Sri Lankans protest proposed UN rights resolution

(February 27, 2012) Thousands of people joined government-backed protests across Sri Lanka on Monday against a proposed United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on alleged human rights abuses during the country's civil war. The protests coincided with the beginning of the council's four-week session in Geneva. Cabinet ministers urged citizens to join the demonstrations, which were planned in 150 cities and towns, according the government's website. A U.N. panel report in 2010 had concluded that there were credible allegations that both the government and the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels committed serious abuses that could amount to war crimes, especially during the last months of the conflict, which ended in May 2009. The panel had called for an independent international investigation. The United States has declared its support of the resolution, which urges Sri Lanka to investigate alleged abuses. Sri Lanka rejected an international investigation and appointed its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which cleared government troops of deliberately targeting civilians but proposed an inquiry into complaints of isolated violations. It also said the Tamil Tigers routinely violated international humanitarian laws.