists who employed unforgiveable terror tactics, however, the element of tacit anti-Tamil sentiment must be underscored here) we must take a breath to realise that we cannot and must not do the same with our issues involving people who have been historically marginalised; rhetorical and literal xenophobia must stop.

Sri Lanka’s freedom of press and freedom of speech is still staggering to recover, even after the unexpected ousting this year of the formidably corrupt (morally and otherwise) Mahinda Rajapaksa who actively disappeared dissenters during his regime.

Nepal’s democracy, though flawed, still has a chance to use dialogue and must invoke its latent duty to protect and care for every single citizen as we move through these difficult times. Our struggle may not yet have been documented in film, but we should not have to wait for such an indictment - the world is watching us.

Are we progressing towards Good Governance?

Featured image courtesy puvath.lk

• by Devanesan Nesiah 
• - on 11/20/2015 

I wish I could answer this question with an unqualified yes, but I cannot. There has been significant progress on several issues, but also stagnation and even regression on several others. The gap between our hopeful expectations and the emerging reality is widening. Like perhaps a majority of our population, I rated the administration that was ousted in January this year to have been not only the worst since we attained independence, but also so firmly entrenched in authority that it could not be dislodged in the foreseeable future. The smooth and peaceful ouster of that administration, including its top leaders, seemed to be miraculous. In my expectation, and perhaps that of most others, the new administration, once established through reelection in August, would take us unimpeded towards good governance and reconciliation.

In fact progress has been disappointingly slow and uneven. There has been some credible progress in respect of some aspects of national reconciliation. But what has been achieved on the ground on some very urgent issues central to national reconciliation is minimal (e.g. the release of prisoners held without trial for many years with no charges framed against them). So too on the issue of greater devolution to the provinces, and that of missing persons.

In the last few months, the record with respect to corruption is also mixed and very much short of expectations. It won’t do to merely say that  no corrective action can be taken or punishment imposed till charges are proved. Have credible investigations of major allegations of fraud or nepotism or other irregularities been undertaken and assigned to agencies that are widely accepted as independent? Until recently there has been a long established tradition that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should be multi party and headed by a widely respected Member of Parliament from the opposition. This not only gives credibility to the PAC but also discourages baseless allegations being made by the opposition.  This principle should have been extended to all major allegations of which there is an increasing number. We do not see this happening.

Many of those who make damaging allegations may not be aware of all the facts; nor am I. But there are enough facts sufficiently well known to rouse suspicion of vices such as financial corruption, nepotism, conflict of interest and a false sense of entitlement, all of which had been defining features of the previous administration. There is a lack of cohesion and clarity among our leaders that cause people to believe in various conspiracy theories.  Even those leaders not under suspicion seem to be weak and unwilling to rock the boat. There appears to be no dominant figure among those of the current leaders not even indirectly tainted by association with the failings listed above to name and shame those guilty. Perhaps Sobitha Thero had the potential to be that icon, but he is no more.

As set out earlier, I lack full information, but the Central Bank Bond issue involving the Governor and his son in law appears to be damaging. The independence and the credibility of the Central Bank is vital. The Committee that inquired into this issue lacks credibility. Also damaging is the Avant Garde issue which involves allegations of fraud, subversion of national security and conflict of interest. This issue involves both the present and previous administrations. Thirdly, violence against defenseless students by Police and Service personnel as illustrated by the very public assault of those students demonstrating is degrading. The Police claimed that they used “minimum force”. If that was “minimum” force what is normal force? Disciplinary action against the guilty Policemen and those who led or instigated them is called for.

There are many other charges that need to be credibly investigated. Tragically, some of these charges implicate widely respected persons previously thought to be incorruptible. Moreover, many with shamefully corrupt reputations seem to have successfully “jumped the fence” from the former administration to the present one and seem to be happily continuing their corrupt activities.

I still believe that the present government is vastly superior to the earlier one but the gap is shrinking. If the trend indicated above continues, people will begin to doubt whether in fact there has been a transformation. This would be a disaster. Our new leaders need to quickly take account of the growing sense of disillusionment and effect strong corrective measures. Time is running out.

INTERVIEW: SRI LANKA COUNTRY SPECIALIST FOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA

CHLOE HOGG

 on 20 November, 2015 at 11:00

Jim McDonald is the Sri Lanka Country Specialist for Amnesty International USA.  He has testified before Congress on Sri Lanka on behalf of AIUSA and has organized several campaigns on Sri Lanka by AIUSA members. He joins us in this interview to discuss human rights in Sri Lanka, the UN and Amnesty International’s involvement there, and to suggest ways for us to get involved by showing solidarity and taking action.

Interview Sri Lanka Country Specialist for Amnesty International Usa by Thavam Ratna

Samantha Power Must Recalibrate Washington’s Sri Lanka Rhetoric

With Samantha Power visiting Sri Lanka, now is an auspicious time for the U.S. to recalibrate its recent rhetoric about the island nation.

By Taylor Dibbert-November 20, 2015

Samantha Power, America’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), is in India and Sri Lanka from November 18 – 23. In India, she’s set to meet human rights activists, members of civil society and senior government officials. On November 20, she’ll give a speech about UN peacekeeping.

While far less significant on the geopolitical front, Power’s visit to Sri Lanka could be a tricky balancing act. Regarding the Sri Lanka portion of her trip, the U.S. mission to the UN has stated the following:

In Sri Lanka, Ambassador Power will highlight the United States’ commitment to strengthening the bilateral partnership, and she will underscore U.S. support for the country’s efforts toward reconciliation, accountability, and lasting peace in the aftermath of a devastating civil war. In Colombo, she will meet with senior government officials, community leaders, civil society groups, and youth.

While in Sri Lanka Ambassador Power will travel to the northern city of Jaffna to meet with local government officials and organizations and communities affected by the conflict. There, she will meet with members of the local press corps, including by visiting the headquarters of Uthayan newspaper, which was targeted during the war. Ambassador Power will also participate in the inauguration of a new wing of Osmania College, which suffered significant damage during the conflict, as well as tour the Jaffna Library, where she will announce U.S. support for the local restoration of ancient Tamil manuscripts.

This appears to be a busy agenda and Power’s visit to the Tamil-dominated north is an encouraging sign. Unfortunately, Power’s previous comments on Sri Lanka (like many other current U.S. government officials)have not always been helpful. The Barack Obama administration should use Power’s visit as an opportunity to recalibrate Washington’s rhetoric on Sri Lanka. Regrettably, the Obama administration has been way too upbeat about Sri Lanka’s progress since the ouster of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Now is an auspicious time to make a change.

Power needs to speak clearly about the challenges ahead and the concerns regarding the new government’s performance. (And there are many concerns.) Power could express apprehensions about a reform agenda that appears to have stalled. Kusal Perera, a Colombo-based journalist, notes that there is “no clear national program and no political will for much needed reforms.”

Specifically, Power could emphasize the plight of Tamil political prisoners and the urgent need for action. Some political prisoners have been released on bail, though most (out of a number thought to exceed 200) have not. Troublingly, some reports have suggested that released prisoners will participate in the government’s “rehabilitation” program for ex-combatants. This would be a very troubling development. After all, the government’s rehabilitation program is incompatible with international standards and even basic aspects ofhuman dignity. No one else should have to participate in such a controversial and inhumane program.

Ruki Fernando, a human rights activist, has called the release of some political prisoners a welcome first step, even though “it’s wholly inadequate and doesn’t mean justice.” Fernando believes that, in order to prove its sincerity, the government “must share clear and official information” about how many people are being held, how long they’ve been detained and what the status of each prisoner is.

Power could also speak about the consultative processes surrounding the country’s transitional justice plan. It’s not clear where things stand at the moment and the administration of President Maithripala Sirisena needs to clarify, with a degree of detail, how it’s going to handle consultations with community members across a war-torn nation – especially in the heavily militarized north. “Ms. Power must go beyond diplomatic niceties, ask tough questions and speak forthrightly about the continuing human rights abuses,” says Fernando. He believes that “she must also highlight the lack of progress in dealing with past abuses, and challenge the manipulation of Sri Lanka’s commitments to the Geneva resolution.”

With Power’s visit to the island nation, the Obama administration can regain some credibility by dialing down its soaring rhetoric regarding the Sirisena administration’s performance thus far. Perera says that, for a government that’s “not steady economically it’s difficult to balance social issues, when they believe finding answers to minority issues would sway the majority against them,” and that that explains why the Sirisena administration has been so reluctant to release Tamil political prisoners.

Ten months on, Sirisena’s political will remains in question. It’s incumbent upon him to prove, through actions, that Colombo is serious about fulfilling past promises. Power’s visit could signal the beginning of a slightly more realistic stance from Washington. Let’s hope that she seizes the moment.

Relevance of international laws in Geneva process

By Neville Ladduwahetty-November 19, 2015, 7:36 pm 

Dr. Udugama addressing the media recently

Evidence of derogation of Human Rights prevails in most countries because of threats from terrorism. For instance, the introduction of the Patriot Act of the US following the 2001 terrorist attack in New York curtails many civil liberties through invasive surveillance by the NSA. With the recent terrorist attack in Paris, security measures are bound to be strengthened in many countries resulting in the derogation of Human Rights. Attempts to dismantle Sri Lanka’s PTA appear foolish in a background where there is a global need to be extra vigilant about threats from multi-dimensional sources. The derogation of Human Rights varies and reaches a minimum - the "Hard Core" of Human Rights during an Armed Conflict.

Relevance of International Laws in Geneva Process by Thavam Ratna

Sri Lanka must fulfil the rights of families of the disappeared – UN rights experts

Vijitha Pavanendran holds a photo of her husband who was killed by unknown attackers during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Photo: Amantha Perera/IRIN

18 November 2015 – Sri Lanka has the opportunity to once and for all meet the rights and legitimate expectations of thousands of families of disappeared, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said today, declaring “families have waited too long – the time for action has come.”

“The widespread use of enforced disappearances for many decades has left profound wounds in the society and a deep sense of mistrust among the relatives,” the group said inpreliminary observations at the end of a 10-day official visit to Sri Lanka.

The Geneva-based independent human rights experts noted “an almost complete lack of accountability and decisive and sustained efforts to search for the truth – in particular the determination of the fate or whereabouts of those who disappeared.”

They flagged the absence of a comprehensive and effective reparation program and social, psychological and economic support for the relatives.

The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is comprised of Houria Es-Slami (Morocco), Bernard Duhaime (Canada),Tae-Ung Baik (Republic of Korea), Ariel Dulitzky (Argentina) and Henrikas Mickevicius (Lithuania). The group was established by the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives.

In their statement, the experts welcomed the commitments made by the new Government of Sri Lanka to embark on comprehensive measures to ensure truth, justice and reparation for victims, as well as prevent any recurrence of disappearances in the future.

They also noted “encouraging steps such as the official invitation to visit the country, the “excellent cooperation” received during the visit, the government’s increasing openness, and the commitments expressed by various authorities they met, including to establish a dedicated Office for Missing Persons.

“These promises and commitments must now be followed by concrete efforts and tangible results,” according to the group.

“Sri Lanka must seize this historic opportunity and adopt urgent and profound measures to satisfy the rights of the victims as a fundamental step which will help lay the ground for a sincere reconciliation process,” it said.

As one first measure, the experts urged the authorities to give clear instructions at all level of the military, security and law-enforcement forces that all type of threats, harassment and intimidation towards families searching for their loved ones must immediately cease, will not be tolerated and will be severely sanctioned.

The Working Group visited – in addition to Colombo – Batticaloa, Galle, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Matale, Mullaitivu and Trincomalee. They met with the President, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other high-level State authorities, as well as representatives of civil society organizations, and with hundreds of relatives of disappeared and missing throughout the country.

A final report on the visit will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2016.

TGTE Nominates Legal Experts To Monitor Transitional Justice Mechanisms In Sri Lanka

November 20, 2015

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) has nominated a panel of five legal experts to monitor the design and implementation of the transitional justice mechanisms in Sri Lanka, including the judicial measures to investigate and prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide (“Monitoring Accountability Panel” or “MAP”).

Following the Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka, dated 16 September 2015, and the UN Human Rights Council Resolution on ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka,’ dated 1 October 2015, the Sri Lankan Government undertook to establish accountability mechanisms to address the crimes committed during the Sri Lankan armed conflict. These will include a special criminal court with foreign judges and prosecutors.

The MAP will provide independent monitoring, advice, and recommendations, focusing on the effectiveness of accountability measures from a victims’ perspective. It will also consider issues of fair trial and due process for suspects and accused persons. The views and recommendations of the Panel will enable victims and other stakeholders to participate more effectively in the process and thus enhance the legitimacy of the measures.

The MAP shall formulate its opinions independently – irrespective of party political considerations or the agenda of any specific group (including the TGTE) – according to the interests of fair justice, applying international standards and best practices. The initial mandate of the Panel shall run from November 2015 to December 2016. Further detail of the Panel’s mandate can be found in the attached Terms of Reference.

The Members of the Monitoring Accountability Panel have been selected for their legal expertise in international criminal law and human rights, national war crimes courts, and regional criminal cases. The Panel Members (in alphabetical order) are:

Marie Guiraud (France)
Peter Haynes QC (UK)
Richard J Rogers (UK)
Heather Ryan (USA)
Justice Ajit Prakash Shah (India)
Geoffrey Robertson QC will act as a consultant to the Panel, providing additional independent advice.

                                                                          Read More

Civil Society in the East appeal to UNWGEID for Demilitarisation

Featured image courtesy RightsNow

by Groundviews 

- on 11/20/2015 

Members of civil society, including families of those disappeared in Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee have come together to issue a statement to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID).

Civil Society in the East Appeal to UNWGEID for Demilitarisation by Thavam Ratna

Focus on PTA: The LTTE Suspects are Political Prisoners – Jayathilaka de Silva

(A campaign against PTA held in Colombo)

20/11/2015

A group of Tamil prisoners taken into custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) started a fast last week demanding their release. Most of them have been in prison for over six years and many have not even being charged in courts. Throughout this whole period the investigating authorities have been unable to complete their investigations. One wonders whether this is sheer inefficiency or wilful neglect.

Focus on PTA the LTTE Suspects Are Political Prisoners – Jayathilaka de Silva by Thavam Ratna

UN delegation: Sri Lanka has opportunity to provide rights to disappeared citizens

Thursday 19 November 2015

©  WikiMedia (Christophe Meneboeuf)

[JURIST] The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, a delegation of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR) [official websites] announced [press release] Wednesday that Sri Lanka has an opportunity to properly address the rights violations committed against disappeared citizens. The experts noted that Sri Lanka had previously made no effort to determine the whereabouts of the disappeared or search for the truth related to the disappearances, but has since made a commitment to remedy the past wrongs. The report points out the current absence of a comprehensive and effective reparation program and social, psychological and economic support for relatives of the missing. The group encouraged Sri Lankan authorities to take advantage of the "historic moment" to achieve reconciliation through official legal methods. The delegation specifically approved of the recommendation[JURIST report] from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein to integrate international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators into the envisaged judicial mechanism in order to prosecute massive human rights and humanitarian law violations, including enforced disappearances.

The UN released a report in September finding that war crimes may have been committed [JURIST report] during the Sri Lankan civil war. Later that month, the President of Sri Lanka rejected [JURIST report] a UN recommendation for international involvement in its domestic investigation of the war crimes. The UN report came amid mounting pressure on the Sri Lankan government from human rights groups and the international community to investigate and prosecute abuses during the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) [CFR backgrounder]. In October, a Sri Lankan panel presented a report to parliament which concluded[JURIST report] that allegations that Sri Lankan troops committed war crimes are credible. Last year, then-US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Stephen Rapp called on Sri Lanka to investigate rights abuses [JURIST report] by security forces during the civil war. In 2013, UK Prime Minister David Cameron demanded [JURIST report] that the Sri Lankan government conduct its own investigation into war crime allegations.