U.N. urged to press rights of Sri Lanka war survivors

(May 26, 2009) The United Nations Human Rights Council, UNHRC, must insist on humanitarian access to camps of tens of thousands of refugees from Sri Lanka's war, rights groups said on Monday, to ease a situation they called "alarming" and a "catastrophe". Human Rights Watch said Sri Lanka should be pushed at the United Nations Human Rights Council, meeting for an emergency session this week, to allow aid workers and journalists into the country's camps and detention centres, stressing "respect for human rights is just as essential after a conflict ends." "Although the fighting has stopped, the humanitarian situation is still alarming and real improvements are needed," the group's Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement. Sri Lanka has marshalled China, Russia, India, Pakistan and other regional allies to try to deflect scrutiny of its record in a resolution in Geneva that stresses the rights of states to act without outside interference in their national matters. But another resolution, prepared by Switzerland and backed by 30 states including France, Britain, Germany, Canada, Mexico and Mauritius, calls for "full, safe and unhindered access of humanitarian assistance to all persons in need throughout the country" and says Colombo must do so without discrimination. Amnesty International and other rights monitors have called for an independent investigation into the conduct of both sides during the final burst of the conflict, in which nearly 300,000 people escaped rebel-held areas and are now being held in government-run refugee camps.