the final months of the sri lankan civil war resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians, the displacement of more than 350,000, and allegations of gross violations of international and humanitarian law by both sides. foreign governments, international human groups and sri lankan tamil diaspora groups all called for an independent investigation. immediately following the end of the civil war in may 2009, unsg ban ki-moon visited sri lanka. at end of the trip the unsg and sri lankan president mahinda rajapaksa issued a joint statement in which the sri lankan government agreed to take measures on accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.