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	UN criticizes Sri Lankan Government, Tamil Tigers for upsurge in Killings, Rights Abuses by ICRC / The Hindu (India) Sri Lanka   23 May 2006   Sri Lanka: UN’s top rights chief voices concern over killings of civilians.   Voicing deep concern about increasing killings of civilians, including children, in Sri Lanka, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today urged the parties to take immediate steps to defuse the violence, resume dialogue and strengthen measures to protect against abuses.   “These violations are not only ceasefire violations, but also serious breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law,” Louise Arbour said in a statement released in Geneva.   She stressed that the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have obligations beyond the Ceasefire Agreement to respect basic human rights and humanitarian norms – regardless of the status of the Ceasefire Agreement and whether the country is at peace or war.   Paramount among these is respect for the right to life, said the High Commissioner, noting the concerns raised by a UN independent expert on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary killings who recently reported that both civilians and members of the security forces taking no active part in hostilities are being targeted.   “I recommend that the Government of Sri Lanka seek international police and forensic support for investigations into killings to ensure justice and accountability,” she said.   The High Commissioner urged the parties to take immediate steps to de-escalate the violence, resume dialogue and strengthen the monitoring and protection of human rights.   The High Commissioner also expressed concern about recent threats and obstruction to the work of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which consists of Nordic countries and was set up by a cease fire agreement brokered by Norway in 2002. She urged the parties to give it their fullest cooperation and reinforce its capacity to respond to violations.   12 May 2006   Sri Lanka: ICRC deeply concerned about upsurge of violence. (International Committee of the Red Cross)   Over the past weeks, Sri Lanka has been facing an upsurge in violence that has resulted in loss of human life and the displacement of civilians as well as an increasing number of civilian casualties due to attacks with explosive devices in the North and East of the country.   The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned about the deterioration of the situation and its effects on civilians. It calls on the parties to the armed conflict to respect the rules and principles of international humanitarian law.   The organization has stepped up its emergency response in order to protect and assist those affected by the violence. It has visited persons arrested in relation to the recent hostilities. Based on its findings, the ICRC maintains a confidential dialogue with the concerned parties in order to follow up on the situation of civilians or persons deprived of freedom in accordance with applicable law and principles.   ICRC delegates are closely monitoring the situation in view of responding to any urgent humanitarian needs that may arise for health care, shelter and other vital provisions, as well as for the protection of civilians.   Colombo, April. 28 (The Hindu)   The United Nations today rapped both Sri Lankan forces and Tamil Tigers for the fresh spate of violence and called for an end to extra-judicial killings and human rights violations.   A spate of killings had contributed to the recent violence leading to Tuesday"s suicide bomb attack on the army commander and the reprisal bombing of Tiger positions, said Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.   "The current impasse in negotiations is no excuse for either side not taking immediate steps to end political killings and protect human rights," he said in a statement, adding, "the dangerous escalation of the conflict in recent days is a direct consequence of killings being allowed to run unchecked."   He called on both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) "to take urgent measures to end political killings and to strengthen protection for human rights as conflict looked set to spiral out of control."   Alston had carried out a fact-finding mission in December 2005 during which he visited flashpoints in the north and northeast and met government officials, LTTE personnel, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), members of diplomatic community, witnesses of extrajudicial killings and the relatives of those killed among others.   He criticized the narrow confines within which the SLMM, composed of Scandinavians overseeing the ceasefire, were forced to act under the terms of the February 2002 agreement.
	UN Security Council strongly condemns violence against civilians in wartime by UN News   28 April, 2006   The United Nations Security Council has issued a ringing condemnation of all violence committed against civilians during armed conflict, directing its strongest language at attacks on women and children, and pledged to ensure that all peace support operations employ all feasible measures to prevent the scourge.   In its unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-Member body also condemned all attacks deliberately targeting UN personnel and others involved in humanitarian missions, urging States to bring those responsible to justice.   Acknowledging that the most effective way to deal with violence against civilians would be to eradicate armed conflict world-wide, the Council nevertheless demanded that all parties involved in such conflicts comply strictly with all the obligations of the Geneva Conventions, as well as the earlier Hague Conventions.   Council reprobation was particularly directed at sexual violence, including all acts of sexual exploitation, abuse and trafficking.   In his latest report on the issue, released in December 2005, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that despite a sharper United Nations focus on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, civilians continue to suffer devastating “collateral damage,” as well as targeted violence, increasingly in the form of sexual abuse, forced displacement, terrorism and extreme economic deprivation, requiring ever-evolving protective mechanisms.   “In the five years since the adoption of Security Council resolution 1296 (2000) there have been new challenges to the safety and well-being of civilian populations, and the tools that we have at our disposal to address these concerns need to be developed accordingly,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in his latest report on the matter, which the Council discussed today.   In his report, Mr. Annan points to the conflicts in northern Uganda, the Darfur region of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as examples of the forced displacement and violence against women.
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