For press freedom by Sunanda Deshapriya Sri Lanka’s human rights
record has not improved since Amnesty International last
addressed this Council in May 2010. Impunity persists for past
violations and abuses of international human rights and
humanitarian law, and new and serious violations of human rights
continue to be reported. In the two years since fighting ended
in Sri Lanka evidence of serious violations and abuses by
parties to the conflict has continued to mount, but the Sri
Lankan Government has refused to acknowledge credible
allegations of war crimes and other crimes under international
law by its armed forces in the course of the conflict that ended
in May 2009. It continues to subject people to enforced
disappearances and torture and other ill-treatment. Thousands of
people suspected of ties with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) remain in detention without charge. Political
opponents of the government and other critics have faced severe
restrictions on their freedom of expression, assem