A human rights group has asked the UN not to abandon seeking accountability for alleged abuses in Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement yesterday that Sri Lanka’s recent appointment of a commission apparently to look into the events of the last stages of the country’s quarter-century civil war was only an attempt to deflect international attention.
The New York-based group urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon not to abandon his plans to appoint a panel of advisers to examine who might be accountable for alleged human rights abuses committed during the war.
“Secretary-General Ban’s inaction on the experts panel is sending a signal to abusers that loudly announcing toothless commissions can block all efforts for real justice,” said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“There is growing recognition that the only way to ensure accountability in Sri Lanka is to establish an independent international investigation,” Pearson said.
Human rights groups have accused government forces and the Tamil Tiger rebels of deliberately targeting civilians and hospitals in the final stages of the war last year.
The International Crisis Group said in a report last week it believed at least 30,000 civilians — and possibly as many as 75,000 — remained unaccounted for.
With this, the death toll from Sri Lanka’s long-drawn civil war is thought to be much higher than the official UN estimate of 80,000 to 100,000 deaths.
Human Rights Watch also said last week that it has photographic evidence of alleged war crimes that could help an investigation.
People with missing teeth might be able to grow new ones, said Japanese dentists, who are testing a pioneering drug they hope will offer an alternative to dentures and implants. Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth. However, hidden underneath our gums are the dormant buds of a third generation, said Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan. His team launched clinical trials at Kyoto University Hospital in October, administering an experimental
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
NOTORIOUS JAIL: Even from a distance, prisoners maimed by torture, weakened by illness and emaciated by hunger, could be distinguished Armed men broke the bolts on the cell and the prisoners crept out: haggard, bewildered and scarcely believing that their years of torment in Syria’s most brutal jail were over. “What has happened?” asked one prisoner after another. “You are free, come out. It is over,” cried the voice of a man filming them on his telephone. “Bashar has gone. We have crushed him.” The dramatic liberation of Saydnaya prison came hours after rebels took the nearby capital, Damascus, having sent former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad fleeing after more than 13 years of civil war. In the video, dozens of
ROYAL TARGET: After Prince Andrew lost much of his income due to his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, he became vulnerable to foreign agents, an author said British lawmakers failed to act on advice to tighten security laws that could have prevented an alleged Chinese spy from targeting Britain’s Prince Andrew, a former attorney general has said. Dominic Grieve, a former lawmaker who chaired the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) until 2019, said ministers were advised five years ago to introduce laws to criminalize foreign agents, but failed to do so. Similar laws exist in the US and Australia. “We remain without an important weapon in our armory,” Grieve said. “We asked for [this law] in the context of the Russia inquiry report” — which accused the government
RSS