Congressmen urge probe as video screened in US
July 16, 2011 10:42 am
WASHINGTON — US lawmakers and rights advocates stepped up calls for an international probe into Sri Lanka’s civil war as they screened the Channel 4 documentary that purports to show war crimes.
“Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” was shown to the public inside the US Capitol complex on Friday.
Representative James McGovern, co-chair of a US Congress human rights commission named in honor of late lawmaker Tom Lantos, said that the film was “a gruesome example of humans at their worst.”
“These scenes provide much more than simply shock value, however: They also are powerful evidence of the need for an independent investigation to hold those responsible accountable for the crimes,” said McGovern, a member of President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party from Massachusetts.
“If the Sri Lankan government is unable or unwilling to act, then the international community must respond in its place,” McGovern said.
McGovern said that anyone found guilty of war crimes should be punished, regardless of whether they belonged to government forces or the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels.
US lawmakers, after lobbying from Tamil Americans, have led calls for a UN-led inquiry into war crimes allegations. The State Department has warned Sri Lanka that it must ensure accountability or face growing global pressure, although it has stopped short of fully backing an international probe.
Amnesty International helped arrange the US screening of the documentary. Adotei Akwei, the rights group’s US managing director of government relations, said the event was meant to “counter an effort to describe the end of the war as neat and precise by the Sri Lankan government.”
“I think that there has been either a reluctance or an unwillingness by the administration to be a champion on this. This documentary will make it much harder for that to continue,” he said. (AFP)
“Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” was shown to the public inside the US Capitol complex on Friday.
Representative James McGovern, co-chair of a US Congress human rights commission named in honor of late lawmaker Tom Lantos, said that the film was “a gruesome example of humans at their worst.”
“These scenes provide much more than simply shock value, however: They also are powerful evidence of the need for an independent investigation to hold those responsible accountable for the crimes,” said McGovern, a member of President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party from Massachusetts.
“If the Sri Lankan government is unable or unwilling to act, then the international community must respond in its place,” McGovern said.
McGovern said that anyone found guilty of war crimes should be punished, regardless of whether they belonged to government forces or the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels.
US lawmakers, after lobbying from Tamil Americans, have led calls for a UN-led inquiry into war crimes allegations. The State Department has warned Sri Lanka that it must ensure accountability or face growing global pressure, although it has stopped short of fully backing an international probe.
Amnesty International helped arrange the US screening of the documentary. Adotei Akwei, the rights group’s US managing director of government relations, said the event was meant to “counter an effort to describe the end of the war as neat and precise by the Sri Lankan government.”
“I think that there has been either a reluctance or an unwillingness by the administration to be a champion on this. This documentary will make it much harder for that to continue,” he said. (AFP)